Chapter 42
Winnie bustled around the kitchen, the brownie batter coming together nicely without much thought. Libby had had her baby a few days ago, and they’d named the darling boy Gavin Rusty Jackson.
Misty—Link’s wife—had sent out a call for food and help in the next couple of days, as Libby and Rusty also had a two-and-a-half-year-old little girl, and Libby ran the entirety of Three Rivers Ranch. Winnie had signed up for dessert tonight, and Ty had taken the dinner slot.
She’d actually left work early and beaten him back to her house, where—once she had the brownies in—she’d set a timer and run over to her parents’ house to make sure everything was going well with her momma and daddy.
His surgery was about thirty days old now, and it had been a tremendous success.
He’d been pain-free almost from the moment he’d awakened, and Winnie worked with him in physical therapy to continue to strengthen the muscles in his lower back, his core, and his legs.
He’d started complaining about the pain in his knee, because now that his back wasn’t sending complete agony through his body, he could feel the pain there.
Momma went walking with him every morning, and they’d started with a mile loop that had expanded to two miles.
Winnie smiled to herself at the progress her father had exhibited, and she thought they might even be able to go home before Christmas.
They were very happy in their upstairs rental, as the young couple who had purchased the house lived in the basement and needed the extra help to pay their mortgage.
They had three bedrooms and one bath on the main level, with a boxy living room and a tiny kitchen with just enough space for a table for two—perfect for Momma and Daddy.
Lucky was now living his best life with Ty on his farm, and Trap had finished the remodeling and renovations in the main homestead and moved on to other projects.
Everything seemed to be going Winnie’s way, except for the absolutely oppressive June heat that had settled over the Texas Panhandle.
She wouldn’t complain about it, because Winnie was exactly where she wanted to be, with exactly who she wanted to be with.
She spread the brownie batter in the pan, then dropped spoonfuls of chocolate-chip cookie dough at random intervals, gently pushing it down into the batter.
She slid that into the oven, set a timer for thirty-five minutes, and swiped her keys from the credenza in the living room on her way out the front door.
“All right, guys,” she called to the cats. “I have to go check on Momma and Daddy. Ty should be here soon.”
She left, thinking of his good Southern cooking and how he’d promised to make extra so they could have dinner also. But they had a long drive out to Three Rivers to deliver dinner and dessert to Libby and Rusty, and they’d probably stay and visit for at least a few minutes.
Ty had Juniper on his little farm now, and he’d bought four goats and a few sheep too.
Finn ran a little hobby farm as well, and Ty’s next addition would be chickens.
He’d been going to Finn’s and Brandon and Lenore’s homestead more and more to get an idea of how to take care of the animals and the types of enclosures he needed as he continued to improve his land and start his farm.
Winnie pulled up to her parents’ place and parked behind their minivan. She jogged inside and called, “Hey, I’m just here to check on you,” as she walked into the house without knocking.
“We’re on the back deck,” Momma called, and Winnie walked through the whole house and right out the back sliding door to a tiny deck that had just enough room for the two chairs Momma and Daddy needed.
Winnie called a place like this a postage-stamp house, as it sat on a rectangular property, with the house right up against the road, and a decent-sized yard out the back.
It was fenced, and every house on the street looked exactly like it.
“See any good birds out here?” Winnie asked, looking toward her mother’s bird feeders.
“Just hummingbirds,” her momma said. “They’re most active in the morning.”
“Sure,” Winnie said, because that did make sense.
Daddy slowly and lazily lifted a glass of sweet tea to his lips.
“How you doing today, Daddy?”
“Pretty good,” he said.
“He bent for his shoe when he should have waited for me,” Momma said.
Winnie could always count on her to rat out Daddy. “Dad, you really can’t be bending and twisting like that,” she said. “Three months, and you’re only in one.”
“I was okay,” Daddy said.
“His back hurts him a little bit tonight,” Momma said.
Winnie cocked her hip and folded her arms. “Daddy.”
“I took a few extra pain pills, and I won’t do it again,” he said.
“You’re going to have on days and off days,” Winnie said. “Some where you feel really great, and some where you don’t. You’ve got plenty of help. You don’t need to be getting your own shoes.”
“I’m okay,” her dad said, his voice forceful enough that Winnie dropped it.
“What are you guys doing for dinner?” She moved over to a slim built-in bench and sat down—her place in the backyard when they sat out here.
“I think I’m going to make one of my easy shepherd’s pies,” Momma said. “We’ve got some of those ready-made mashed potatoes, and I’ve got some frozen filling.”
“That should be easy, then,” Winnie said, and they settled into a companionable silence.
Her parents were completely different people here in Three Rivers than they’d been in Redwood, and she wasn’t sure why. Were they outside their comfort zone? Were they better away from Taylor?
They went to church with her and Tyson, and they’d settled into their community just fine.
Because they didn’t live with her, she got along great with them, and Winnie actually enjoyed coming over and checking on her parents as often as they needed her to.
She’d come every day in the beginning—morning and night—and now she usually only came by for a few minutes in the evening on her way home from work.
“Ty said he brought you lunch yesterday,” she said.
“Yeah, he did.” Fondness filled her father’s voice. “It was really good, too. He made chicken fajitas, and the peppers were nice and tender.”
A brilliant smile filled Momma’s face. “He is such a fine young man, Winnie.” She sighed and looked over their backyard, which had a single apple tree in the back and tall privacy spruces along the left fence that protected the yard from the neighbors.
“Yeah, he’s great,” Winnie said.
“When do you think he’ll propose?” Momma asked.
“I don’t know, Momma.”
