Chapter 7
“Like this?” Ty set an enormous vase of red roses in the middle of the table he and Libby had just finished setting up. While he’d limped back to the truck, she’d spread a tablecloth over it and set out two plates.
“Yes,” she said. “That looks great.” She set down a couple of candles, then picked one back up to switch it on. Ty really didn’t see the point of all of this. It was broad daylight, for crying out loud, and he couldn’t even see the fake flickering of candlelight.
No wonder he’d never proposed to Jenn. He didn’t want to go through the whole show of this. No, when he asked a woman to marry him, he simply wanted to show up on her doorstep, tell her he loved her, and beg her to be his for the rest of this life.
Maybe that was why he’d never gotten close to engaged.
He thought of Winnie, because the woman had embedded herself in his mind. She’d been there for a while, and he just hadn’t realized it until someone else had pointed her out.
“Do women like this stuff?” he asked as he peered into the box Libby had carried from the truck. He found a bright teal stuffed dinosaur, and he lifted it out. “Like….”
He met his friend’s eyes, and she beamed a smile at him. “Yes, Ty.” She took the dinosaur from him and positioned it on one of the plates. “Women like this stuff.” She stepped back and looked at the table, set for a romantic meal for two in the shade.
“It’s not about the roses or the candles or the trinkets.” She turned and picked up the box, holding it toward him.
Ty plucked out the only remaining item: a scrapbook, by the looks of it.
“Open that so they can both see it, behind the roses,” Libby said.
He did what she said. “If it’s not about the stuff, what’s it about?”
Libby smiled at the table display. “The roses might be the most generic thing here. But Ellie works at the museum.” She reached out and tapped the dinosaur. “She leads school groups through the dinosaur exhibit. Bryan knows that, and he knows she loves her job.”
Libby looked over to Ty. “Let’s go get the food out.” She stepped that way, and Ty took one more look at the table before he went with her. She never made him feel like he wasn’t good enough now that he was permanently injured, walked with a limp, and had to walk on her left side to hear her.
“The book is filled with pictures of them,” he said. “Bryan made that.”
Libby smiled at him. “Yep. It’ll be full of all their intimate moments together.
All of the little things they’ve done, all of their experiences that have made them into them.
Ellie will love it, and she’ll fall even more in love with Bryan when she sees stuff like that, because it tells her that he listens.
He pays attention. He knows what’s important to her, and he’s going to spend his life making sure she’s happy. ”
Ty watched the ground, though they hadn’t gone too far out into the field. “What if a man has a bad memory?” He tossed the now-empty box into the back of his truck, and together, he and Libby reached for the cooler.
Libby met his eyes. “Most men have phones,” she said coolly. “They can send themselves emails or take notes on the things they want to remember.”
Ty blinked, and they started the trip back to the table. “I can’t believe we’re the two people out here doin’ this,” he grumbled. “I can’t walk, and you hurt your shoulder during the harvest.”
“Bryan trusts us,” Libby said simply. “Besides, I’m pretty much better. Winnie’s helped so much.”
Winnie again.
“Yeah,” Ty said as they reached the table and set down the cooler. He let out a long sigh. “Okay, I think Bryan said he just wanted the Rice Krispy treats out.” He bent with a groan, already tired after a long morning of dog training, and took out the treats his brother had made and packed.
“When do you think they’ll get married?” Libby asked while Ty arranged the treats between the two plates.
“Ellie wants pumpkins and corn stalks,” Ty said as he stepped back and surveyed the table. “And my momma said Bryan couldn’t have his wedding within three months of Carolina and Hugh, so….” He grinned over to Libby. “It’s September or later, and I don’t really know when the exact date will be.”
“Carolina is getting married the first week of June?” Libby asked. “I’m pretty sure that’s what I have on my calendar.”
“Yeah,” Ty said, though he didn’t have the exact date memorized. Perhaps he really did need to write down more information.
“I think it’s only a week before I’m due.” Libby sighed and wiped her hair back, then put her cowgirl hat back on her head.
Ty gaped at her. “You’re pregnant?”
Libby gave him a smile that suddenly seemed very tired. “Yeah. I haven’t made it to the ranch owner’s meetings to tell people, so I figure the more people I tell, it’ll spread through town without me having to say anything.”
Ty blinked at her. “And you’re telling me?” He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not part of the rumor mill, Libs.”
“No, but your mother is,” she said.
“So is yours,” he said without missing a beat.
