Chapter 40
Ty paced in front of the living room windows of his new house.
He’d moved in a couple of weeks ago, after Winnie had found out that her father would be doing back surgery the day after his birthday.
That day had arrived, and Ty felt no different as a thirty-two-year-old than he had as a thirty-one-year-old.
Nevertheless, Winnie had insisted that he should be celebrated, and he knew he had to be ready for guy’s night out tomorrow by six-thirty as well.
Winnie had insisted on coming to pick him up at his house, claiming she’d need the thirty-minute drive from her place to his to get in the right frame of celebratory mode. Her parents wore her to the bone, and she already worked an emotionally demanding job.
Ty still spent most evenings with her and the cats, and now her parents, and the number of conversations they’d had about only having to wait three weeks to do a lower disc fusion surgery was such a blessing had worn him right on out too.
He knew Winnie just wanted it done, so the healing and recovery process could begin.
Winnie’s parents would likely stay in Three Rivers through Christmas, and Ty and Winnie were meeting her brother at their home in Redwood this weekend to get more of their belongings—clothing and a few pieces of light furniture—as they’d found an upstairs rental in a house only a few blocks away from Winnie.
Brad, his wife, and daughter would make the drive back to Three Rivers in a caravan with Ty and Winnie, and they would get everything moved by Monday as her father wasn’t expected to come home after his surgery until then anyway.
Winnie would be able to run over there and check on them easily, but they wouldn’t be living in her house anymore, something that Ty knew would bring her great relief.
They would also be bringing Lucky home with them, as Winnie worried about him day and night. Ty had perked up at that news, asking if he could have the border collie. “Just until your momma and daddy get back on their feet,” he’d said.
“You can have him,” her momma had said immediately.
“Momma,” Winnie had chastised. “He’s your family dog.”
“Honey, we do not have time to take care of a dog,” her mother had said. “Which is why I’d asked Taylor to take care of him. We love him, but he’s a lot.”
“I can run him at the ranch,” Ty had said. “And take him to work with me at Lone Star and the orchards. He’d love it.”
He’d trained his gaze on Winnie at that point, and she’d sighed. “Don’t look at me with those big, sad cowboy eyes,” she’d said.
“You can’t take care of a border collie, and I can.” He’d seen the moment she’d agreed with him, and Ty couldn’t wait to have Lucky on the farm with him.
Yes, this weekend definitely marked a lot of changes.
Ty looked out the window, didn’t see Winnie’s sedan, and marched himself into the kitchen.
He pulled open his junk drawer and retrieved the navy-blue velvet box sitting there.
The lid creaked as he opened it, and he smiled down at the diamond peeking up at him from all that plush fabric.
“There’s already enough changes for one weekend,” he said quietly to himself.
Winnie still had not told him in exact words, I love you, but they’d talked quite a bit more about marriage. His sister was getting married in only three more weeks, and Bryan and Ellie had set a date for late September, giving Momma four months between the two events.
If Ty and Winnie gave her four more months, that would be…February.
Ty knew without a doubt that Winnie did not want to set a date for that month—or anywhere near it. She didn’t want to be married in the winter at all.
The only way Ty could imagine they could be married this year instead of next would be if he squeezed in a wedding sometime between Carolina’s and Bryan’s, and that would be impossible.
He hadn’t brought it up with anyone yet, because his mother was so busy with Carolina’s wedding and running the horse stable during very busy spring and summer months.
Ty snapped the lid on the ring closed and had just shut it back in the drawer when he heard Winnie pull up outside the farmhouse. He headed that way and stepped outside just as she emerged from her car.
“Howdy,” he said, giving him his first birthday present—her arrival in a black-and-white striped pair of slacks and a billowy, loose top that looked like someone had splashed black watercolor flowers on a white background. “You are the prettiest woman in Texas.”
He wanted to bounce down the steps and take his girlfriend into his arms, but he held onto the railing and took careful steps instead.
She greeted him by reaching up and tapping the brim of his cowboy hat. “This is new.”
“It’s my birthday present to myself,” he said with a grin.
She giggled. “Is that what we do? Buy presents for ourselves?”
“I do,” he said.
She put one hand against his chest and leaned into him. “I like that idea.”
