Page 53 of Wannabe in Wyoming
Their garden was flourishing, and Willow was even researching canning. Nathan kept sneaking the cherry tomatoes off the vine and eating them. He refused to admit he was the culprit and complained they almost never had any for their salads, but he only had himself to blame. Willow would just stare at him and not say a word, both of them knowing he was the thief and not the rabbits or prairie dogs.
They’d had a going away party for Cody Moore last week. As his high school graduation had approached, he’d been struggling with what he wanted to do afterward. At first, he’d been planning to go to college but hadn’t known what he wanted to major in. After spending a lot of time talking to Nathan about the Army though, the young man had decided to enlist. He’d left for bootcamp a few days ago with the promise he’d email or write to everyone when he got the chance.
It seemed as if Andrew was finally out of her life for good. He hadn’t called or made an appearance since the sheriff had arrested him. He’d been released on his own recognizance with a fine the next day, and Grady had advised him to get his ass out of Wyoming and never come back. She had no idea where her ex was or what he was up to, and honestly, she didn’t care. Okay, maybe she cared just a little because, while she wanted nothing to do with him, she did hope he hadn’t been hurt or killed by whoever he owed money to. After all, she had been married to him, and she wasn’t so callous that she wished him harm.
The screen door opened, and Nathan strode out, carrying a mug and a small gift bag. He handed her the coffee—decaf no doubt—and kissed the top of her head as he ran his hand through her long pink hair. The coloring was temporary, and safe for the baby, and had been her idea for the gender reveal. She’d known they were having a girl since she’d been four months along, but Nathan had waffled back and forth about whether he wanted to be told or not. When he realized he couldn’t paint the nursery in the colors Willow wanted without figuring out if they were having a boy or girl, he’d finally agreed she could tell him. The alternative had been to allow her to paint the walls herself, but that had been a no-go for him.
Instead of just blurting out their child’s sex to him, she’d asked Ginger Moore to come over and dye her hair pink. After drying Willow’s hair, her friend had helped her tuck it all up under her cowboy hat before leaving. Willow had then called Nathan into the house and told him to sit on the couch. She’d come out of their bedroom wearing nothing but the hat, her tattoos, and her nipple rings, which she’d just removed yesterday in anticipation of nursing, and straddled his lap the best she could with the baby bump between them. When Nathan had lifted the hat from her head, the long pink strands had tumbled down past her shoulders. It was the third time she’d ever seen her husband cry—the first time had been when she’d told him she was pregnant after his proposal, and the second time, at their wedding when he’d recited his vows to her. To say he was thrilled they were having a girl was an understatement. He was already planning to teach her how to shoot and defend herself. Willow had a feeling the poor girl wouldn’t be allowed on a date until she was at least twenty-five, maybe not even then. Shannon Cherry Casey, named for Nathan’s sister and her mother’s nickname, was going to be the most well-protected girl in the county, with her veteran Daddy and a ranch full of honorary uncles between all the men at both the JP and Skyview ranches.
Moving Ethel out of the way, Nathan sat next to Willow and handed her the pink and purple gift bag. She took it, finding it heavier than she’d thought it would be for such a small bag, and set her coffee down on the side table. “What’s this?”
More presents?Their kitchen windowsills were full of succulents now, and it seemed every time the man went to town, he came home with something for her, even if it was just one of the chocolate bars she’d been craving.
“Open it.”
After she removed several layers of tissue paper, the rich smell of wood and lacquer wafted out. She reached in and lifted a rectangular object out of the bag. She gasped when she saw it was a box, identical to the one her father’s letters were in, right down to the cherry blossoms and puzzle to open it. “How? Where?”
Nathan chuckled and reached across her to grab the older box from the table beside her. “You never noticed the initials on the back of your father’s box, did you?”
He turned it over and pointed to three small letters carved into the bottom right corner.JPU. They could only stand for one person she knew.Jeremiah Peter Urban.Stunned,she ran her fingers over the letters, and then checked the bottom of the box Nathan had given her. The same initials had been carved into the same exact spot. “Jeremiah made these?”
