“The best day of my childhood happened on this beach,” she reflected.
“Tell me about it.” He laid his coat out in the sand and gestured for her to sit on it before taking the spot next to her. “Tell me more about your mama.”
Goodness, where did she start? “She’d been hurt, and she could sometimes be harsh with others as a result. She was fiercely protective of me. She was often stressed about money, especially before we moved in with Grandfather, but then the stress turned to other things. Once, when he had to come to Los Angeles on a business trip, he brought us with him. I assumed he was trying to set Mama up with one of the businessmen here to get us out of his hair and make an advantageous match, but Mama never played by his rules.”
Micah smirked, his thumb tracing a pattern on her hand as he held it. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
She shrugged, smiling with feigned innocence. “Anyway, the last morning we were here, he disinvited us to breakfast as a result. Mama brought me out to the beach in front of our hotel, and we walked around in our bare feet for hours looking for shells. Feeling the sand between my toes felt like freedom, as did the breeze on my face.”
“You said you found a starfish?” She’d told Micah about the beach day before, but only in passing. Still, the fact he’d clearly understood how important the moment was to her and did his best to get them to visit the beach before they left meant more to her than he’d ever know.
“We did. Miss Lutken and I had been reading through a book about sea creatures, and the starfish was one of my favorites. Mama knew that, so she’d let me hold it before I threw it back. That day, it was like the lines on her face from stress and heartache were a little softer, her shoulders were a little less tense. She looked ten years younger. It was just me and Mama enjoying the ocean.”
She lowered her head onto his shoulder, staring out at the blue sky over the darker blue ocean. Waves continued to crash against the shore, but it felt like they were the only two people in the world. “Thank you for giving me this.”
Ellie felt him press a kiss to her hair as they sat there a little longer. “I’ll give you everything you’ll let me, darlin’.” He spoke with conviction, but she could also hear the smallest piece of insecurity in his words. She wasn’t sure exactly how or when yet, but it was time to make sure her husband understood he wasn’t the only one in this marriage for the long haul. Having her trust now would make things easier if they ever decided to access it, but there was more to life than money and security.
For the first eighteen years of Ellie’s life, she’d felt a little like the starfish tossed about in the waves until she accidentally landed on the shore in Texas. Maybe, unlike the starfish who needed the water to survive, the shore was exactly where she was supposed to be all along.
Chapter Seventeen
“Hear me out,” Abe said as they all sat on a cluster of picnic blankets once the Founder’s Day program completed. “They sounded great, and no one ended up with a frog down their shirt while they were performing.”
Louisa’s mouth dropped open. “Please don’t tell me you or one of your brothers did that.” She and Isaac sat on a blanket with Sophia, Reuben, Will, Cecily, Toby, and Liza. The other children sat on another with Jacob and Callie, while Abe, Micah, and Ellie sat with Hal, Florence, and Pastor Jim. “You know, some days I understand how Victoria Lowell ended up so disagreeable.”
From what Louisa had told Ellie, Victoria Lowell had been the harsh and unforgiving teacher who’d both highly disliked all the Sutton brothers and subsequently kicked the children Isaac had taken in out of school after an incident with the oldest boy, Toby. It had been what resulted in Louisa’s hiring, as they needed someone to come to the ranch and teach them.
They weren’t actually poorly behaved. The circumstances surrounding their upbringings were quite difficult, and thetrauma they’d endured was bound to have an effect on their day to day lives. Still, stuffing a frog down someone’s shirt during a performance was enough to make a teacher pull her hair out.
As for today, the Founder’s Day program had actually gone quite well. At one point, Jenny Rains had turned around and slapped Austin for poking her with a stick while Connor Gregory had gotten sick to his stomach from nerves and thrown up mid-song. A couple of the other boys poked each other in the ribs, resulting in a few shoves further up the wooden risers, and a couple of the kids sang far too loudly to blend.
Still, as far as Ellie was concerned, it had been perfect. They sat and ate dinner on the picnic blankets, the potluck taking place before the dance they’d have to finish the night. Cecily had insisted on cooking a good portion of the food they brought, and she’d outdone herself. “Cecily,” Ellie said as the Sutton brothers continued to good-naturedly squabble over who was responsible for the frog. “Your fried chicken, potato salad, and brownies are absolutely delicious. I could easily make a meal from them alone.”
Cecily had worked so hard, barely even letting Liza help her as she wanted to prove she could do it all on her own. “Thank you. The potato salad was a bit of an experiment, but I’m glad we had enough dill relish leftover from this summer’s canning to give it the kick it needed.”
They sure had, as apparently they’d had quite the cucumber harvest the year before. Gardening was something Ellie knew very little about, but Louisa planned to teach her so she could start a garden of her own. Now they were back in Texas, the question of when she’d move in to live with her husband hung in the air. He hadn’t pushed her, but she knew he’d been hard at work on the cabin he’d built for them.
Micah wanted it to be a surprise, so she hadn’t gone to look - something which tested every bit of willpower she had. For themoment, she and Louisa still shared the cottage, and Ellie would cherish their nightly talks and morning giggles.
On the stage Hal and a few other men had built for the festival, a fiddler took his spot and began to play an upbeat tune. Cecily and Liza’s eyes widened, as did some of the boys. “Can we go dance, Papa? I wonder if they’ll have someone to teach us the group dances.” Micah told her Cloverdale had had a few dances over the years, but it had only been since Louisa arrived the Suttons had felt welcome enough to join.
Callie’s eyes sparkled as she looked over Jacob’s shoulder at her father. “I think there’s a good chance.”
“Sure is, firefly,” Pastor Jim said as he jumped to his feet. “Come on, kiddos. Let’s go dance!” With the agility of a man half his age, Jim led all the Sutton children, as well as children from other families to a cluster on the grass while he took the stage. “Alrighty, folks, come and take your spot,” his deep voice boomed from the stage. “I’m gonna teach ya the two step.”
Ellie let out a laugh so deep it left her stomach aching. “Who knew the pastor doubled as a dance caller?”
Jacob and Callie both wore wide grins, clearly aware of Jim’s talents. “Dancing is one of his great joys in life, and he’s been calling dances in town as long as I can remember.” She held out a hand to Jacob. “He’ll be disappointed if we don’t take advantage.”
Popping to his feet as well and taking her hand to help her up, Jacob grinned wide. “Can’t disappoint my future father-in-law. Let me take you for a spin around the dance floor.”
Abandoned by all the children, Isaac and Louisa followed, as did Abe where he pulled Florence out to the dance floor as well. Finally, it was only Micah and Ellie left as what felt like the entire town did their best to follow Jim’s call. Many of them had two left feet, but it was far and away more fun than anything she was used to.
“If the balls back in California were anything like this, I might’ve actually had some fun.” Sadness at everything she missed growing up with a grandfather who clearly hated her enough to force her into a marriage with an evil man twice her age threatened, but she let it go. Jumping to her own feet, Ellie held out a hand to the man she’d slowly but surely fallen in love with over the last few months. “What do you say about taking me for a spin?”
Micah stood and pulled her into his arms, startling a giggle from her. “It’d be my honor, ma’am. A cowboy never turns down a dance invitation.”
How long they danced, she had no idea, but all of a sudden she looked up and the sky had gone dark. The dancing still took place around them, sometimes slow and others fast, but it was only then she realized how dry her mouth had gotten. “Do you mind us getting some water and stepping away from all the people for a moment?”
