Chapter Fifteen
The older Kade got, the earlier mornings seemed to roll around, and the harder getting out of bed seemed to be.
Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, he saw that it was almost five am.
Maybe he could steal a few more minutes with his wife.
Rolling over, his arm instinctively went to wrap around Cassie, something that had become a morning ritual since that day at the bank, and since they agreed to make this marriage work for real.
Not that there was much work involved, loving Cassie was crazy easy.
That is when she was here. His eyes sprang open, staring at the empty bed beside him.
Where the heck had she gone at this hour?
Showered and dressed, he made his way downstairs in search of his wife. He found his mother at the stove, cooking breakfast the same as she always did, but no sign of Cassie.
“She’s in the barn.” His mother didn’t look at him, but he could see her wide smile.
“The barn?”
“Yeah,” she turned to face him, waving a fork, “that big building with a hay loft and animals by the paddock.”
“Ha ha,” he teased, pouring himself a travel mug of coffee. “Why is she in the barn?”
“Clint mentioned the mare is having a hard labor. Since I can handle breakfast on my own, she went out there to deal with the mare.” Putting a lid on the pan, she turned to her son. “She fits.”
Kade raised his brows at his mom.
“Don’t look at me like that. I love all my children-in-law, but she’s different. She seems to have been born to be a rancher, which, if I might say, is darn unusual for a city girl.”
He’d thought that himself, and he’d noticed almost since the day they’d arrived.
She’d taken to everything from the dirty work of mucking stalls, to the hard work of digging fence posts, to the crazy early hours, and everything else in between.
He would have loved her regardless, but her love of the ranch life made his heart swell. “She’s definitely a natural.”
“I’ll tell you something else.”
Kade nodded.
“Your dad would be dang pleased to know that there’s someone in this next generation who loves ranching.”
He couldn’t help the smile that teased at the corners of his mouth. “Dad would love her.” And he was pretty sure, Cassie would have loved his father.
“You’re thinking about the future, aren’t you? Funny how time, and the right person, can change what we thought we wanted out of life.” His mom went back to flipping bacon.
All he did was nod. He had to talk to Cassidy before he made any decisions. It was something new for him, not just doing whatever he thought was appropriate. Having to consider someone else’s thoughts and feelings, but he loved it. More than he’d ever thought he could. “Has she had her tea?”
His mom shook her head. “She headed out before the water boiled.”
Taking another couple of minutes, he poured her tea the way he knew she liked it. Putting a lid on the mug, and kissing his mom on the forehead, headed to the barn.
Once he reached the open doors, he could hear Cassie speaking ever so softly, offering words of comfort to the tired first time mare. Following the sound of her voice to the oversized foaling stall in the back of the barn, he came to a stop short of the gate, but able to see everything.
The mare, one of their best quarter horses, was lying on her side in a deep bed of clean straw, her dark coat slick with sweat.
Her sides heaved with a ragged, uneven rhythm, and a low, guttural groan rumbled from deep in her chest. Clint stood just outside the stall, his arms leaning on the gate, his expression a mask of professional, worried patience.
But it was Cassidy who held Kade’s focus.
She was in the stall with the mare, kneeling in the straw near the animal’s head, one hand resting gently on the mare’s neck, her thumb drawing slow, steady circles against the damp hide.
Her head was bowed close to the horse’s, and her voice was a low, continuous murmur, a soft, melodic stream of nonsense and reassurance that was the only sound in the stall besides the mare’s labored breathing.
She wasn’t a vet or a ranch hand in that moment; she was a calm, steady anchor in a storm of pain and fear.
Much like she’d been not long ago for Jacob.
This woman was a gift of comfort and peace.
The mare’s muscles bunched for another unproductive contraction.
The horse lifted its head, a flicker of panic in its wide, dark eyes.
Cassie didn’t flinch. She just kept stroking, her voice never wavering.
“It’s okay, mama,” she whispered, the words carrying across the quiet barn.
“You’re okay. You can do this.” She leaned in, humming a simple, repetitive tune, a sound so full of gentle empathy that would have soothed the most agitated of beasts.
Hands hanging over the low fence, Clint nodded slowly, a look of profound respect on the new foreman’s weathered face. The seasoned cowboy knew exactly what he was seeing: a quiet miracle of instinct and compassion at work.
Kade unlatched the gate and strolled inside. Sitting beside his wife, he handed her the cup of tea, stroking the mare’s neck so his wife could enjoy her morning brew.
“Thank you.” Her smile bloomed and after the first sip, she heaved a contented sigh. “I really needed that.”
