Chapter Fifteen
Luke’s Ranch — The next day
The gentle snow that had started in the afternoon the day before had turned into a full-blown blizzard.
Madelaine stood in front of the window and watched the wild flurries whirl around in all kinds of directions.
It got to the point where she couldn’t even see the barn anymore, so she decided to get out there to check on Tinsel and the other horses before it became impossible to do so.
Simon and Belle were playing lazily on the bed. Both of them had a big breakfast, so now their bellies were full, and the cozy warmth of the room seemed to be making them tired.
“Simon?” she asked quietly. The boy raised his head. His eyes were half-closed already. ”I would like to ask you if you could look after Belle for a moment,” she said.
Simon looked at Belle, who had curled up into a tight little ball. By the looks of it, she was falling asleep as Madelaine spoke. Not surprisingly, Simon nodded and curled up next to his little sister. Madelaine pulled a blanket over both of them.
“No pro’lem,” he said with a content smile, and Madelaine knew that he was falling asleep too. She watched them for a couple of minutes longer, then she slipped into her heavy woolen coat.
The minute Madelaine stepped through the back door into the backyard, the wind was so strong she had to brace herself. The howling was much louder out here, and she had to hold onto her hood with both hands as the whipping wind pulled hard against it from ever-changing directions. It was wild.
Determined, Madelaine began to trudge through the snow, which reached all the way up to her calves. She really should have come out here earlier.
Battling the elements, she finally reached the large barn door.
Pushing against it as hard as she could, Madelaine was only able to slide it a foot and a half, bunching up the snow on the other side.
It was enough for her to slip through the opening.
The second she got inside, closing the door as well as she could, she felt instant relief.
Shaking the snow off her hood and shoulders, Madelaine was greeted by Tinsel, who put her head out of her stall with a soft whinny.
“Hello, my sweet girl,” Madelaine said, slightly breathless. “How are you doing today?”
She stepped inside the stall and examined Tinsel’s leg, which had improved so much the wound had completely closed up and taken on a darker pink tone. “You are much improved, sweetheart. I am so very happy about that,” she said, as she scratched the mare’s neck below its long mane.
The temperature inside the barn was a little milder because the warm bodies of the horses heated up even a large space such as this.
It was enough that Madelaine could take off her coat and hang it on a hook outside of Tinsel’s stall.
She grabbed a soft brush and began to slide it in long strokes over Tinsel’s body.
The mare seemingly approved, because she leaned into every single one.
“Do you like this?” Madelaine laughed softly. She loved grooming horses; they had such a positive energy about them. “I thank the Lord that he saved you, every single day, you know?” Madelaine told her. “And I thank Luke, too, because he is the one who saved us.”
Madelaine stopped brushing the horse halfway when her thoughts drifted to the man she’d married just two days ago.
“I told you yesterday that I got married, but…” She began to smile, because Madelaine still couldn’t believe that this had actually happened.
“Just between us girls, Luke did look very handsome in his suit,” she told the mare.
“Let me tell you, his hair looked so soft, I almost wanted to touch it. Oh, and the sunlight on his face made his hazel eyes glow so much they actually looked like they were gold. Gorgeous eyes.”
She said this last bit more to herself than Tinsel. Madelaine had been mesmerized by them, and she even remembered the way he had smelled, all woodsy and masculine, just before he…
Madelaine couldn’t help herself. She giggled like a teenager when she thought about that moment. “I was so nervous when the priest announced that he could kiss the bride. I had never been kissed before! I didn’t even know what to do, or how!” she exclaimed.
Tinsel snorted, and Madelaine laughed with her at the absurdity of it all.
“You know, I always thought that kissing someone was just a physical motion, where you’d feel the lips touching, but nothing else.
But that is not true. It’s so much more…
” Madelaine stopped herself, because she didn’t even really know what she was saying.
She couldn’t put into words what more meant.
Just thinking about all of it made her shiver, and a small tingle trickled down her spine.
“You have to promise me not to tell anybody what I’ve just told you, okay?” she said, still giggling. “This is our little secret.” She bribed Tinsel with a handful of grains.
Leaving her stall, Madelaine went to check on the other horses in the barn, filling up their water from the inside well pump—which had been an ingenious idea by whoever had come up with it—and she gave all of them extra hay, as well as some grain as a treat.
As of right now, there was no telling how long this storm would go on for, so she wanted to make sure that they would be fine until tomorrow.
Wrapped up in her shawl and coat, Madelaine went to open the barn door from the inside, but she needed to push a lot harder against it than previously. She’d barely managed to open it far enough to squeeze through when she was greeted by a ferocious wind gust that almost knocked her over.
She tried to pull the handle to close the sliding door, but it didn’t move.
She needed to pull it with both hands, so she was forced to let go of her hood and coat, which immediately whipped around her body like a huge sail.
Fighting the cold wind gusts, she strained to dig her heels into the deep snow to move the large door, but to no avail. The thing didn’t even move an inch.
Suddenly, she heard a familiar howl—Buster!
At first, she couldn’t see the bloodhound in the blizzard; she could only hear his distinct howl coming nearer. Then she saw the large shadow approach her, seconds before he barreled right into her, almost knocking her over.
