Nicholas stared down at the mammoth ranch that spread across the endless valley. Nestled between the mountains was Piñon Canyon, the home where Daughtry had grown up. He looked in awe from the empire below, to the man who owned it all, and finally to his wife.
“Like it?” she questioned with a grin. “You should see it in the springtime when all the grass is newly green and the wildflowers are blooming.”
Nicholas nodded. “I can only imagine. It’s easy to see why you love it.” Daughtry smiled. She’d only recently told Nicholas of her fondness for her childhood home.
Her father and brothers moved ahead on the trail, leaving Nicholas and Daughtry to themselves. “When I left,” Daughtry said, remembering her escape, “I thought I was leaving a terrible place. A prison. Now I can see that it was more the way I perceived things inside and not at all the way it really was.”
“Can you be happy here again?” Nick questioned, reaching out to touch her arm.
Daughtry gave him a radiant smile, and, in spite of the blustery cold winds that came down from the mountain, she was warm and content. “I can be happy anywhere that you are.”
Maggie Lucas fussed and pampered her daughter from the moment she got down from her horse. Arm in arm, they walked off toward the house, while the men saw to the horses and gear.
“He’s very nice looking, this Nicholas Dawson,” Maggie said, bringing Daughtry a steaming cup of hot chocolate.
“Yes, he is. He’s also very kind and considerate, and he’s a Christian, Momma.”
“That’s good,” Maggie said, and Daughtry heard the unmistakable sound of relief in her voice.
“I’m truly sorry for the way I acted.” Daughtry put the cup down and looked up at her mother. “I know I must have just about broke your heart in two, and I can’t live with myself any longer. Will you please forgive me for running off and hurting you like I did?”
Maggie put her arms around Daughtry and hugged her close. “I could see how bad things were. I only wanted you to be happy, but I knew how miserable you were. I tried to talk to your father, and he only snapped at me. There’s nothing to forgive. I knew in my heart, after learning that you’d left, that God was with you and that He’d guide you safely. It gave me a great deal of peace, even when I didn’t know where you were.”
“Why did it take Daddy so long to show up?” Daughtry suddenly asked.
“He was mad and real hurt. Mostly because he knew he was responsible for your actions. At first he refused to even deal with it but, as time passed, I could see the anger burning inside him like a spark just waiting for kindling to feed its flame. One day, he marched in here, told Gavin and Dolan to saddle up, and announced he was going to find you and this man who’d stolen you from him.”
Daughtry smiled and pulled away from her mother. “I take it Joey went along to keep the peace.”
Maggie nodded. “You know Joseph.” This time Daughtry nodded, while Maggie continued. “That’s what happened here. How about what happened at your end?”
“I got Daddy’s letter and it spooked me. I’m sorry to say I ran away again, because Nicholas was at a neighbor’s house and wasn’t due home for awhile. I had no idea how soon Daddy would arrive, so I packed a horse and left. I figured I’d rather camp out in the cold than face his wrath alone. Besides, I was so scared he’d take me away and I’d never see Nicholas again.”
“What happened then?”
Daughtry laughed. “They all came riding into my camp as big as you please. Nick was sporting a bruised face, and Daddy was wearing skinned knuckles. I heard later that Nick wouldn’t even defend himself. Just let Daddy have at him, then asked him to forgive him for marrying me.”
“He is quite a man,” Maggie said in surprised awe.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Daughtry said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “I have a surprise for you.”
“What?” Maggie cocked her head to one side as if trying to figure out what her daughter would say next.
“Daddy asked us to live here for the winter, so that he could teach Nicholas all about ranching.”
“And your husband agreed?”
“He did,” Daughtry said with great happiness. “But we’re going home in the spring, and Daddy promised to send us with some prime stock to start our own herd.”
“Well, I am impressed,” Maggie said, taking a seat beside her daughter.
“And,” Daughtry added, reaching out to take hold of her mother’s hand, “I have one more surprise. I’m going to have a baby.”
“A baby!”
Her mother looked as though she might faint, and Daughtry squeezed her hand. “I was so worried about Daddy coming to take me away that I didn’t even know it myself, until Nicholas pointed out the obvious things.”
“A baby,” Maggie said again, this time more steadily. “I’m going to be a grandmother. Wait until Lillie hears this one.”
Daughtry laughed. “You’ll no doubt have me knee-deep in sewing projects, and before the winter is over, I’ll have enough clothes for triplets.”
The women were still laughing when the men came in the room. Maggie got up and received a heartfelt kiss from her husband, while Nicholas went to Daughtry’s side and waited to be introduced.
“Momma, this is Nicholas, my husband,” Daughtry said proudly.
Maggie surprised Nicholas by brushing aside his extended hand as she threw her arms around him in a motherly hug. “Welcome home, Nicholas,” she said with love. “I’m so glad to have acquired another son.”