Ty placed one hand on her back, holding her close as he leaned down to kiss her. “Mm, you taste like mint,” he said. “And maybe chocolate.” He cocked one eyebrow at her, and Winnie grinned that soft I’m in love with you smile at him.
“I may have eaten part of your present on the way here,” she said.
“You ate my birthday present?” Ty laughed, filling the sky with more happiness than he thought he could ever feel or express. “What was it?”
“There’s still some in the car,” she said. “Come see.” She took his hand and led him over to the passenger door, which she opened for him.
Ty found the package of mint Oreos sitting on the passenger seat. Yes, they had been opened and resealed. After he sat down and she closed his door for him, he pulled back the packaging and saw she’d only eaten a few.
“You were starving, huh?” he asked when she got behind the wheel. “And I just want the record to show that this feels weird.” He gestured between them. “That you came and picked me up, and that you’re driving me around in your car.”
She grinned at him. “It’s okay to do new things, Ty.”
“Oh, brother.” He rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Doctor Landry.”
Winnie laughed and pulled around in a wide arc to set her car back on the road leading off the ranch. Ty wasn’t sure where she was taking him, but she’d promised he would be happy with the food and the atmosphere.
She turned left out of his place and headed back toward Three Rivers while Ty tried to swallow his nerves.
“You’re being awfully quiet tonight,” she said. “I expected a report on the second level of your house.”
“Yeah. It’s going good.”
“Going good? That’s all I get?”
“I wanted to talk to you about something, actually,” Ty said.
Winnie glanced over at him, her mood shifting from flirty and fun to a bit more serious. “All right.”
He reached over and took her hand in his. “I don’t see how we’re going to be able to get married until next April,” he said. “And that feels like a really long time from now, don’t you think?”
Winnie sighed and looked out her side window, though her fingers in his stayed tight and secure. “It does feel like a long time.”
“Maybe I’m greedy and selfish,” Ty said. “I want you in the farmhouse sooner than that, but with your daddy’s surgery and both of my siblings getting married, I don’t see how it can be done before Christmas. Unless….”
Winnie gave him a few moments to go on, but Ty’s bravery totally failed him.
“Unless what?” she finally prompted.
“Well, I’ve got a couple ideas,” Ty said. “I’m not sure you’re going to like either one of them, which is why….”
“We’re talking about it,” Winnie said, shooting him a look. “Talking doesn’t hurt, right?”
He swallowed and nodded. “Right. I’ve been thinking about asking Bryan and Ellie if we could do a double wedding with them.”
“A double wedding?” Her voice pitched high enough to call dogs.
“Or,” Ty said quickly. “We could just elope. And I’ve got to be really honest—the more I think about it, the more an elopement sounds like exactly what we should do.” He watched the gorgeous Texas landscape roll by his window.
“We should just take a couple of friends, and the cats, and someone with the authority to marry us, and go to our favorite place and get it done.”
Winnie gaped at him, her eyes wide and the road in front of her forgotten. Then she started to laugh.
“What?” he asked.
“Those are both good ideas.” She grinned. “I think you’re insane if you think you can handle an elopement.”
“Why wouldn’t I be able to handle an elopement?”
“Because you have more friends than any cowboy on the earth.”
“That is not true. Have you met Finn Ackerman? He’s the most popular cowboy on the planet.”
Winnie smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “I kind of like the idea of us just running away and getting married, but Ty. Come on. Your family has lived here for forty years, and I don’t think that’s how things are done in small-town Three Rivers. Your momma will think I’m pregnant.”
Ty rolled his neck, because Winnie wasn’t wrong. “Yeah, okay. So maybe I should talk to Bryan?”
“If you want to,” Winnie said. “But I was thinking, Ty, that we don’t need a big thing like what the Glovers do.”
He watched her, looking for any pressing of her lips or that little jump her jaw did when she got a little anxious. “You don’t want a big wedding? What had you planned for you and Carver?”
“Too much,” she said simply, though he did notice the way her fingers tightened around the steering wheel.
“And I don’t really need it. It would be great if my family could be there.
And yours. And any of your friends.” She threw him a quick look and focused on the road again.
“But you know I’m not going to wear a dress, right? ”
Ty grinned at her. “I’d actually be disappointed if you wore a dress, sweetheart.”
She let the breath huff out of her mouth, and Ty simply waited for her to tell him more.
“I guess I’m just feeling like it can be something simple,” she said.