Page 72 of The Rancher's Wedding

“That’s right,” he said. “I remembered that, too. I promised you could tell me in the morning, but then I was gone. I’m sorry about that, too.”

“Michael!” she said, much louder and stronger than she expected. She said his name again, softer. “Michael. Please. I need you to just let me talk. This is difficult for me.”

Estelle sat down on a bale of hay for a second before standing back up, holding the open box in her hand, unable to keep her eyes off of the shiny representation of Michael’s love, stabbing her heart every time she glanced at it.

She was too anxious and couldn’t stay seated, so stood back up and started pacing before stopping and centering herself, focusing all of her attention on Michael.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to go, Estelle thought.

Another thought interrupted that one:Just let it all out. Once it’s out, it becomes his job to handle it. You don’t need to do anything once you tell him. It’s not that complicated.

She took a breath, then looked at Michael, who was nodding his head. “I’ve been keeping something from you. Something important.”

He began to open his mouth, but she put her hand in front of him, in order to stop him.

“Please, Michael.” The tears built up in her eyes.Why does this need to be so hard?

He put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her. Carefully, he opened his mouth and, after a second of silence, he said, “Whatever it is, you’re still my wife and I’ll still care about you.”

“That’s the problem!” Estelle said. She pushed his hand away.What am I doing?she thought.Why am I shouting at him? He doesn’t deserve this.

She looked back at him and he stood there, patient and loving, the perfect husband even when she was screaming like a lunatic.

Deep breath, Estelle. Close your eyes, count to ten, and just shout it out.

One, two…

It was so easy.

...three, four…

She just had to say, “I’m engaged to somebody else.”

...five, six…

And she was going to do it. Once she reached…

...seven, eight…

There was a knock on the barn.

“Pardon me. Am I interrupting anything?”

She knew from the voice alone that it was Ethan, but Estelle opened her eyes anyway to be sure. He stood in the stable entrance with the sun behind him, placing a shadow over all his features, giving the appearance of something almost demonic. As he walked closer, Estelle could see him more clearly and noticed that his mouth was in the shape of a smile, but it wasn’t friendly. As he walked closer still, she could see his eyes, which were always his most disturbing feature to Estelle.

They looked like the satisfied eyes of a predator who had just caught its prey.

Chapter Thirty

It had taken Ethan the better part of two days to track down his fiancée once he made it to Grafton Town. Local residents seemed familiar with her and had even said they’d seen her around town. One man in particular — with a long white beard and a penchant for dragging Ethan into conversations he didn’t particularly want to have — seemed to know quite a bit about her and encouraged Ethan to just wait around town.

“She was just here this morning,” he said. “She usually comes in every few days or so. Wait long enough and I’m sure you’ll run into her.”

That didn’t suit Ethan particularly well. For one thing, he didn’t want to stay in this dusty undeveloped part of the country any longer than he had to. The other was that if Estelle made a scene — which she had a tendency to do — it’d be easier to deal with it in private than in public.

It wasn’t until his second day in Grafton Town that he realized he’d been going about it all wrong.

He went back to the old man in front of the general store, the one who loved to talk.

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