“What are you doing here, Buster? Did you get out?” she called out to the huge dog, who was clearly excited to see her.
“What are you doing out here?” A familiar voice called out to her before she could see him.
Luke.
He appeared just like Buster had—a tall, large shadow amidst the whirling snow, walking in long strides straight toward her. Why was her heart racing all of a sudden?
“I came home early because of the bad weather,” he yelled against the wind, “and when I couldn’t find you in the house, I had to wake up Simon to find out that you had gone to the barn, alone?
Why would you do such a thing?” he exclaimed in a rush of words.
He seemed annoyed as he stood so close in front of her.
Holding onto her hood and coat, Madelaine tried to look up at him. “I had to check on the horses, to make sure they were okay…”
Luke grabbed her shoulders, turned her around, and pushed her through the tiny opening back inside the barn before he and Buster followed her.
Madelaine didn’t know what she should feel about the fact that he had just touched her like that.
“I’m not mad,” he said, closing his eyes for a brief moment. He continued with a slightly softer tone. “But don’t you know that Alvarez stays here overnight when the weather is this bad? He has a room in the other end of the barn, behind the tack room,” Luke explained, pointing toward the back.
“Alvarez is here?” Madelaine gasped. Her eyes darted in the direction Luke was pointing, and she saw a faint light falling into the walkway between the stalls, all the way at the far end of the barn. How had she not noticed it before?
Her hand flew to her mouth when she realized that she had told Tinsel all those things, thinking that she was entirely alone. Alvarez could have heard every single word she’d said!
“Oh!” was all she could muster. With the howling storm raging on the outside, maybe Alvarez hadn’t heard her come in. Or rather, she really, really hoped that he hadn’t.
Luke raised one eyebrow at her reaction. “We have to go now, or I will have to carry you back. This storm is shaping up to be one of the bad ones,” he said.
“Then let’s go!” Madelaine exclaimed. She darted back toward the opening in the door. As soon as she stepped outside again, her billowing coat pulled her like an oversized sail.
Luke followed her, and the two of them worked together to get the barn door closed. Luke pushed against the back, while Madelaine pulled at the handle. After the third attempt, the large door finally moved, and they could shut it properly.
The blizzard had reached a level Madelaine had not experienced before.
She could barely see her hand in front of her face.
Before she could walk a single step, Luke grabbed both of her hands, twisted himself slightly below her, then pulled her arms over his shoulders and her onto his back. Madelaine yelped at the manhandling.
True to his word, Luke carried her—piggyback style—closely following Buster’s distant howling, all the way to the back door of the house.
***
When they finally burst into the kitchen, Luke was out of breath.
When he set Madelaine down, he saw that her entire face and hair were covered with snow, and he realized that her hood must have blown off in the wind.
With him holding her arms to carry her, she had no way of covering herself.
He remembered her shouting at him, but he’d been too focused on getting her back to the house.
Now she had snow in her eyes, her ears, her nose, and her eyebrows were caked with it.
She glared at him. Obviously, she wasn’t too happy.
“I am so sorry!” he exclaimed, as he began to brush the snow off her. Madelaine immediately jumped away from him.
“Get off! What do you think you’re doing?” she asked loudly.
“Getting the snow off of you!” Luke replied, equally as loud. “You’re covered from head to…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Madelaine swiped the snow off her hair and face. Then she released the fastening below her chin in one swift move and let the entire coat drop to the floor—snow and all.
Luke opened his mouth but closed it again without saying a word.
“You’re completely covered, too, you know,” she said dryly. “Your whole beard has frozen snowballs in it!”
Luke touched his face and felt small balls solidly frozen into his beard. He hadn’t even noticed the weight of them. How ridiculous must he look right now?
He watched as Madelaine bit her lower lip. Was she trying not to laugh? This whole situation was ridiculous.
“Ah! You’ve found her!” Caleb’s voice came from the doorway. Evelyn followed her husband with Belle on her arm. Both gasped and stopped in their tracks, openly staring at the icy faces of Luke and Madelaine.
“Yeah, I found her all right,” Luke said, looking back at Madelaine.
Buster ran past both of them, howling loudly as he was being chased by Simon, who came to an abrupt stop right in front of Luke. “You got snowballs in your beard!” Simon yelled, pointing straight at him with a snorty giggle.
Madelaine’s shoulders began to twitch. It was only a little bit at first, but it became increasingly strong, and then he heard Madelaine chuckle.
“I had to carry her back! Piggyback-style,” Luke said to Simon, who responded with a cackle. Madelaine stared up at him, seemingly shocked, but then she doubled over and burst out laughing.
Caleb and Evelyn were staring with open mouths.
Hearing Madelaine laugh like this was the most melodic sound Luke had ever heard.
Her face lit up, and when she looked at him, her bright green eyes sparkled with mischief and crinkled a little in the corners.
She laughed wholeheartedly, a full belly laugh, and it seemed to release all the tension in her body. It was beautiful to watch.
Luke lost the fight. He joined in, and they both laughed until Luke was holding his sides and Madelaine had to wipe tears from her face.