Nicholas spent most of his waking hours with Garrett and Daughtry’s brothers. He worked harder than he’d ever worked in his life and knew that he was in many ways facing up to whatever tests Garrett could put him through. At night he collapsed into a tub of hot water, which Daughtry always saw was ready for him, then he would crawl into bed, more asleep than awake.
More than one night, Daughtry would lie beside her husband and watch him. His dark black hair would curl just at the collar and beg her touch, but Daughtry was always careful not to disturb him. She knew her father was working him too hard, but she reasoned that both men had something to prove and, for now, she’d not interfere.
Daughtry settled into the routine with misgivings. She missed the days when Nicholas had belonged just to her. Their ranch hadn’t been so demanding, and Nicholas could take plenty of time to stop and talk or hold her. Now, however, she rarely saw him until dinner time, and by then he was so tired he didn’t care whether he was married or not.
At dinner one night, the family finally began to feel comfortable enough to ask Nicholas questions, and one of the first was about his family.
“My mother and father are both still living. They live near Kansas City, where my father handles investments.”
Daughtry hung onto every word but tried to appear as though this was all old news to her. She wasn’t about to inform her family that Nicholas hadn’t seen fit to confide in her.
“And do you have brothers and sisters, Nick?” Maggie questioned and Daughtry jumped in to reply.
“He has a brother and two sisters,” she said confidently before Nicholas could get a word in edgewise. She looked over at her husband, daring him to say more, but Nicholas just grinned and went on eating.
“I guess I still don’t understand how you could just up and marry a fellow after you read about him in the paper,” Jordy said and turned to Nicholas. “No offense, I think you’re as good a man for a brother-in-law as any, but my sister’s always been rather picky.”
Everyone laughed at this but Daughtry. “I’m not picky, just cautious.”
“So cautious you answered a stranger’s letter out of the Denver Post and sneaked away in the night to marry him? He could have been three times your age and given to fits of rage for all you knew,” Gavin said.
“He is given to small fits,” Daughtry laughed.
“So what made you do it?” Jordy pressed his luck. “I mean, other than getting away from here?”
Daughtry put her fork down and stared at Nicholas for a moment. “I fell in love with his picture.”
Garrett and the boys thought this hysterical and started laughing and slapping the table. Nicholas looked across the table at Daughtry and winked at her blushing face, while Maggie cleared her throat loud enough that the others quieted down.
“That’s a silly reason to get married,” Jordy replied.
“Sure is,” Garrett seconded. “Imagine, marrying someone just because you’ve fallen in love with their picture. Why, for all you knew, he hadn’t even sent you a picture of himself. It could have been anyone’s picture.”
“I seem to recall,” Maggie began slowly, concentrating on moving the food around her plate, “a certain love-sick cowboy who fell in love with a ‘spitfire of a girl’ as he called her. This man had never met this girl,” Maggie continued, “but her father had a portrait of her hanging in his house and that cowboy fell in love with her after staring many hours at it.”
Everyone fell into silence as all eyes were drawn to Garrett. Garrett looked across the table at his wife and smiled. Their romance had begun very nearly as she said, and now their daughter had gone and fallen for her mate in much the same way.
“Is it true, Daddy?” Daughtry asked with a hint of laughter in her voice.
“No,” Garrett said, surprising Maggie. Her eyes narrowed questioningly, but he quickly continued. “I fell in love with her the first time I saw the portrait, not after hours of studying it.” Maggie’s smile broadened, and the boys broke into laughter.
“What about you, Nick?” Don suddenly asked.
All heads turned and waited for Nicholas to reply. Even Daughtry couldn’t imagine what he might say, and her hand froze in mid-air, her water glass clutched in her fingers, as she waited for his answer.
“I prayed a lot about a wife,” Nicholas finally answered. “I was never much the courting type, and even though I had plenty of women giving me the chase, I just wasn’t interested in settling down. But I guess I started to see the benefits of having a partner, and so I prayed, then put the advertisement in the paper.” His eyes never left Daughtry as he spoke. “Then your sister answered and sent her picture—and while I thought her a remarkably good-looking woman, I can’t say that I fell head-over-heels just then.”
“What was it then?” Jordy piped up to ask.
“I guess I was intrigued by her letter,” Nicholas responded, seeing the disappointment that flickered across Daughtry’s face as she lowered her head to drink. “Of course, once I met her I knew she was exactly what I needed. She’s everything a man could want in a wife.”
Jordy thought the answer reasonable and continued the conversation by telling of a letter he’d received from some girl in town. The laughter around her did little to revive Daughtry’s spirits. Something in Nicholas’s response troubled her, and while she couldn’t quite figure out what it was, it remained between them nevertheless.