Now he laughed. Not a hilarious how funny are you laugh, but more of a you’ve got to be kidding laugh. “Caring. Oh, Cassie. I don’t care about you, I love you. As in the till death do us part kind of love.”
“You… what?” She knew she was probably gaping like a landed trout.
His smile softened. “I love you, Mrs. Sweet. With everything in me. And if you’re willing, I’d like to see if maybe we can’t renegotiate our little deal.”
Her heart was racing faster than a thoroughbred at the Derby. Could this all be a dream? Maybe any minute she was going to wake up and discover there was no hostage situation, no frazzled teen, no gun, no police, and no renegotiations. Because right about now, she couldn’t think of anything she wanted more than to renegotiate. “Would it help—in the negotiations, that is—if I told you that I love you?”
A smile as wide as the Rio Grande took over his face. “What do you say we go home and find out?”
Chapter Fifteen
The older Kade got, the earlier mornings seemed to roll around, and the harder getting out of bed seemed to be. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, he saw that it was almost five am. Maybe he could steal a few more minutes with his wife. Rolling over, his arm instinctively went to wrap around Cassie, something that had become a morning ritual since that day at the bank, and since they agreed to make this marriage work for real. Not that there was much work involved, loving Cassie was crazy easy. That is when she was here. His eyes sprang open, staring at the empty bed beside him. Where the heck had she gone at this hour?
Showered and dressed, he made his way downstairs in search of his wife. He found his mother at the stove, cooking breakfast the same as she always did, but no sign of Cassie.
“She’s in the barn.” His mother didn’t look at him, but he could see her wide smile.
“The barn?”
“Yeah,” she turned to face him, waving a fork, “that big building with a hay loft and animals by the paddock.”
“Ha ha,” he teased, pouring himself a travel mug of coffee. “Why is she in the barn?”
“Clint mentioned the mare is having a hard labor. Since I can handle breakfast on my own, she went out there to deal with the mare.” Putting a lid on the pan, she turned to her son. “She fits.”
Kade raised his brows at his mom.
“Don’t look at me like that. I love all my children-in-law, but she’s different. She seems to have been born to be a rancher, which, if I might say, is darn unusual for a city girl.”
He’d thought that himself, and he’d noticed almost since the day they’d arrived. She’d taken to everything from the dirty work of mucking stalls, to the hard work of digging fence posts, to the crazy early hours, and everything else in between. He would have loved her regardless, but her love of the ranch life made his heart swell. “She’s definitely a natural.”
“I’ll tell you something else.”
Kade nodded.
“Your dad would be dang pleased to know that there’s someone in this next generation who loves ranching.”
He couldn’t help the smile that teased at the corners of his mouth. “Dad would love her.” And he was pretty sure, Cassie would have loved his father.
“You’re thinking about the future, aren’t you? Funny how time, and the right person, can change what we thought we wanted out of life.” His mom went back to flipping bacon.
All he did was nod. He had to talk to Cassidy before he made any decisions. It was something new for him, not just doing whatever he thought was appropriate. Having to consider someone else’s thoughts and feelings, but he loved it. More than he’d ever thought he could. “Has she had her tea?”
His mom shook her head. “She headed out before the water boiled.”
Taking another couple of minutes, he poured her tea the way he knew she liked it. Putting a lid on the mug, and kissing his mom on the forehead, headed to the barn.
Once he reached the open doors, he could hear Cassie speaking ever so softly, offering words of comfort to the tired first time mare. Following the sound of her voice to the oversized foaling stall in the back of the barn, he came to a stop short of the gate, but able to see everything.
The mare, one of their best quarter horses, was lying on her side in a deep bed of clean straw, her dark coat slick with sweat. Her sides heaved with a ragged, uneven rhythm, and a low, guttural groan rumbled from deep in her chest. Clint stood just outside the stall, his arms leaning on the gate, his expression a mask of professional, worried patience. But it was Cassidy who held Kade’s focus. She was in the stall with the mare, kneeling in the straw near the animal’s head, one hand resting gently on the mare’s neck, her thumb drawing slow, steady circles against the damp hide. Her head was bowed close to the horse’s, and her voice was a low, continuous murmur, a soft, melodic stream of nonsense and reassurance that was the only sound in the stall besides the mare’s labored breathing. She wasn’t a vet or a ranch hand in that moment; she was a calm, steady anchor in a storm of pain and fear. Much like she’d been not long ago for Jacob. This woman was a gift of comfort and peace.
The mare’s muscles bunched for another unproductive contraction. The horse lifted its head, a flicker of panic in its wide, dark eyes. Cassie didn’t flinch. She just kept stroking, her voice never wavering. “It’s okay, mama,” she whispered, the words carrying across the quiet barn. “You’re okay. You can do this.” She leaned in, humming a simple, repetitive tune, a sound so full of gentle empathy that would have soothed the most agitated of beasts.
Hands hanging over the low fence, Clint nodded slowly, a look of profound respect on the new foreman’s weathered face. The seasoned cowboy knew exactly what he was seeing: a quiet miracle of instinct and compassion at work.
Kade unlatched the gate and strolled inside. Sitting beside his wife, he handed her the cup of tea, stroking the mare’s neck so his wife could enjoy her morning brew.
“Thank you.” Her smile bloomed and after the first sip, she heaved a contented sigh. “I really needed that.”
