Page 64 of Wyoming True

“You’ll be happy with Mr. McGuire,” Maude said. “He’s easygoing and he never fusses. Well, he can raise the roof when he loses his temper, and his language gets a bit rough around the men if they do things he doesn’t like. But he’s mostly pleasant.”

Ida, who’d never seen him in a temper, grew a little worried. Surely, he wouldn’t be like Bailey, who was dangerous when he blew up!

She had to stop worrying, she told herself. It wouldn’t change a thing. She could back out of the marriage, but she didn’t really want to. She was drawn to Jake, loved being with him. She didn’t have the strength to refuse. But she was wary of the future. If he’d never loved before Mina, then he might be a man who was only capable of loving once. The thought was so disheartening that she fought tears. She hid them in good humor and asked Maude about her cats. That was good for ten minutes.

JAKECAMEHOMESMILING. “All done,” he told her as she sat knitting in a chair in the living room. His eyebrows arched. “I didn’t know you could knit.”

She smiled. “It gives me something to do with my hands,” she said simply.

He sat down across from her, sailing his Stetson onto an end table with unnerving precision. “My mother used to make sweaters for my brother and me, when we were kids.” His face hardened, remembering his brother and how he’d died.

“You shouldn’t look back,” Ida said softly. “I know how you must feel. I don’t have any family left, either. But you have to go forward.”

He made a face at her. “Optimist.”

She laughed and bent her head back to her knitting.

“What are you making?”

“A baby blanket,” she said, and then flushed and met his arched eyebrows, and blushed even more. “For a woman who works at my doctor’s office, who’s having a baby,” she stammered.

Jake didn’t say anything. He just stared at her.

She jerked her eyes back down to her knitting. She was embarrassed, and she didn’t understand why. She thought about their upcoming marriage, one of friends, with no physical contact. Was he reminding her of that, with his shocked expression? Did he think she was making a statement about her needs by knitting something for a baby, when they’d almost certainly agreed that they would never have one?

Her mind went flying to the image of a baby in a crib, one with jet-black hair and silver eyes, and she cleared her throat and put aside her knitting.

“Did you put the announcement in the paper?” she asked a little too quickly.

“Yes. I talked to the minister. And the florist,” he added with a grin. “You’ll need a weed eater to get through the massive pots of flowers in the church,” he promised.

She laughed. “Okay. I won’t mind.”

“When do you want to fly up to Manhattan to get your wedding outfit?”

She flushed. “Well, can we go tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

“All right, then.” She started making a mental list of things she’d need. In the middle of it, she remembered her cat. “I have to call the vet about Butler,” she burst out.

“That’s taken care of, too,” he said gently and smiled at her. “We’ll pick up Butler and Wolf this afternoon and bring them home so they can get acquainted.”

“I asked Maude if she’d mind Butler being here and she said not at all, she’s got some at home,” she said.

He chuckled. “She spoils her cats. She’ll spoil Butler, too.”

“He’ll need spoiling. Poor old cat,” she said sadly. “He’s never hurt anybody, but life has been hard to him.”

“It will get better very soon. What about your place? I know you don’t want to sell it. You grew up there. Suppose we put in a ranch manager, somebody married, with kids perhaps, and they can live in the house.”

She smiled. “That sounds like a wonderful idea. It would be nice if we could find some people who really needed a job,” she added thoughtfully.

“We can, and I have. I’ll take you over and introduce you to them tomorrow.”

She relaxed. “Okay, then. If you like them, so will I.”

His eyebrows arched. She only laughed.

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