Page 53 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late
She had a few things to get at the grocery store on her way back to the ranch. She enjoyed living at Shiloh Ridge more than she’d anticipated. Even though it was quite far from the city of Three Rivers, it was like a bustling little town all by itself, with ten or eleven families living there, cowboys paired up in cabins, all the animals, and of course, Link’s horse and dogs.
As she did after every parenting class she’d taken, Misty sat in the car, bowed her head, and prayed.
“Am I ready to be a mom?” she asked.
Her own mother had been such a disaster. Misty was still trying to forgive her, and she continued to work through some of the issues that had come from her childhood trauma. Every other time, after twenty-three other classes, Misty had felt like she wasn’t quite ready.
Today, the Spirit whispered to her,It is time.
Misty’s eyes popped open as a rush of adrenaline filled her chest. Link had deferred to her over when they would have children, and she’d wanted to wait and make sure that she was ready, that they could handle it, that they were solid in their relationship.
She wanted some time with just them. She’d had it—nine months. A small, jealous part of her wanted more. She wanted Link just to herself. She wanted all of his attention, because he was so good at giving it to her. He excelled at making her feel loved and cherished and adored. He took such great care of her. If they had a baby, his attention would be divided, as would hers.
And a tiny part of her didn’t want that.
Then, a louder voice whispered,A child will be part of Link. You’ll have more of Link to love.
And besides, they might not be able to have a baby right away anyway. Alex and Nicki hadn’t been able to.
Misty left the community center, got her groceries, and returned to the ranch. She wasn’t all that surprised to see Sammy’s old truck parked in front of the Top Cottage, with Link’s momma still sitting behind the wheel. Misty smiled at her and waved as she parked next to her. She got out at the same time Sammy did.
“How long you been here?” she asked.
“Oh, two minutes,” Sammy said. “The dust has hardly settled.”
She nodded as she moved to the back of the SUV. “I got the groceries.”
“I’ve got a bunch too,” Sammy said, and she met Misty at the tailgate of the SUV. “Happy birthday, my darling girl,” she said, and pulled her into the sweetest, most maternal hug Misty had ever had.
She loved hugging Sammy, as Sammy was so extraordinary at showing Misty specifically how valuable she was and how much she loved her. Misty could go to her for anything, just the way she should have been able to go to her mother.
Sammy stepped back and said, “How was your class?”
Misty nodded, her breath sort of whooshing out of her nose as her emotions made her mouth and jaw and tongue so tight. When they finally released, she said, “It was good.”
Sammy nodded and didn’t ask anything further, and together they took their groceries in, making a couple of trips to get everything. After all the ingredients sat unpacked on the island countertop, Misty looked at the vast array of things they needed to make her preferred birthday meal.
“This is a little bit over the top, isn’t it?” she asked.
“It’s your birthday,” Sammy said, as if over the top could never happen on someone’s birthday. “Absolutely not, and Etta is bringing the cake in a couple of hours.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Misty said. Etta had been baking birthday cakes and wedding cakes for everyone in the family for a long time, and she never told anyone no when they needed a special dessert.
“All right,” Sammy said, “I’m going to start on the chili, since that needs to go the longest, and you’re going to…?” She looked over to Misty, her eyebrows raised.
“I’m going to do the potatoes for the fries,” Misty said. She wasn’t making anything fancy because she wanted some of her favorite foods, and that was a chili dog and chili cheese fries. Growing up, she’d counted herself lucky to have had a can of chili and a single hot dog for her birthday.
Now, of course, Sammy would make homemade chili with a family recipe, and they had all-beef hot dogs from the best butcher in town. Sammy would put together her famous broccoli-craisin-apple salad to go with it, and today she was going to show Misty how to make the famed Glover family peach punch.
When the birthday cake arrived, it would be the perfect celebratory meal for Misty. She thanked the Good Lord Above that He had led her to this town, and specifically this family, so that she could be healed, and held, and shown what real families looked like.
“Thank you so much for coming.” Misty hugged Heather and then Sunny, Link’s younger sisters. “You guys be careful out on the fence tomorrow.”
“We will,” Heather promised. They left the house after their parents and older brothers. Misty and Link went out onto the porch with them and waved good-bye to his family. Darkness had already settled over Shiloh Ridge, and since Misty had gone to class today and then spent the afternoon cooking, then the evening entertaining, a certain measure of tiredness entered her body. But it was the kind of exhaustion that sparked from an amazing day of laughter, love, and good times.
She put her hand on Link’s chest and said, “Thank you, baby,” before she returned to the house.
“I didn’t do anything,” he said.
