Mary stifled her groan. “Don’t tell me it’s a man.”
“Well, now, I didn’t say that. I don’t want her thinking I ruined your surprise.”
“Here’s the thing, James.” She took a deep breath and suddenly found she believed it. “I miss Lou and hope he’ll come home, but I am blessed and filled by the family I have. I don’t need a man to make me whole or to give me purpose.”
“Nah. I know that.” He shot her a grin. “But love, not a man, surely makes a person’s life more full.”
She looked forward and exhaled her pent-up breath. That might very well be, but she wouldn’t put her life on hold, hadn’t, in fact, waiting for a love that might never come.
For a love that almost was.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lou came home to an empty ranch.
Dropping his luggage in the hallway, he meandered around the empty house before stepping back outside. It was a nice August day, perfect for an outing. Maybe that was where everyone had gone.
Fatigue pulled at his eyelids. He shook his head, ran fingers through hair that hadn’t been trimmed in a while. He circled the house and headed toward Mary’s home. Flowers bloomed outside her door.
He knocked, and Mary’s mother answered. She looked happier than he’d ever seen her, a smile playing on her lips and knitting needles in her hand.
“You are here for my daughter?”
He nodded.
Rose studied him carefully. He couldn’t read her dark eyes but somehow felt her disapproval. “They went to Horn’s,” she said finally. She touched the door, beginning to swing it closed, but he stopped her.
“I’ve got something to get off my chest,” he said. Taking a deep breath, he kept her gaze. “I treated you wrongly. Will you forgive me?”
This time she blinked and it seemed as though her features softened. Then her lips curved again. “Besa soobeda. This is a good thing,” she said quietly. “You are forgiven. Find my daughter and make things right.”
The door shut. Grinning, he pivoted and went to get a horse.
He supposed he could wait for them to get home, but he didn’t want to. Mary’s mother was right. He hadn’t traveled for so long to come home to emptiness.
He was back to do what he should have six weeks ago. No, what he should have done months ago. It had only taken seeing an old friend with his new family for him to realize that he’d made a huge mistake. Interspersed in all his traveling was some Bible reading and serious soul searching.
He readied a horse and within minutes was galloping toward the Horn place. It didn’t take long to find the huge picnic in progress. The scents reached him before he could even distinguish faces.
He patted the rump of his roan and tied her up next to the other horses. He spotted Trevor’s truck parked next to the few other vehicles some had dared to drive over the challenging roadways.
Sparse grasses flowed with the direction of the breeze. A bird twittered in the oak beside him. He took a steadying breath, surprised by the tightness of his gut. He’d faced down professional killers and never felt this nervous.
Wiping his hands against his jeans, he set off toward the picnic. Children shrieked with delight as a small dog ran in circles around them, yapping and wagging its tail. Other kids were climbing Horn’s maple. They’d have skinned shins, no doubt, by the end of the picnic.
He grinned, thinking of his own childhood and all its adventures.
“Mister Lou!” The high-pitched scream barely reached him before Josie smacked into his leg. He chuckled, reached under her arms and threw her into the air. Her squeal almost shattered his eardrums.
Laughing, he brought her close and hugged her.
“I missed you so much,” she said into his ear, her arms a vise around his neck.
His smile quivered, and he hugged her tighter. “I missed you, too.”
She pulled back and gave him a serious look. Her purple ribbon hung over one eye. “Are you leaving again? Because I don’t think Miss Mary will like that very much.”
“What about you?” he teased, tweaking her nose. “Don’t you want me to stay?”
Her eyes rounded and her whole body tensed. “Are you teasing me?”
He winked at her. “Let’s just say I plan on sticking around, if Miss Mary will have me.”
Her face lit up and she wiggled to get free. “Okay, I’m going to get her right now and tell her you have to stay.”
“Wait, wait,” he said, laughing and putting her down. “Let me surprise her.”
“Ooh, I like surprises!”
“Shh.” He rubbed her head and she leaned into his touch, beaming at him with such wide-eyed openness that his chest clenched with emotion. “I love you, little Josie. Do you know that?”
She nodded, a very solemn look crossing her face. “I know, Mister Lou. I love you, too, ya know.”
Smiling, he fixed her ribbon. “Come back in a bit and I’ll get you some chocolate cake.”
“Miss Mary said I had to eat my broccoli first. I hate broccoli!” She scampered off before he could respond, which was all well and good because at that moment he glimpsed the shine of black hair moving through the crowd of people.
He moved toward her, his heart racing, his stomach churning. He’d wondered how he’d feel when he saw her again, and the emotions roaring through him proved to be more powerful than he expected.
He stepped over a bush and followed Mary to the dessert table. Of course that was where she’d be. Checking out the goods, arranging them just so. She’d always be a homemaker.
She was quiet and deep, like a refreshing lake in the middle of a forest. Fresh and sweet to the taste, offering sustenance to