“Glad to help.” They sat together, Cassie stroking the horse, Kade gently rubbing her shoulder with his free hand. Was there anything more peaceful than love and Mother Nature? “I need to talk to you about something.”
Her gaze shifted to his, a sudden spark of concern in her eyes.
“Nothing bad.” He raised one hand palm out. “But you know I have to leave for my new assignment soon, and yes, I’ll be close enough to come home here and there, but it’s got me thinking.”
She nodded, her gaze shifting from the horse to Clint and back.
The foreman took a step into the stall. “I’d say you’ve done a good job of calming our girl down.” He took a moment to examine the mare and nodded. “Yep. It won’t be long now. If you two want to head back to the house and get your breakfast, I’ll call if we need you again.”
Cassie hesitated before nodding, and pushing to her feet.
He loved how much she cared about everything to do with the ranch and the animals. His heart had never been so happy.
Cassie tried not to fear the worst. She’d never been an optimist, but not a pessimist either, just a matter of fact. But that was before she cared so much, and she cared more than she’d ever cared about anything when it came to Kade and his family. “Is something wrong?”
He shook his head. “No, but come with me.” He redirected her into the tack room where Preston had a small desk set up and reached for a cardboard tube. “I’ve been thinking a lot about life—our life—and where we’re going.”
She nodded. They’d had snippets of this conversation. Knew that he was questioning his life plans now that he had a wife.
“I really thought I would stay in Uncle Sam’s army until he threw me out.”
Again, she nodded, not saying a word, just listening.
“I don’t want to do that anymore.”
The whole time she’d known him, from what he’d said now and then, it was pretty clear that his career in the army seemed to mean so much to him. “Are you sure?”
“Very.” He pulled papers out of the tube and opened them on the desk, taking a couple of leather weights to hold it open. “I have no choice but to finish this TDY and another year, then I can retire with my twenty.”
She knew he was close to qualifying for retirement and a pension, though the idea of retiring in your thirties was rather foreign to her.
“After that, I’d like to come work the ranch. All of my siblings have careers. Yes, they help with the ranch, we’ve proven we can all work together to run the place, but this isn’t their dream.”
“But it is yours?” Working with him, she’d noticed a different level of satisfaction in Kade than when she worked with any of his siblings. He was right, they loved the ranch, but working it day after day wasn’t in them.
His head bobbed. “And I think yours.”
She couldn’t stop the smile that took over her face. Everything any foster kid had ever dreamed of was here at the ranch. The family, the love, the camaraderie, the land and the animals, all of it gave her more grounding than any college degree, or fancy job in a big city.
“Thought so.” His smile widened. “So, Carson introduced me to a buddy of his. This house is Mom’s. It’s her home, but eventually, it will be more than even she needs.”
Cassie nibbled on her lower lip, not sure where he was going with this.
“Don’t worry. I chatted with Mom first.” He sighed. “Maybe I should have told you first, but I thought, if Mom wasn’t in agreement, there was no point.”
“Okay…” It made sense. Her gaze followed his fingers on the papers—blueprints, actually.
“This here is the main house. And this,” his finger moved, “is a mother-in-law suite. Two bedrooms, two and a half baths, small living, kitchen and dining.”
“You want your mother to live there?” She didn’t understand, he just said this big old house was her home.
“Not yet.”
Now she lifted her gaze to meet his. She wasn’t following.
“I thought we could live here once I’m fully separated from Uncle Sam. You can make any changes you want, we’d have our own private place, but be close enough to the hub of the family and the house. Then, when the time was right, we’d swap.”
Her gaze returned to the plans. A cozy cottage-like home attached to the main house, just the right size for a couple. Her mind looked more closely. Every single line and drawing seemed…perfect. And then, some day, they’d raise a family in the big house.
His finger hooked under her chin and lifted her face to his. “You’re blushing. Do you not like this idea? You can tell me. It’s okay, we can come up with a new plan.”
She shook her head and grabbed hold of his hand. “I think it’s a fantastic idea.”
“For now, while I’m gone, you’d stay in the big house with everyone. Unless you want to move sooner.”
“No. I love that big house and being so close to everyone.”
His head tipped to one side. “Why were you blushing?”
Her gaze falling to the paper, she felt her cheeks warm again. “I guess I was thinking about a family.” She lifted her face and leveled her eyes with his. “Ours.”
Relief washed over her as his smile grew even wider. “I like the sound of that. Our family.”
“Me too.”
Pulling her around to fully face him, he curled her against him, his face dipping until his mouth found hers for a soul stealing kiss that made her toes curl and her heart hammer fast and hard. Oh, how she loved this man.
Forever never sounded so good.