Page 11 of The Rancher's Wedding

“Would you like me to show you where y’all be staying?” Michael asked.

“Please,” Megan said.

She and Estelle reached for their bags, but Michael stopped them. “I’ve got them,” he said, leaning down, taking one in each hand, his muscles pushing against his shirt as he lifted them.

Estelle felt the breath leave her chest as she watched him.

“This way,” Michael said.

Yes, sir, Estelle thought.

Michael gestured up ahead at a small, cozy house maybe a few hundred meters down the road.

“That’s it,” he said.

The house didn’t look like much from the outside, but it seemed sturdy and well-built and, judging by the paint, relatively new or at least well cared for.

“We’re still figuring things out around here,” Michael said. “It’s tough to run a ranch all by your lonesome, so I appreciate your being so excited about helping me.”

“Oh, I am,” Estelle said. “I can’t wait to get started actually doing the work.”

Michael gave her a smile that seemed to suggest maybe she wouldn’t like it once she got started, but Estelle was confident. Michael didn’t know the woman he was marrying. If she wanted something, she was willing to move mountains to get it.

“You’ll be staying in the second story,” Michael said. “You’ll have most of the floor to yourself pretty much all the time.”

There was a window at the top of the house and Estelle imagined waking up every single day and looking out at the morning. She smiled at the thought.

“I mostly only go inside when I’m eating or sleeping, so if you need time alone, that’s the place to be.” Michael thought for a second. “Well, to be honest, we’ve got over 400 acres of land here, so you probably won’t have too much trouble getting privacy whenever you want it.”

They made it to the door and Michael opened it. “After you, ladies,” he said. “Head on up the stairs. It’s the first door, can’t miss it.”

Estelle looked around at the living room and kitchen area. The former was quaint, but the latter was fairly large, considering the size of the house, filled with pots and pans along with whisks and large metal spoons and several utensils she didn’t even recognize. It was intimidating, but she took a breath and reassured herself that she’d have time to figure it all out.

Estelle walked up the stairs and into the bedroom—simple enough, with a desk and a bed, but what she really wanted to see was the window.

She poked her head through, and the view was breathtaking. There wasn’t another human in sight. It was all farmland and grass and animals. Looking off to the right, she could see the green of plants covering a hill. In front of her was a flat plain that stretched out all the way to the horizon. And more hills were off to the left.

There were pens holding pigs and others holding cows. She even spotted a couple of dogs running free, playing with each other and sniffing everything they could find. It was as if she had jumped right into a storybook.

The sun shone bright in the sky, without a cloud to block it, and though the air was warm, it felt drier than back home, which made it pleasant and energizing instead of heavy and exhausting. There was something distinct about the smell, too. One might have expected a farm, with all the animals and dirt, to produce an offensive odor, but instead it smelled fresh, unlike the stale air that got caught between buildings in the city.

And it all belonged to her.

Megan followed right behind her. “My lord,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”

Estelle had grown up with money. More money than her father knew what to do with. And so, like most men with money, her father used it to get more money. If it weren’t for banks, he’d be drowning in currency.

And for what? It was only paper. What was the point of money if all it bought was a life crammed against everybody else where the only thing you’d see if you looked out a window was another window in a different building?

“I won’t ever tire of this,” Estelle said. “Every single day, I’ll thank God that this is the life I get to live. I don’t deserve this, Megan.”

“Of course you do,” Megan said.

Michael came up the stairs and put the suitcases down. “Quite a view,” he said. “But believe me, you’ll be working for it.” He said it with a smile on his face.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Estelle told him, standing proudly. “It’ll be worth it.”

“That it is,” Michael agreed. “I wouldn’t trade it for all the money in the world.”

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