When the time had come, she hadn’t thought twice about moving into the Prairie Garden old age home. Jed had followed her there rapidly, and they’d had fun sneaking around the joint, in between sending its denizens into an uproar now and then during their fights.
But life was passing—fast.
That day she’d asked for a sign. A staunch believer in the faith the younger generation seemed to take or leave, she sent up a prayer for clarity. An hour later, on her usual morning fact-finding round, she heard about the Founder’s Prize and understood it was time to act. Settler’s Ridge—or the Ridley property, as everyone in town called it—abutted her land and Jed’s. It was an acquisition worthy of their legacies, and it was a reason for the two of them to re-involve themselves with their families, move back home, get everyone safely married off—
And finally bring their relationship out into the open.
Now here she was, a married woman. A dutiful wife.
Virginia snorted.
“What’s that?” Jed asked, but she didn’t have to answer, for right then the crowd around them, led by Noah, began to count down to midnight.
“Ten… nine…eight,” they called out.
“Did I ever tell you I’m the happiest man in the county?” Jed asked her.
“A half dozen times today, at least,” she said.
“And I’ll say it a half dozen times more before I go to bed tonight.”
“Seven…six… five…”
“No doubt,” she said waspishly.
“I think you’re pretty happy, too.”
“Four…three…two…”
Virginia nodded, surprising herself, and allowed Jed to pull her closer. “I am pretty happy,” she said.
Jed dropped a kiss on the top of her head.
“Good.”
“One…zero… Happy New Year!”
All around them couples kissed and whooped and celebrated, but Virginia stayed in the arms of the man she loved. The man who’d shared her life in the most unconventional way. The man worth fighting… and fighting for.
“Love you, Virginia,” Jed murmured, kissing her again.
“I love you, too.”
“I’m so happy they found each other after all these years,” Stella said as she and Steel watched Virginia and Jed kiss at midnight. “Can you imagine waiting so long to marry the one you love? I can’t let myself think about the years they wasted. It’s too sad.”
Steel nodded, but the way he was looking at them made Stella wonder what he really thought. He caught her expression, and a smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “I have a suspicion,” he admitted. “It’s one I can’t prove, though.”
“What suspicion?”
“That we might have been played. All of us.”
“What do you mean?” She took in their relatives again. Virginia was as elegant as usual. Jed was dressed in his Sunday best.
“I don’t know what I mean, really,” he admitted. “Just that the two of them don’t seem to be walking around with any regrets. I mean, if it had taken me sixty years to marry you, I think I’d be cursing the loss of all that time.”
“Maybe they don’t want to waste any more time on recriminations.”
“Are you serious? Jed and Virginia live for recriminations.”
It was true, Stella thought. Those two never met an argument they didn’t relish. “You said they were playing us.”
“Not just us—everyone. Look at the two of them together. They went from not being able to be in the same room together to being as lovey-dovey as anything. They had no trouble moving in together. No trouble making a life together…”
“You think they had some kind of relationship before?” Stella shook her head. She didn’t buy it.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong.”
“I think you must be. No one gets away with anything in this town without everyone else knowing.”
“That’s true. You’d have to be awfully sneaky to keep it up so long.”
Stella knew what he was really saying. If anyone could, it was her uncle and his aunt. She watched them dancing. Caught the satisfied expression on Jed’s face. That wasn’t a man who felt cheated in any way in life. Had he been able to get over the hand that fate had dealt him for so many years so quickly? Or was Steel right—had he and Virginia had some kind of clandestine thing going on?
“They couldn’t have been sneaking around all this time,” she told Steel firmly.
“You’re probably right.” But the admiration she saw on his face as he studied the other couple told her he didn’t really believe that.
Now Stella wasn’t sure what to believe either. Steel’s hunches about people tended to be right. It was a skill she was learning to develop for herself as a deputy.
“Enough about them,” Steel said. “Let’s talk about us.”
“What about us?” But she knew exactly what he meant. The night of their wedding, they’d made each other a promise: four years of life in the open. Four years of Stella getting to pursue the career she really wanted. Four years for Steel to try out wearing a uniform. Then they’d make some decisions about what to do next.
“How would you like to spend the next four years, wife of mine?”
“I get to pick anything I want?” she teased him. She knew exactly what the rules were.
“That’s right. Anything your heart desires. I mean that, Stella. Even if you want to chuck it all and go live on a desert island, you tell me, you hear?”
She still tingled all over at the way Steel talked. The way his hands rested on her hips. At work she was every bit the deputy. Strong, decisive, capable. The best she could be. At home she could be sweet sometimes. She could let Steel be the tough guy. Allow him a hand in helping her achieve her dreams.
“I’ve loved being a deputy.”
“I know. You’re
