Page 56 of The Rancher's Wedding

“I’ll be sure to see to it that she feels that way each and every day.”

Michael laughed to himself. There was still plenty of work for the two of them to do together, but it was clear that his brother was starting to resemble the one he remembered from before the fire. The man who was perhaps a bit shy, but had an infectious sense of joy that was hard to avoid when you were near him.

A little while down the trail, Michael tested less comfortable waters with his brother, bringing up the main thing that had dominated his mind for the past day or so.

“I went back to the old ranch,” he said.

“Yeah?”

“I showed it to Estelle. It was difficult to see again. The memories were all there, but they’d been charred and destroyed. It was hard not to think of Ma and Pa.”

Jacob nodded. “I don’t think I could ever go back.”

“I hear that. Still, there were a lot of good memories I had from there. Nearly everything’s been destroyed, but being there reminded me of all those good times, too. And how I miss them. I’m glad I went and I think, when you feel up for it, you should go for a ride out there sometime, too.”

Jacob visibly tensed as Michael talked to him and Michael took notice.

“It looks like maybe it’s a little too close for you. Maybe it’s not such a good idea.”

“Let’s take this thing one day at a time,” Jacob said.

“That sounds like a plan.”

Michael, by his nature, didn’t much like waiting. Perhaps that was what he appreciated about life on the ranch: there was always something to do. But Estelle had told him that the best approach if he wanted to reconnect with Jacob was not to try so hard and not to push him. He had to control himself and trust that everything was headed in the right direction.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“What are we doing today?” Estelle asked as she and Michael finished their breakfast. “Can we go for another ride?”

“I’m afraid not,” Michael said. “We need to tend to the crops. Make sure everything’s growing okay.”

Estelle’s face dropped and she began to pout.

“You know what you signed up for,” Michael reminded her. “Being out here’s a lot of work. If we finish early, we can go riding.”

She felt like a child. Michael was, of course, right, but it didn’t change the fact that it wasn’t what Estelle wanted to do. If it was her choice, she and Michael would just ride the horses all day long, stopping only to eat, sleep, and kiss.

When he got into his work state of mind, he wasn’t very much fun. It almost seemed like he was a different man than the one who kissed her or who showed her the house where he grew up. That man, the one who wasn’t all serious, was the one that Estelle wanted to be married to.

It wasn’t even that she minded the work. It was just if she had to do it, she’d rather do it with the Michael she loved and not the one who seemed more like a father figure, telling her what she had to do.

“Okay,” Estelle said. “So, let’s get started.”

She was also aware of the irony that the Michael she loved was the one who let down his guard, while she had pulled a letter out of the mailbox because she still hadn’t been able to talk to him about her true past. The letter sat under her mattress upstairs, still sealed and addressed to Megan, with the promise inside still unkept.

Maybe today would give her an opportunity. Maybe today would offer her the chance to tell him. The perfect time to let him know that she’d been holding a deep secret and finding out if he would support her, even if she wasn’t the woman he thought she was.

As they walked toward the fields, Estelle was about to speak, but Michael spoke first.

“That was a big deal what you saw yesterday,” he said.

“Sorry?”

“My brother and I talking like that, spending the day together like we did. We haven’t done that since… well, since before the fire. I’ve got to thank you for that.”

“For what?” Estelle asked. “I didn’t do anything. You spoke to him.”

“The way I see it, either it’s some sort of big coincidence that as soon as you came, he started to loosen up some, or it has something to do with you.”

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