Page 44 of The Cowboy Who Came Home

“Okay,” Edith said. “I’m driving Finn home.”

“Sounds good.”

He met her eyes, and they left the farmhouse together. Gold and silver accompanied the drive to Three Rivers, as the sun had settled in the west and the moon had risen already.

“Do you love your ranch?” Edith asked.

“I sure do,” Finn said as he nodded. “I’m not sure if I want to run it. I think Libby will actually come home and do that. But just today, standing in the cemetery while my daddy talked to my grandfather, I had the distinct impression that I’m…home.”

Finn looked over to her. “I’ve come home to Three Rivers.” He smiled and exhaled heavily. “Now, where that is in Three Rivers, I don’t know. But I’m going to stay in town and figure out the next step.”

“What do you think that’ll be?”

Finn didn’t want to answer, but he told himself he could trust Edith. “I honestly don’t know, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.” She nodded, and he asked, “What about you? What’s your next step?”

She glanced over to him. “This is my next step. I’m living it.”

“Working Coyote Pass and writing books.” He grinned at her. “Sounds like an amazing life.”

“Does it?” She held his gaze for a long moment, no smile in sight. “Really?”

Finn wasn’t sure how to answer. Edith had challenged him on things in the past, and they’d teased over some things too. But she seemed super serious about her question. He blinked, trying to come up with the right answer. Then he told himself that he didn’t have to answer the way she wanted him to. He just needed to answer truthfully.

“I think so,” he said. “You love being outside. You love writing. Your she-shed is amazing. You’ve got your dogs and cats.” He wasn’t sure what else she wanted or needed. “To me.” Finn cleared his throat, wishing he had a bottle of water. “The only thing you’re missing, based on what I know about you, which could be totally wrong.” He waited for her to interrupt or say something.

When she didn’t, he went all-in. “Is children. A family. Levi.”

The last word barely hovered out of his mouth, but it still sounded loud enough for them both to hear.

Instead of correcting him, Edith only nodded. “I’d agree with you.” A mile went by, and then she added, “Except for the Levi part. I’m not missing Levi.”

“You’re not?”

“I mean, I miss him from time to time, but he wouldn’t make my life complete.”

“No?”

“Finn.” She carried plenty of frustration in his name.

“What? You love kids, and you’ve always wanted a big family. That requires a man like Levi. I’m sure—absolutely sure—that you were counting on that when you thought you’d marry him.”

She swallowed, her jaw tight as she gripped the wheel the same way. “You’re not wrong.”

“So, in your ideal life, you’re missing a family, and that includes a man like Levi.”

“Exactly,” she said, the word biting out of her mouth. “A man like Levi. Not specifically Levi.”

“All right,” Finn said. His voice pitched up as he agreed with her. “Maybe I could be a man like Levi.”

Edith grinned, those blue eyes sparkling with that tease he was more used to. “Maybe.”

“Oh, maybe, huh?” He chuckled as she turned onto the dirt road that led down and around to the homestead. Finn started praying no one would be outside, and he could kiss Edith one more time before he had to go inside and face the Inquisitor.

They laughed together, and as she went around the bend, Finn started looking for observers. He didn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean much. With all the windows....

“Thank you, Edith,” he said as she pulled into the driveway.

“Listen,” she said. She put her SUV in park. “Thank you for coming out to Coyote Pass to help us. It’s—It’ll be hard for me at first, but it’s not because I don’t want you there. It’s because I?—”

---