“Yes, ma’am. You’ll always have a home with me and Catalina. Though I don’t expect you to make any big decisions today.”
“It sounds like Cat has, though,” she says, eyeing me curiously.
“I have,” I confirm, savoring the way my handsome cowboy’s face lights up. His big hand caresses my shoulder firmly, so much need throbbing beneath the surface of his chaste gesture.
“Oh, my goodness,” Gran exclaims. “I hear wedding bells in your future, mon couchon.”
My cheeks heat as I sidelong glance at Ambrose.
Leaning closer to Grandma, he mock whispers, “Don’t tell her yet. I don’t want to scare her off.”
Gran laughs until tears roll down her cheeks. “Do you understand now why I bid on the fireman?” she asks, raising her eyebrows and looking at me. “He’s perfect for you, and he couldn’t have come at a better time.”
“Yes, heisperfect,” I agree, looking up at my gorgeous lover. “But what do you mean by a ‘better time’?”
“Cat, darling, you need someone in your life. Someone to care for you, like Grandpa always did for me. I know you want to be independent and do for yourself like your mom. But she only did those things because she had to. You don’t have to spend your life struggling alone.”
Her words hit me square in the chest. I’ve told myself for years that independence was strength, but suddenly it feels like loneliness in disguise.
“I know,” I admit softly as Ambrose draws me closer, supporting me through touch. “But I honestly thought for the longest time that you and I were enough.”
She squeezes my hand, eyes pooling. “I won’t be with you forever.”
“Please don’t say that, Gran.”
“I don’t want to, but it’s true, mon couchon.”
My eyes moisten, the thought twisting through me like an icy knife. I know she’s right. It’s the way of nature, and yet I can’t think about it without wanting to curl up in a ball and cry. Like the little girl when she learned her dad had vanished for good.
“Oh, Cat, don’t cry. You know I don’t want to ever leave you. But I also want so badly to see my Ferdinand again. You having someone who cherishes you is the best possible gift God could send me. A peace I’ve been needing.”
Ambrose brings his hand up, gently wiping tears from my cheeks. “Guess Grandma made the winning bid of a lifetime.”
“Yes,” I sigh wistfully, taking in his handsome face. “And I’m keeping my prize.”
Unable to hold back her excitement any longer, the sage lady declares, “See, I told you so.”
“Yes, you did, Gran.”
“I just wish I could come home with you today. This hospital is so loud and busy. Hard to sleep, and the food? It’s nothing like your cooking, Cat,” Gran says.
“Wait until you try Ambrose’s cooking. I don’t know about lunch and dinner, but his breakfasts are first-rate.”
Grandma beams. “Avery Ross was a terrible cook. Couldn’t throw two things together that were edible as I recall.”
Ambrose chuckles. “Yes, he was. But he’s not me, and I’m done playing roles. What I plan on building with you and your granddaughter is real and enduring. The family I’ve always longed for.”
“Tell me about your family,” Gran urges, motioning for us to grab the seats positioned on the other side of her bed.
Ambrose brings them around to me, and we sit next to the bed.
“They’re good people, the Dutches. Can’t wait to introduce you to them. They own a big ranch on the outskirts of L.A., though recent droughts and wildfires have made things tougher for them. I’ve got three younger brothers, all cowboys. Two are in Texas and one in Montana. All married with children.”
His eyes tenderly graze over me as he says the last part, and my heart fills to bursting. The thought of children never tempted me before. But with this man? It would be a dream come true.
“They really kept me grounded when all that Hollywood hubbub was going on. So did moving in with my great-grandpa and helping care for him. He lived on the southern part of the ranch, refusing to move to the main house where my parents lived. So, I volunteered to help, learning plenty about caring for others, family loyalty, and cowboy grit along the way.”
He looks down, a sudden sadness shadowing his face. When his eyes find mine again, sorrow shines in them. “When I lost him, just after finishing my Master’s Degree in Fire Management, I was a wreck. Wasn’t sure how to go on without him. But then,” he says, patting the place over his heart. “I learned that he would always be here with me.”
