Page 49 of A Cowboy's Convenient Marriage

Chapter 19

After talking withAda, Cash paid attention in church on Sunday. Sure enough, there were several people that he had not seen before, and he saw people greeting them. Showing them where to go. Aunt Karen and Ada exchanged smiles as that happened.

His wife definitely had a different way of working, but the fact that she had ideas, and was helping in the church without people even knowing it, appealed to him.

It was much different than Abby’s attention seeking ways, but...better in a lot of ways.

“Looks like marital life is treating you well. If I’m not mistaken, you gained a few pounds,” Ezra’s voice came over his shoulder, and as he turned around, Ezra smirked at him.

“I think you might be right about that, and it’s more than a few. Ada is quite a cook, and Aunt Karen doesn’t like to be outdone. I think they have cooking competitions rather than fighting over me.”

It was maybe a little egotistical, but it was true. Both of the women in his life adored him, and he had to say, after the way he’d been treated by his church in Virginia, it was a balm to his soul to know that they both loved him. Just because they both showed it in cooking was a little bit of a problem, but he wasn’t too worried about it.

“Well that’s good. You look happy, and Ada is glowing as well,” Ezra said. Although, if Cash wasn’t mistaken, a small sliver of worry slid across Ezra’s face as he looked at his sister.

Cash followed his gaze, and understood why he might be concerned. While Cash had gained a few pounds, it looked like Ada had lost a few. Her dress, which seemed to fit her just fine not that long ago, seemed to hang from her frame, and the tired circles were prominent under her eyes.

“She and I are heading to Virginia this week. I was asked to come back to the church so they could apologize to me.”

“Really?” Ezra said, shifting the child on his hip to a more comfortable position. The little one had his head on his dad’s shoulder, his thumb in his mouth, and his eyes were drooping. Someone was ready for their midmorning nap. “That’s great news. You must be ecstatic.”

“I am very happy that the truth finally came out. I feel bad for Zoe, who felt like she had to lie like that. But she’s already stood up in front of the church and apologized and explained that she lied. Everyone knows it, and my head deacon is after me to come back so the church can apologize. Ada agreed that it might be a nice honeymoon trip. I’ve just been struggling to get away from the car dealership.”

“I understand how work can sometimes grab ahold of a man not let go,” Ezra said, and Cash thought about what he and Ada had talked about life on the farm. Ezra sounded like he knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Yeah. I allow myself to get caught up a little more than what I expect to. And I tell myself that it’s because Aunt Karen was depending on me to help her make it solvent again, but I think there’s also a bit of my ego involved. Which is scary.”

“Yeah. A man’s ego can be a scary thing. We do a lot of things to keep it happy.”

They stood there for a moment, and then Ezra glanced around and lowered his voice.

“I have a question for you that I just want you to think about.”

“All right,” Cash said uncertainly. He thought maybe he was going to get in trouble because Ada looked tired. And he was marshaling his arguments, trying to think how best to convince Ezra that Ada had told him emphatically that she was happy and she enjoyed what she was doing, and did not think she was doing too much.

“Pastor Stone is considering leaving the pulpit. I am on the committee of folks who will be looking for a new pastor if that’s the case. I was hoping that you might consider it.” He paused, looked around again, and then lowered his voice even more. “For years now, my family and I have talked about how difficult it is to get away from the farm, especially in dude ranch season, to make it to church on Sundays. We don’t mind the hassle, but sometimes it’s impossible. And then, once we get home, trying to get everyone together to eat... It’s just hard. We’ve often said we needed to hire a preacher. We were mostly joking about it, but I got to thinking, we’ve got a preacher in the family now. And I wondered if that might be something that would interest you? Delivering the sermon on Sunday afternoon to my family before or after we have our meal. It would be a lot easier for us to gather on the ranch, and when we have dude ranch guests, and other people on the farm, they would come too. Actually, we’d probably open it up and anyone would be invited. We might end up putting up a building or something on the farm.”

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