Chapter Thirty-Eight
Three months later
Sarah leaned on the white wood corral’s fence and gazed at her alfalfa field.The grass had grown tall and green.The man she loved stood behind her, his chest to her back, his arms draped on the top rail.He nuzzled the back of her neck.She sighed in deep pleasure.The serenity she’d longed for filled her soul.
“Just pick a date,” Ben urged her.“I want to know when.”
Sarah lifted her left hand and admired the diamond engagement ring flashing in the late afternoon sunshine.In the past few months, she’d admired the stone a thousand times.She was going to be Mrs.Ben Paxton.“Okay, how about a Christmas wedding?”
“That’s months away,” he said.“Why so long?”
“It’s only three months,” she said, laughing, delighted he wanted to hurry the date of their marriage.“You can wait.”
He grunted, kissing her hair.“You’re my Sweep Pea.I just want to make you mine for real.”
She turned in his arms, raising her lips to his.Twining her arms about his neck, she whispered against his mouth, “I’m already yours.”
He stared into her eyes.“I don’t want you to go to New York again.”
“It’s just for a four-day campaign, for the perfume company.”
“When you’re gone, four days is a long time.”
She laughed.“Worth the money.That contract will go a long way toward building the feed barn.”
“We don’t need that income,” he said.“I’ll make it.May take a little longer, but I will.”
She took his face between her hands.“I know, Ben.But I’m only required to go to New York for promotion four times in the next year, and just for a few days at a time.I’ve already been there once, so it’s three more trips, okay?I don’t know how much more semi-retired I can get.”
“Do you really want to model again?”
She shrugged.“I don’t like leaving you.Yet as long as there’s a demand, I think it’s a good idea to accept a contract or two each year.It’s excellent money.But I won’t be popular forever.Fresh new faces arrive on the catwalks every day.Soon, I’ll be an old, ugly has-been.”
He threw back his head and laughed.“You may grow old, and you might become a has-been, but you’ll never be ugly.”
Sarah smiled.“I love you, Ben Paxton.”
“I love—”
“Sarah!”Her name was called from the porch.With her hands curled around the railing, Milly waved at her, an apron covering her pretty dress.Fashionable heels covered her feet.For the past three months she and Jim had become inseparable.Sarah was grateful these two had finally figured things out.They seemed blissfully happy.
“Sarah,” Milly repeated, “I need you in here.Becca and I are having an argument about your recipe for the spaghetti sauce.Should we add spicy sausage or mild?”
“Both,” Sarah answered.She and Ben held hands and started up the steps into the house.
Inside the living room, Rio reclined in a chair, a beer bottle in his hand, one of his twins asleep on his chest.Big Jim sat in an open-kneed manspread on the couch.Becca held the other child in a sling on her chest.She stood with Milly in the kitchen doorway, her shiny dark hair framing her face.
Becca said to Milly, “Looks like we were both right about the sauce.”
****
Ben watched the threewomen disappear into the kitchen, where savory smells of simmering sauce wafted through the doorway.His woman was not only gorgeous but whip smart and a fantastic cook.It was an old fashioned and unbeatable combination.He was truly blessed.
Grabbing a beer from a nearby cooler, he dropped into a wing chair.He looked at Big Jim.“Well, everybody’s here, just as you wanted.Is it time?”
