Page 123 of Heartstrings & Horseshoes

Everyone’s been acting so weird all month. I’ve barely seen anyone and we’re never together in a group.

I guess this is what being an adult is like. Everyone has their own jobs and responsibilities. Now that I’m getting the program up and running, at least I’ll see Reid and Izzy more often.

It’d be nice if I saw my husband for more than blips at a time. He sleeps at home every night, but he’s dead tired. He’s been too tired to have much sex, and I didn’t realize how bad I needed it until I haven’t had it.

Connor better be ready to get jumped the second he walks in the door tonight.

51

“Promise you can’t see anything?” Connor asks for the umpteenth time.

He stopped me before I could go into the stables and tied a bandana around my eyes. He carried me and set me in his truck, and we drove for a few minutes before abruptly stopping.

He’s been guiding me to god knows where on foot and instead of anxiously wondering where he’s taking me, I’m thoroughly enjoying whatever has my big strong husband acting like a sweet little puppy.

“Yes, Connor, I promise. My eyes are even closed beneath the bandana, so I doubly can’t see anything.”

Snow crunches beneath our boots and I’m growing more confused by the minute. We would’ve reached anywhere within walking distance by now—the barn, the main house, Izzy and Reid’s house, the guest houses, even the farthest one.

“Ok. We’re almost there,” he says, his hands shaking, one holding mine, the other on the small of my back.

Connor guides me to a stop and removes his hands from my body. It’s our joint birthday, so I’m not surprised he’s arranged a surprise. But I can’t for the life of me figure out what it could be.

He removes my blindfold.

“Can I open my eyes, now?” I ask playfully.

“Yes. Open your eyes,” he says, taking both my hands in his.

When I do, Connor is framed by the picturesque backdrop of the snow-covered land that makes up Lucky Spurs Ranch. Blurred shapes of other buildings on the property float in the distance, but I can’t orient myself to where we are.

“Before I give you your surprise, I have some secrets I need to confess.” He gulps.

I know he’d never hurt me, so I’m filled with curiosity instead of dread.

“Remember when you were in third grade and the school office told you you’d won a drawing for a new backpack?” he asks.

“Yesssss…”

“I was sad yours had ripped and your parents wouldn’t buy you a new one. So, I took all my allowance and bought you one, and had the office ladies help me give it to you.”

My chest tightens, tears immediately pricking my eyes.

“Remember your senior year when the school guidance counselor said you’d qualified for the new free breakfast and lunch program?”

Lower lip trembling, I nod.

“I pre-paid for all your meals that year since I’d graduated, and I needed to know you always had something to eat.”

My throat constricts, struggling to swallow the revelation Connor is why I didn’t starve that year.

“Remember how you couldn’t recall ever applying for the scholarship that paid for all your college expenses these past few years?”

Tears track down my cheeks, frozen from the cold but burning with emotion, but I nod.

“You were working yourself to the bone trying to support yourself and Ivy without Izzy around and paying for school. You were killing yourself. I made your advisor swear they’d never tell you where the money came from, just that it was a scholarship,” he admits.

“You…paid for everything all these years? My tuition, books, seminars? My bank account was always full, they told me it was a living stipend…”