“We should thank Him!” Caleb added then. “You should go to church with me and thank the Lord! He provided us with something we so desperately needed!”
“The gang did,” Luke replied with a flat look. “Not God.”
“It will bring you peace to speak to God. After a long, hard day such as today, I like to go to church because it’s quiet, and I can speak to the Lord in peace. We’ll ride right by the church on our way home…”
“I am not going!” Luke finally yelled. “You can go and speak to your God! I will go home. To my wife!”
Caleb raised his eyebrows at that last bit, and Luke himself was surprised that he had said it. Madelaine’s face popped up in his mind. Where did that come from?
He tried to fight it, but he had to admit that she’d looked very beautiful at their wedding yesterday. He had to admit that he wanted to know more abouther.
So far, they hadn’t spent a lot of time together, but those few moments had been enticing. As he’d expected, given the circumstances involved with their sudden wedding, they had spent last night in their separate rooms. Luke had spent most of the night thinking about their kiss. He hadn’t felt a woman’s body that close for a long time, and it had stirred up all kinds of emotions in him when his lips had touched hers.
He definitely couldn’t deny the physical attraction to her. He was a man after all. And now, this gorgeous young lady was his wife.
Luke was overcome with a strange combination of new and old feelings, all warring inside of him—curiosity about this new marriage, slight guilt for taking a new wife, excitement about a better future with a new family, and a little discomfort, because those children would take the place of his. He hadn’t allowed himself to actually feel any of those things, but now everything had changed, and Madelaine had opened a lock he’d previously deemed closed up forever.
By the time they rode into Stevensville, night had fallen. There were only a few lights illuminating Main Street, and when Caleb turned toward the church at the end of the road, Luke didn’t feel the usual resentment.
In fact, he hadn’t forgotten his own devotion to God. Before everything had happened, he’d felt nothing but love and respect for Him. As he left Caleb to visit the church, a small crack appeared in Luke’s heart, and he began to question his decision not to go.
Chapter Fifteen
Luke’s Ranch — The next day
The gentle snow that had started in the afternoon the day before had turned into a full-blown blizzard. Madelaine stood in front of the window and watched the wild flurries whirl around in all kinds of directions. It got to the point where she couldn’t even see the barn anymore, so she decided to get out there to check on Tinsel and the other horses before it became impossible to do so.
Simon and Belle were playing lazily on the bed. Both of them had a big breakfast, so now their bellies were full, and the cozy warmth of the room seemed to be making them tired.
“Simon?” she asked quietly. The boy raised his head. His eyes were half-closed already. ”I would like to ask you if you could look after Belle for a moment,” she said.
Simon looked at Belle, who had curled up into a tight little ball. By the looks of it, she was falling asleep as Madelaine spoke. Not surprisingly, Simon nodded and curled up next to his little sister. Madelaine pulled a blanket over both of them.
“No pro’lem,” he said with a content smile, and Madelaine knew that he was falling asleep too. She watchedthem for a couple of minutes longer, then she slipped into her heavy woolen coat.
The minute Madelaine stepped through the back door into the backyard, the wind was so strong she had to brace herself. The howling was much louder out here, and she had to hold onto her hood with both hands as the whipping wind pulled hard against it from ever-changing directions. It was wild.
Determined, Madelaine began to trudge through the snow, which reached all the way up to her calves. She really should have come out here earlier.
Battling the elements, she finally reached the large barn door. Pushing against it as hard as she could, Madelaine was only able to slide it a foot and a half, bunching up the snow on the other side. It was enough for her to slip through the opening. The second she got inside, closing the door as well as she could, she felt instant relief.
Shaking the snow off her hood and shoulders, Madelaine was greeted by Tinsel, who put her head out of her stall with a soft whinny.
“Hello, my sweet girl,” Madelaine said, slightly breathless. “How are you doing today?”
She stepped inside the stall and examined Tinsel’s leg, which had improved so much the wound had completely closedup and taken on a darker pink tone. “You are much improved, sweetheart. I am so very happy about that,” she said, as she scratched the mare’s neck below its long mane.
The temperature inside the barn was a little milder because the warm bodies of the horses heated up even a large space such as this. It was enough that Madelaine could take off her coat and hang it on a hook outside of Tinsel’s stall. She grabbed a soft brush and began to slide it in long strokes over Tinsel’s body. The mare seemingly approved, because she leaned into every single one.
“Do you like this?” Madelaine laughed softly. She loved grooming horses; they had such a positive energy about them. “I thank the Lord that he saved you, every single day, you know?” Madelaine told her. “And I thank Luke, too, because he is the one who saved us.”
Madelaine stopped brushing the horse halfway when her thoughts drifted to the man she’d married just two days ago. “I told you yesterday that I got married, but…” She began to smile, because Madelaine still couldn’t believe that this had actually happened. “Just between us girls, Luke did look very handsome in his suit,” she told the mare. “Let me tell you, his hair looked so soft, I almost wanted to touch it. Oh, and the sunlight on his face made his hazel eyes glow so much they actually looked like they were gold. Gorgeous eyes.”
She said this last bit more to herself than Tinsel. Madelaine had been mesmerized by them, and she evenremembered the way he had smelled, all woodsy and masculine, just before he…
Madelaine couldn’t help herself. She giggled like a teenager when she thought about that moment. “I was so nervous when the priest announced that he could kiss the bride. I had never been kissed before! I didn’t even know what to do, or how!” she exclaimed.
Tinsel snorted, and Madelaine laughed with her at the absurdity of it all.
