Still groggy, Lee took a minute to focus on everybody in the room. Finally, she found Jake, and his heart dropped. Her face automatically folded into distress.
“Grayboy?” she asked, her voice not much more than a rasp. “Jake, is he all right?”
“You’re all right,” he retorted, bending past his other sister and all the machinery to deposit a kiss on the girl’s forehead. “I think that’s plenty for one night.”
“Oh, he’s dead, isn’t he?” she asked, tearing up. “Jake, I’m sorry—”
Jake battled the harsh ache in his chest as he finally let go of Amanda to take his sister’s hand in both of his. “Grayboy is a horse, honey. As much as I like horses, I happen to like my baby sister a hell of a lot more. I’d say I still made out great on the deal. Although we do need to talk about the fact that you were much too close to the edge of that ravine—”
“Jake—” his siblings and Amanda admonished together.
He nodded. “Good point. I’ll have plenty of chances to chew you out while you’re home getting better.” He lifted a hand to her cheek, to that face he’d thought he’d have to close into a casket, and his breath stopped all over again. “Thanks, squirt. You pretty much saved my worthless hide.”
She still didn’t look relieved. “I shouldn’t have gotten that close,” she whispered. “But there wasn’t room around that curve. And I’d just gotten there—”
“Will you knock it off?” Gen demanded, finally pausing long enough to see her sister in all the machinery. “He just told you he owes you his life. If I were you, I’d be thinking of something astronomical for paybacks. This is the only time you’re gonna get it.”
“Oh, Gen, I—”
Jake couldn’t leave her that way. “All right,” he offered. “How ‘bout this? How ‘bout I give you what you’ve always dreamed of?”
Gen smiled like a pirate. “Oh, this could be very good.”
“I changed my mind,” Lee whispered to Jake, “about what I always dreamed of.”
Jake arched an eyebrow at her. “You don’t want your very own sister-in-law?”
“What?” she demanded.
“What?” Gen echoed, almost bumping her head on the monitor as she came upright.
“What?” Amanda squeaked from behind him.
“Of course I want that,” Lee insisted, affording Amanda a heartfelt glance. “I just... want more.”
“You want me to be able to read your congratulatory telegram,” Jake said.
Lee’s eyes widened. She looked over at her brother and sister and saw the truth in their eyes. She turned back to Jake, and he let her know in silence what he should have let her know last night. That everything was all right. That it would be better.
Finally, her expression eased. “Heck, no,” she retorted with some of her old sauce. “The message I scrawl on your back window in soap.”
Jake turned to Amanda. “I’ve raised a terrorist,” he complained. “How encouraging.”
“Is it a deal?” Lee demanded.
Jake pretended to think about it. “I guess I wouldn’t mind finding out if that Amanda Marlow character’s the writer she’s cracked up to be.”
As much as she could, Lee beamed. “Can I be maid of honor?”
“Depends on if I can hold out that long,” Jake said.
“Depends on if I say yes,” Amanda amended.
They all turned on her.
“What would work better?” Zeke asked. “Threats or bribery?”
“If you don’t marry him,” Gen echoed, “who will?”
