Page 37 of Married By Midnight
When they were done, Sarah invited everyone back in the house for sandwiches. The men declined, stating they needed to get to the ranch.
“Will you stay for some coffee, Reverend?”
“I need to get back to Bachelor. There is a baptism this afternoon and I need to get prepared.” He gave Sarah a hug and looked to Ian. “Walk me to my buggy?”
“Of course.” Ian followed the kindly man out to where his horse and buggy were waiting.
“She’s going to need you more than ever, son. She may look like she is keeping her composure, but underneath she is dying inside.”
“What can I do?’ Ian didn’t want to think about Sarah hurting.
“Love her the best you can, son.”
Reverend Bing climbed up into the carriage and gave the horse a flick of the whip. Ian watched as he headed down the road towards town.
Love her the best you can. Ian was afraid he was already doing just that. Even though he hadn’t formally said anything, he would do just about anything for Sarah.Didn’t that amount to love?
He’d held her as she fell to the floor sobbing when the doctor shook his head and said there was nothing he could do. He made sure that Dell had a proper burial since he knew Sarah wasn’t in any shape to plan a funeral.
He drew her a warm bath and found clean clothes for her. He made sure she ate. He listened as she screamed at him for paying the taxes without letting her know. He left her when she demanded to be alone.
Ian returned to the house. Sarah was no where to be found. She must be laying back down, he thought. He was extremely worried about her. Her eyes were sunken in and she hardly spoke two words to him or the hands that came to help.
Not sure what to do, Ian went into Jacob’s study. Sarah always seemed to find comfort there. He looked around the room. It seemed empty now that the credenza and hutch were gone.
There was a stack of papers on the desk. Ian picked up the first one. It was Jacob’s will. Everything went to his wife. If she was gone, then everything would be given to his surviving children with a fund set up to pay the taxes for ten years.
He put the will aside and lifted the next paper. His eyes skimmed the notes that Jacob had written about allowing Snyder to graze his cattle on the land. It appeared that Jacob realized he couldn’t farm much longer, but his wife didn’t want to leave the side of the mountain. She called it her piece of paradise.
Ian certainly knew that he couldn’t farm the land alone. He didn’t know anything about crops or machinery, but he did know that Sarah wanted to stay here, and he would move heaven and earth to make that possible. He quickly scribbled some ideas down on the paper. He would need to speak to Sarah and show her that it could be done.
Ian brought up his idea to Sarah later that evening. She had appeared for a simple supper of soup and then disappeared back to her room. Ian stood at the door watching her cry. His heart was breaking listening to her cries.
He didn’t enter her room. Even though they had been married for nearly a month, they still slept in different beds. This was Sarah’s private space and he would respect that.
Ian hoped that would change at some point. He had spent quite a bit of time with Sarah and he wanted to spend more. In fact, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her if she would let him.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t want to do that,” she cried, laying down on the bed. She curled up in a ball and softly sobbed into a handkerchief.
“Sarah, we haven’t found your father’s money yet. We can’t spend all our time digging up the farm.”
“We found a jar.”
“Yes. One jar. But one jar does not a fortune make.”
Sarah sat up in the bed. “What do you mean? Do you think it was my father’s intention to die? To leave me handling all this?” She waved her hand around the room.
“May I come in?” Sarah nodded. Ian walked over and sat down on the side of the bed. He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear then tilted her chin, so she was looking at him. “No, I don’t think that was his intention at all. From what you’ve told me, he was the type of man who wanted to make sure that his family was taken care of.”
“But I’m here all alone.”
“No, you aren’t.” Ian brushed away the tears with his thumbs. “You have me. And you’ll have me as long as you want.”
Sarah peered at him from behind her lashes. “What do you mean?”
“I know we said that once I recover my memories and you were able to secure the farm that we would part ways.” He heard Sarah’s breath catch. “But I don’t want to, honey. I don’t know much about farming. I’m a lousy husband and I don’t even know what I could do for work here in Creede. But I do know that I love you and I want to make this better.”
