Page 59 of The Rancher's Wedding

“And what’s that?” Jacob asked, though he clearly had a sense that he knew what was coming, based on the sound of his voice, slow and cautious.

“You propose to Megan.”

Jacob recoiled as if Estelle had just hit him in the face with a sack full of bricks.“I can’t do that. I don’t even know how.”

“It’s real easy, Jacob. You’ll take a pen and write, ‘Will you marry me?’”

“Don’t you think I ain’t already done that?” he asked. “And every single time, I end up throwing the paper out. I can’t just ask her to marry me. I need to lead into it and write the most romantic letter I possibly can, so she has no choice but to say, ‘Yes.’”

“She’ll accept your proposal. I promise.” He didn’t look convinced. “Do you hear me, Jacob? I said I promise. If you ask her, she’ll say, ‘Yes.’”

“Are you sure?”

“As long as you don’t wait forever, I am. The sooner you do it, the better.”

Jacob grunted a sound of frustration.

“I want her here just as much as you do,” Estelle said. “But I can’t propose for you. Believe me, I’ve tried. You need to do it.”

After a long sigh, Jacob said, “Okay.”

“We have a deal, then?”

“Yes, ma’am. We have a deal.”

They shook on it.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The telegram Estelle received was somewhat cryptic:

Estelle STOP I’m sorry STOP I’m heading to Utah STOP Your father

Was he apologizing for his behavior over the past several months, or for even suggesting that she should marry Ethan? Or was he apologizing because he was going to come and get her, which he knew she didn’t want? She wouldn’t have been writing to her father if she didn’t think that, eventually, he’d come around and see things from her point of view. Still, it seemed unlikely that he’d suddenly had a change of heart.

The telegram came without any kind of envelope and Estelle couldn’t keep it hidden from Michael.

“It says it’s from your father,” Michael said, his voice confused and uncertain. “Were you abandoned as a child? Is he intending to reconnect now that you’ve grown?”

He was trying to make sense of it, but he wouldn’t on his own. He’d have to know that she was lying first. But now was not the time to talk about it.

“No,” Estelle said. It was never the right time, but now her hand was somewhat forced. She had to come clean, at least a little bit. “I haven’t been telling you the whole truth,” she said. “I’m not actually an orphan.”

Michael was stunned at first, but he didn’t seem as surprised by that as she thought he might be. “That makes sense, actually.”

Now, what could he possibly mean by that?Estelle thought.

“The way you held yourself and talked. The way you wrote. None of it seemed like what I would expect from an orphan.” He paused and considered the idea some more. “Was that it? Was that your big secret?”

No, she thought,only part of it. “I don’t have time to discuss this right now, Michael. I must go to town and respond to this telegram immediately.” Then she stopped herself, realizing her tone. “I’m sorry,” she said, calming herself. “I don’t mean to be rude, but this is rather urgent, and I need to take care of it as soon as humanly possible.”

“Why settle on humanly possible?” he asked. “Take Orion.”

“Wonderful!” she said, heading out the door. “Thank you, Michael!”

She ran down to the stables and pulled Orion out, feeling comfortable saddling and mounting him on her own by this point.

With a kick and a yell, he took off and they rode toward the town center, quiet and uneventful, with only a few people walking between the shops—a sharp contrast to the urgency in her stomach.

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