Page 88 of The Rancher's Wedding

“I’ve taken plenty of carriage rides,” Richard said.

“Father, that’s hardly the same thing. I’ll take you out tomorrow. It will change your life.”

“Well,” Richard said, still smiling at Orion, “if you insist.”

“And if you like feeding the horses, you must see the hogs,” Estelle said.

“Hogs?” Richard asked. “You mean you have pigs here?”

“Oh, yes. They’re like giant puppies,” Estelle said, barely able to hold in her excitement.

“I thought they were filthy things.”

“Oh, they love to roll in the mud,” Estelle told him, “but they’re so sweet it doesn’t even matter. They won’t get any of the mud on you. I promise.”

“Let’s take a look then,” Richard said.

Estelle led him out of the stable. She had never seen her father like this. There was a child inside him that had remained tucked away for as long as she’d been alive. The farm had a way of bringing that out of people. She recalled what it was like for her when she saw it all for the first time. It was as if a picture book had come alive right in front of her. She was seeing things she’d only heard about or seen in paintings, and they were all more remarkable than she could have even imagined.

It was dark, but she could see the same emotions in her father. He tried holding back his eagerness by walking alongside Estelle and not encouraging her to hurry, but she could sense his anticipation. It was infectious.

“I’m really glad you came all the way here to Utah,” Estelle said. “You didn’t have to, but if you didn’t, I’d probably be back in a train car with Ethan right about now. Thank you.”

Richard nodded. “I feel strange accepting your thanks for a situation that I got you in to begin with. I shouldn’t have ever tried to make you marry that man. I should have listened to you, but more than that, I should have treated you like a person instead of, like… I don’t know…”

“Like a cattle being taken to market?” Estelle asked.

She saw her father’s face light up again. “Yes,” he said. “I imagine you have cattle here, too.”

“A whole bunch,” she said.

“Well, then, maybe you should show me those, too.”

“After the hogs?” she asked.

“Of course.”

As happy as Estelle was, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed that her father would have to return to Philadelphia. She truly loved him, just as she always had, and hated that he put her in a situation where she had to distance herself from him. She reached out and hugged him, knowing that soon enough, he’d be returning to the east coast and she wouldn’t be able to.

Maybe, just as she had thought with Megan, she could convince him to come out and live on the farm with her. But perhaps she was being greedy.

Her father hugged her back and, in his embrace, she imagined he was thinking the same things she was. That was the bond between a father and his daughter. Sometimes they didn’t need words: a single hug could say it all for them.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Michael shook his father-in-law’s hand at the train station.

“My boy,” Richard said, “you take good care of her.”

“Yes, sir,” Michael said. “But, with all due respect, I think she does a pretty good job of taking care of herself.”

Richard smiled knowingly at Michael as if to say that he knew his daughter was in good hands. Michael, for his part, knew that there wouldn’t be a second of their life that he would take for granted.

Then Richard moved to Jacob. “Do you have that letter for me?” he asked.

Jacob reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope, which Richard took and said, “I’ll be sure that she gets it. And I’ll be sure that she answers you right away.”

Michael saw his brother blush. It wasn’t all embarrassment, there was a bit of overwhelming happiness inside Jacob that he was struggling to keep inside. Michael took some of it for him.

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