Page 47 of The Banker's Bride

“Oh, Dallas! It’s beautiful!”

He smiled as he lifted the picnic basket from the carriage and helped her down. “I’m glad you like it. It’s God’s country. I thought that one day, our son could build a house here.”

“Or our daughter.” Megan blushed as she spread a tablecloth on the ground.

Dallas took her hand and helped her to sit down. She started unpacking the basket, laying out napkins that Mrs. Daly had set out for her, as well as the silverware.

“So, what did you make?” he asked, trying to look in the basket, but she shooed him away.

“Have patience.” She set out everything, but it was still covered.

Dallas sat back and smiled. “Everything smells great… whatever it is you made.”

Megan laughed. “I wanted to make ye a few traditional Irish dishes. Cottage pie, Irish soda bread, and Gur cake.”

“It looks delicious,” Dallas remarked as she handed him a plate of food.

She buttered a slice of bread and handed it to him.

“When did you have time to make all of this?” he asked in disbelief.

She shrugged. “It doesn’t take as long as you think.”

He took a bite of the cottage pie and moaned in delight. “This is delicious! Oh, my goodness! If you cook like this for me very much, they’ll have to widen the door to get me in.”

Megan chuckled, pleased with his reaction. “You’d better save room for dessert.”

“Oh, I don’t know. This tastes so good that I may eat the plate, too,” he teased, and then took another bite of the Cottage Pie.

They laughed as they ate and by the time they were finished, Dallas had eaten most of the cottage pie, half of the loaf of bread, and most of the Gur cake—an Irish pastry with a dark brown sweet paste made of raisins and sugar. He moaned in delight as he tasted the flaky pastry. “You could open a bakery! This is delicious.”

She smiled, glad that he liked it. When they were finished and everything was packed away, he slid his arm around her, and they turned their attention to the sunset.

“God’s country,” Megan echoed Dallas’s previous sentiment.

He nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“It feels so open up here. Like we’re close to heaven.”

“You like it?”

“Of all the places I’ve seen on this earth, this is one of the most beautiful.”

He thought for a moment, and then asked, “Is it anything like Ireland?”

“Have you ever been there?”

Dallas shook his head. “No, but I’d love to go sometime. I’ve heard it’s gorgeous. If we go, would you show me around?”

She nodded. “Yes, of course, but I’m not sure if I’d like to go back. After me parents died, it took Liam and I a while before wecould leave.” She watched the sunset and then asked, “What was your childhood like?”

Dallas let out a deep breath. “My father drank… a lot… and was abusive. He was a wonderful man when he was sober, but when he was drinking, it was another story. If I did anything wrong, anything at all, I paid the price.”

She nodded, understanding, her heart going out to him. “Is that why you’ve tried so hard to succeed?”

He nodded. “I came from nothing. As I said before, my father was a sharecropper and money was always tight. For Christmas, we were lucky if we got oranges or apples. My father was educated at home by his mother, and he never received a formal education. He worked hard his whole life, but we never went hungry.” He saw the expression on her face, and then added, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything—”

“It’s okay. No offense taken.” Megan let out a deep breath. “When we moved to New York, me brother and I had to sell everything we had before we left. Me parents never did that because they were afraid to travel alone with children. In fact, they went without food in order to feed us, and they paid the price. My parents always made sure we didn’t go hungry, either.” Megan thought for a minute. “I’ve always felt guilty about that.”

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