He nods slowly. His old hands let go of mine. He pulls a handkerchief from his back pocket, touches it to the corner of one eye, and tucks it back away.
"You go put Margaret's ring on that girl, son. You make her happy."
"Yes, sir. I will."
"And you bring her in to meet me sometime when this is all settled."
"I will, Mr. Whitley."
"Go on now."
Banshee and I walk out of the shop. The bell over the door rings behind us.
We get back in the truck. I drive back through with the velvet box on the dash, and Banshee in the passenger seat.
I pull through the gate of Sharp around three-fifty.
Marlena is on the back porch when I come up the steps.
She has a tea towel in her hand and she's drying it slowly, the way she does when she's pretending she's not waiting for somebody.
"Spur."
"Marlena."
Her eyes go to the small bulge in the pocket of my cut where the velvet box is. She doesn't ask. She just smiles. Small. Real.
"She's at the round pen with Cinch. Went out twenty minutes ago. Said she felt like brushing a horse."
"Everybody here?"
"Phantom’s in the living room. Grace and Shadow are up at their cabin. Banshee told Bex about an hour ago and she's already on the swing crying."
"Marlena."
"Yeah, honey?"
"Thank you for stepping up after Jolene."
She puts the tea towel down. Crosses the porch and pulls me into her chest the way she pulls Dakota into her chest.
I let her and close my eyes for a second.
If my own mother were alive, I know she’d be hugging me right now too.
Marlena smells like the kitchen and like a mother and I haven't had one in eleven years.
"Go ask that girl to marry you, Spur."
"I sure plan on it."
"Come back inside after. We're cooking dinner."
I smile and she lets me go.
I walk down off the porch and across the property toward the round pen.
Dakota is at the rail of the round pen with Cinch on the other side, brushing him in long slow strokes the way she's been brushing horses since she was a kid.