“Uh-huh. I noticed the initials a few months ago and asked him if he’d made the box. He said your father had him design it after his divorce. Jeremiah was around twenty at the time. I guess Jason wanted a safe place for the letters after Chasity almost burned them.”
She reverently fingered the cherry blossoms on the new box. “I know he likes to do woodwork, but I never realized he was this talented. He never lets anyone else in his little workshop, not even me.”
“He calls it his sanctuary. I think it’s because he can just be himself in there. No one is watching him, judging him, or criticizing him. I get the feeling his parents never encouraged him to be anything but a cattle rancher who would take over the family business after they died. Even after they moved away, he still can’t find the courage to show the rest of the world his talent. If the box had been for anyone else but you, I don’t think he would’ve made it. Apparently, it had taken quite a bit of convincing and some money, at a time when Jeremiah really needed it, for him to give in and make the box for your father. Jeremiah said when he’d finally delivered the box to your father, it’d been one of the few times he’d seen something other than misery and anger in Jason’s eyes. He said the best he could describe it was a combination of longing and regret.”
Leaning over, she kissed Nathan on the lips. “Thank you for this.”
His eyes sparkled. “Open the box, Wannabe.”
She gave him a quizzical look but did as he’d requested. Her eyes filled with tears when she lifted the lid and saw a stack of letters inside, wrapped up with baling twine. The top envelope had her scrawled penmanship on it and was addressed to “Any Soldier”.
“Both my letters and yours are in there, and I put them all in order. When our daughter is old enough, I figure she’ll want to know all about how we met and fell in love. She’ll also want to know about her grandparents—all of them—and also my sister. I have plenty of pictures and stuff from my family, but your father’s letters tell so much more about him, your mom, and you than any photograph ever could.”
Willow kissed him again. “I love you so much. Thank you doesn’t feel like a big enough thing to say.”
“You’re welcome, baby.” He took both boxes and put them on the table. “Ready to go?”
She nodded. “Yeah, if you can help me up.”
Chuckling, he said, “My pleasure,” and stood before taking both her hands and helping her to her feet.
Today would’ve been her father’s fifty-eighth birthday, and they were taking flowers to the cemetery to leave on his grave. The headstone Willow had ordered a few months ago was finally in place. She’d selected a rose-colored granite slab and had requested that cherry blossoms be carved into it along with the names of both her parents, with their years of births and deaths. She’d arranged for her mother’s ashes to be removed from a mausoleum in Philadelphia and sent to her, so she could bury them with her father. Fate may have only given them a short time together in life, just long enough that Willow came into existence, but now they could be joined forever in the afterlife.
As Nathan gathered the boxes and her coffee mug, movement out of the corner of Willow’s eye caught her attention. “Well, look who finally decided to show up. Fred, why’re you running late today and who do you have with you?”
The prairie dog sniffed the air as Ethel rushed over to greet him and his much smaller companion, nosing and circling them both. “Looks like he brought one of his offspring with him—maybe showing his kid the ropes,” Nathan suggested.
Willow concurred with him. Without fail, Fred made his daily mecca to the dish of seeds she left out for him on the back porch. To keep the birds, who had their own feeders on the property, from eating it all on him, she’d put a dome cover on it and turned the opening, so it was facing the wall. She left just enough room for Fred to climb in and stuff his cheeks with the goodies. He would then take them back to his family. “I guess we should name him Little Ricky then, even though that was Lucy and Desi’s son.”
“That works for me, but how can you tell if it’s a boy?”
“I can’t. But then again, I have no idea if Fred is a boy either.” She shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like I ever got close enough to take a peek to see what sort of parts he’s packing.”
He stared at her in shock for a moment then burst out laughing. “And all this time I’ve felt like a clueless idiot, trying to figure out how you knew it was a male!”
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