Jake watched them leave then turned to the others and said, “I’ll see you boys at supper, and you’ll be able to release all those jibes that you had ready to fire. You’ll have a couple of hours to invent some new ones, too.”
“You got that right, boss,” Al Pope said with a grin before Jake and Sara turned and headed back to the house.
After they had walked a hundred feet, Sara said, “It sounds odd for you to call them boys when they’re all older than you are. Some must be twenty years older.”
“I know. I thought the same thing. Hearing them call me ‘boss’ has been another adjustment. Whether I’m still the boss next month is open to question.”
She squeezed his hand as she said, “I don’t care if you decide to join the army as a private again. I staked my claim on Jake Elliott, the man, not Jake Elliott, the boss.”
_____
After another thirty minutes of couch-based conversation, Jake and Sara heard the buckboard pull up outside the front door.
Before Jake could stand, Sara stared at him for five seconds before she asked, “Well? Are you going to kiss me or not?”
Jake suppressed his laugh as he slid his arm behind her back and pulled her closer. As he leaned forward to kiss her, she tilted her head back invitingly. Jake may have had to lean a bit more, but he found her simple shift in position to be more exciting than any of Kay’s much more overt invitations.
He kissed her gently, but Sara had put her left hand behind his head and poured herself into the kiss. Jake responded and what had begun as a short farewell kiss soon evolved into one with much more passion and meaning.
When the long kiss ended, Sara smiled at him and whispered, “I don’t want a long courtship, Jake. Please?”
Jake was so disoriented that all he could do was to smile and nod before he pulled back then slowly rose to his feet. He took her hand and after she stood, she wrapped her arm around his waist before they stepped to the door.
“I wonder if Emmett is going to tell my mother that we were alone for so long and when we left your house this time, I was holding onto you and the top two buttons on my dress were undone.”
Jake was startled and looked down to the front of her dress. When he found all of the buttons in place, he looked at her face and found her smiling with her eyes laughing.
He smiled as they sidestepped through the door and onto the porch. She didn’t let him loose until they reached the buckboard.
Sara glanced at the two saddled horses before she climbed into the buckboard.
Jake smiled as he said, “Thank you for your very pleasant visit, Sara.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Jake. You can find me at my father’s store.”
“I should be there before noon.”
Sara turned to Emmett and said, “You may drive me home now, Mister Smith.”
Emmett grinned and replied, “At your command, my lady,” then snapped the reins and the buckboard rolled quickly away.
Jake watched it as it rolled down the long access road then turn east to return to Fort Benton. Even after it had disappeared, Jake stood in front of the house staring to the southeast. He hadn’t had such a deep conversation with anyone in years. And he knew he could never have another one with the woman who had been his confidant and teacher for most of his life.
He exhaled then turned and walked back to the house. He had to refocus on his more immediate concern.
_____
As Jake had expected, the evening meal was a never-ending session of off-color jabs and lascivious comments, but he let the men have their fun.
When he left the chow house, he wasn’t surprised when Dave hurried to walk beside him. He assumed that Dave was going to keep putting pressure on him to stay on the ranch just as he had said he would.
Just fifteen seconds after leaving the chow house, Dave said, “I think Miss Smith is a good match for you, Jake. She’s a lot like your mother. You oughta make that girl your top priority, not trying to find your father. He’s been gone for three weeks now. He could have ridden all the way to Wyoming by now and caught a Union Pacific train to damned near anywhere.”
“I know that, Dave. He could be a thousand miles away by now, but I still have to try to find him. I owe it to my mother, even though I know she’d want me to stay, too. But I do I agree with you about Sara. She’s a perfect match for me and I appreciate everything about her. Maybe after I’m on the road for a few days, I’ll miss her too much and turn around. But I do have to leave.”
“Why don’t you spend a few more days with her? Twenty-four days isn’t that much different than twenty-one.”
“When I return, I’ll spend almost all my time with her. She asked me to keep our courtship short and I intend to do just that. I’m already planning to marry her within a week of my return.”
Dave was obviously startled by what Jake had said, and Jake wasn’t surprised. He imagined that Dave thought he and Sara wouldn’t wed for a few months.
He smiled and said, “You should find a wife too, Dave. Sara would probably like to have another woman on the ranch to have as a friend and confidant.”
Dave remained silent for another twenty seconds as they continued to walk to the ranch house.
So, Jake grinned as he looked at Dave and said, “I