“Well, he can’t propose,” Daddy said. “She hasn’t even told him she loves him.”
She whipped her gaze back to his. “What? How do you know that?”
Daddy gazed at her in a steady, even way that almost felt like a challenge. “Because he told us yesterday.”
“I can’t believe you haven’t told that wonderful man that you love him,” Momma scolded. “He needs to hear it, Winnie.”
“Men like to hear things like that just as much as women,” Daddy added.
Guilt streamed through Winnie, the hotness of it testifying to her that her parents were right. “I didn’t know I was going to get a lecture when I came over today,” she said.
“Now you know how I feel,” Daddy said. “I get a lecture every time one of you opens your mouth.”
“Oh, you do not,” Momma said.
Daddy chuckled. “I know. Besides, sometimes I need the lectures.”
“We all do,” Momma said.
Winnie faced her parents again. “Did Ty say anything else?”
“He said—”
“We are not going to tell his secrets.” Momma’s louder voice drowned out Daddy’s, and Winnie pinned her gaze to him, hoping to implore him with just her eyes to tell her what else Ty had said. But Daddy said nothing.
Momma finally looked over to her. “I think he’s waiting on you, dear.”
“Waiting on me,” Winnie murmured, and then the alarm went off on her phone. “Well, I have to get back to the brownies.”
She sighed as she stood up. She leaned over and hugged her momma, and then carefully squeezed her daddy’s shoulders.
“You guys call me if you need anything, okay?”
“We’ll be fine,” Daddy said. “Enjoy your evening.”
Winnie drove back to her house—a feat that took all of sixty seconds—and as she walked inside, the deep, rich aroma of chocolate greeted her, as did the meowing of a cat and the sizzle of something sautéing on the stove.
“Oh, you’re here.” She’d been so preoccupied with her own thoughts, she hadn’t even seen Ty’s truck parked on the street.
He flashed her a quick smile and went back to stirring with the wooden spoon. “Yep. I’m just getting these bread crumbs toasted up, and I’ve got the pasta boiling. Your brownies have six minutes left.”
Winnie stood on the cusp of her own kitchen and watched Ty work. Her feelings stormed through her, marching left and right and all around. She did love Ty, though she had never told him in those exact words.
He looked over to her, and when he found her standing there, he paused. “What’s wrong?”
She had no idea what he saw on her face, but pure vulnerability and anxiety ran through her as she thought about all the times she’d told Carver she loved him and he’d said it back.
He hadn’t meant it, and Winnie realized in that moment that she hadn’t wanted to tell Ty she loved him until she knew absolutely for certain that she meant it.
She swallowed. “I love you, Tyson.”
Air burst out of his mouth, almost sounding like a scoff, and he settled his weight on his right foot, away from her. “What?”
“I love you,” she said again. “And I’ve never said it out loud, and I’m really sorry, because I know you need to hear it.”
The jitters in her stomach danced their way right out of her body, and she put a smile on her face. “It feels really good to say it. I love you.”
She liked the way the words fit in her mouth, and she absolutely loved the gorgeous man in front of her receiving them.
He still looked like she’d hit him with a two-by-four, and she took a step toward him, ignoring Rocky as he meowed at her. “I’m in love with you, Ty,” she said. “And I want to marry you and sell this house and move into the homestead with you on that little hobby farm.”
She arrived right in front of him. “I love you.”
Ty blinked, and she saw how badly he’d needed to hear those words. “I love you too, Win.”
He leaned down and touched his lips to hers, cradling her face in his big hand, the way he did that made her feel so cherished and so loved.
She kissed him the way she had been for the past couple of months—like she loved him—but it sure was nice to match actions with words.
Ty pulled away, his breath a tiny bit ragged. He placed a kiss against her jaw and then right below her ear. “I talked to Bryan and Ellie,” he said with a huff of a laugh. “They said they don’t care how close we get married to them, but they don’t want to have a dual wedding on the same day.”
“Okay,” Winnie whispered, her eyes still closed and her body feeling a bit disconnected from the earth. She floated, her only anchor Ty’s hand on her hip, burning through the thin cotton of her shirt.
“And I know you don’t want to get married in the winter,” he said. “And I’m absolutely too impatient to wait until next spring.”
He stepped back, and Winnie opened her eyes and watched with complete shock marching through her as he gripped the handle on the fridge and got down on both knees.
“So I think I better just ask you, and we can start planning a date for this fall.”
He dug into his pocket and pulled out a diamond ring that Winnie didn’t even know he had purchased.
“I love you, Win,” he said. “You’re the first and only person I want to talk to about everything—good, bad, and everything in between—in my life. I was lost before I met you, and I would be a useless man without you. Will you marry me?”
Tears pricked Winnie’s eyes, and she nodded, trying to get the lump in her throat to go down, so she could speak. She swallowed once and then twice, and then managed to say, “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you, because I’m desperately in love with you as well.”
Ty gave her that beautiful, lopsided grin, and she held out her hand so he could slide the ring onto her finger. He took her hands in his, and Winnie used his strength to balance herself as she got down on her knees and kissed her new fiancé.
“Tell me how long I have to wait until you can be at the farmhouse,” he whispered, promptly stealing her ability to answer by kissing her again.
Winnie kissed him back and then pulled away. “Would November be too close to Bryan and Ellie? It was still pretty warm in November last year.”
“The beginning of November,” Ty said, a note of finality in his voice. “Sounds like an amazing time to get married.”
Winnie grinned at him and cupped his face in her hands. “I think so too, Ty.”
“I love you, sweetheart,” he said.
“I love you too, cowboy.”