Page 32 of Chasing Liberty

"You two are acting oddly. This is either the most amicable split ever, or you're a couple again." She waited for an answer, then angled her head. "Have you reconciled?" Freedom gestured between them with her finger.

Liberty smiled, barely.

“I moved back into the Manor this morning,” Wyler said proudly.

His smile and unabashed joy gave Liberty pause. He seemed genuinely happy about their current situation.

All of Freedom's doubts vanished, and she smiled broadly. "I'm really happy for both of you. What caused the change in attitude?"

Before Wyler could by chance reveal the pregnancy, Liberty rushed to say, “We both feel, under the circumstances, that we need to give this marriage another try.” She pressed her palm into the center of Wyler’s chest as if silently warning him not to mention anything else.

“No wonder you looked like you were ready to claw Kaitlynn’s eyes out of their sockets,” Freedom said with a mischievous grin.

“Wrong,” Liberty about choked on the word.

“If you say so. You all make a perfect couple. Don’t tell Honor I said that because she thinks she and Cave are perfect.” A frown crossed Freedom’s expression. “Oh shoot. I see Aunt Ritawaving me over. She’s been after me for weeks to meet a nephew of one of her friends.”

“You’re her favorite,” Liberty said gently.

“I suppose I should find out what she needs. I’ll meet you later at the dance,” she said, quickly making her way to where Rita was seated on a hay bale, her leashed Siamese cat perched by her side. Rita never went anywhere without her cherished Marpoose.

Liberty swung out of Wyler’s hold and lightly pinched his arm.

“Ouch! What’s that for?” He rubbed his offended arm. She did it again, but on the other arm. “Do you mind?”

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

She thought he was too much. Too tall. Too strong. Too many whiskers on his strong jaw. His hands too calloused from hard work. His charm…way too intrusive. And yet, all those things were also what had attracted her to him in the first place. Those attributes and his love for horses and nature. She just needed to pretend that he wasn’t handsome and caused a strange prickling sensation in the back of her throat. She needed to keep reminding herself that they were together for the sake of the baby.

“You said you were going to tell everyone at the family meeting this morning. I assumed you did.” He readjusted his hat.

“The family meeting was canceled because Daddy had something more important come up. I’m sure its name is Trinity.” Although Liberty didn’t have a fondness for the woman that had dazzled her way into Sam’s charms, Liberty did appreciate that he seemed much happier these days.

“Is that my fault? Let’s see, you haven’t been included in a family meeting since…” He lifted his hand and checkedoff fingers one by one. “Oh, that’d be never.” His smile slipped some.

“And interesting enough you’ve been to the last three.”

“That’s because Sam invited me.”

“So why didn’t you know it had been canceled?”

"Just to let you know, I got delayed because of an issue. There was a fire in the bunkhouse last night and Sam needed my assistance to handle it. Destroyed the kitchen. Luckily, it was caught before it spread, but there’s a lot of smoke damage."

“A fire?” She squinted. “Is everyone okay? Do they know how it started?” Certainly, if someone had been hurt the news would have reached her.

He slammed his palms to his hips, giving a take-charge stance. “Everyone’s fine. One of the hands woke up and yelled for the others. The fire investigator was out, and said it looked like an electrical issue had caused it, but he wasn’t willing to make that the final ruling until he had an opportunity to dig deeper.”

“You don’t seem convinced.”

Wyler shrugged. “I’m not an expert and the bunkhouse has seen better days, but Billy said he saw a truck parked up on the north ridge a few days ago, like someone could be scoping out the place. When Billy rode towards the truck the driver drove off like a bat out of hell. He could see two people inside but couldn’t get a good look at the tag. Said he thought it was a Pennsylvania tag but wouldn’t bet on it.”

“Billy can be unreliable.”

“I see your point, but when I went up to look for myself, I did find tire tracks. I’ve been trying to find temporary lodging for the displaced cowboys whose bunks had been damaged by the smoke. They can’t go back until things are repaired. We can ship in some trailers for them to stay, but the soonest we can get them here is next week.”

She thought over the dilemma. They couldn’t afford to lose any of their men, not even for a day. “Have them stay at the Rose Manor.”

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