“Yeah, and that’s how I know you have a date with a mystery woman to Judy and Trooper’s wedding next weekend.” Libby bumped him with her hip and nodded to the cooler. “Push that further under the table, and let’s get out of the sun. I’m tired, and the bright light hurts my head.”
She shaded her eyes while Ty did what she said.
They returned to his truck, and Ty drove them back to the epicenter of Three Rivers Ranch.
Libby lived in the big ranch house with her husband and little girl—and apparently a new baby come summer—and Ty waited until she’d gone up the stairs and into the house before he turned his attention to the horse training facility his momma owned.
Bowman’s Breeds.
Ty sighed at the sign, at the trucks parked out front, at the fact that in about another thirty minutes, he’d be the only un-engaged member of his family.
His mother had said she had clients today, and that she’d sent Bryan and Ellie out on horseback to “get rid of them,” so she could get through her day.
His phone buzzed, and Ty pulled it out of the cupholder to check it. Momma had said, They just left. You guys have about ten minutes to be out of there. Status?
I just dropped Libby off at the farmhouse, Ty told her. Everything is set and ready for them.
Great! Thanks, baby.
I’m headed home, he told her.
Dinner with everyone tomorrow? she asked. After church? I’m making that chicken cheese bread you love.
Ty didn’t want to commit to dinner at his parents’ house, with Carolina and Hugh and Bryan and Ellie and all their diamond-shiny-happiness.
And that only made him feel worse about himself.
Guilt drove through him, because his siblings had spent their lives cheering him on, and he couldn’t even be happy for them?
“I am happy for them,” he told himself. “And I drove over an hour from my morning job to put out some Rice Krispy treats for my brother’s proposal.”
He now had to drive forty-five minutes back to his apartment, shower, and get ready to go out on a weekend evening date with Winnie.
“Definitely too much pressure,” he said to himself, which was what a Sabbath Day meal with his family would be too. He’d wanted things with Winnie to be more casual from the beginning, because he needed time to figure out how he felt about her before they got too serious.
“She was engaged,” he whispered to himself as his phone vibrated again. That told Ty that Winnie knew how to be in a serious relationship.
His phone buzzed, and then it rang. His mother, again.
Ty exhaled slowly and tapped to answer the call. “Hey, Momma.”
“I can see you sittin’ in your truck.”
Ty looked out his side window and found his mother standing against the post at the end of the fence. He waved, sighed, and got out of the truck.
“You don’t have to act like seeing your momma is the worst thing that could happen to you,” she said. Then she shook her head, rolled her eyes, and hung up the call.
“I didn’t,” Ty called. “I was just leavin’ is all, but I can’t just drive away without giving you a hug.” He smiled at her, glad when his mother softened. She opened her arms to him as he neared, and Ty sank into his mother’s embrace.
“Mm, a boy is never too tough or too old to hug his mother.”
“All right, Momma.” Ty squeezed her extra tight and then stepped back. “The table looked beautiful, and as long as Bryan can get the question out, I think they’ll come back engaged.”
Momma grinned at him. “Daddy and I are going to hide out in the upstairs office and watch for them to come back.”
“Sounds like a fun time,” Ty said in a deadpan. “I’m headed home.”
“You’ve had a busy day,” Momma said. “I noticed you were limping a little bit more than I’ve seen you do lately.”
“I’m fine, Momma,” he said. “I’ll text you when I get home.”
“Who are you taking to the wedding?” Momma asked, reaching to adjust her sunglasses against the winter sunshine. “And did you see it’s supposed to snow in the ten-day forecast?”
Ty blinked at his mother. “Really? We’re going from dating to the weather within a breath?” He chuckled and shook his head. “I have a date with her tonight, actually, and if it goes well, I’ll tell you who it is, okay?”
His mother’s hopes shone on her face. “You have a date tonight?”
“Yes, Momma, so can I go now?” He wiped the grin from his face and cocked his eyebrows at her.
“Did you reschedule it from lunch to dinner?”
“Yes,” he said, though technically, Winnie had done that. “And no, I don’t check the ten-day forecast, so I didn’t know it was going to snow.”
“We’re hoping to have the roof done over the end of that stable rebuild by then.” Momma looked over her shoulder and toward her facilities. “And Daddy’s going to make sure we have fuel for the generator and extra potable water.”
A slip of worry moved through Ty. “Really, Momma? It’s going to be that bad?”