Page 85 of A Steadfast Heart
Less time to dread it. There was wisdom in that statement. She gathered the shreds of her courage that remained after escaping her brother and faced her husband. “I have to tell you something.” Her cheeks burned, and her gaze dropped to the ground.
“Okay.”
“I, um, said some things to the deputy back in Calvin. Things I, well, things I didn’t mean.”
He tugged her back into his embrace. “Shh, Kaitlyn. I know.”
She shook her head. He couldn’t know. She had to tell him. “I was trying to?—”
He stepped back just enough that he could lift her chin with his finger. His gaze met hers steadily. “Protect me and the kids. Kaitlyn, I know.”
His emphasis on the last two words arrowed into her heart. His eyes remained warm and loving. He did know, and there was no anger anywhere in his expression. More tears found their way down her cheeks, but her smile stretched wide. She melted against him, finding her home in his embrace. He knew, and he’d come after her anyway.
“If I’m completely honest, I have to say I believed it at first. I had to calm down before I could realize that I knew you better than that. Knew you would do whatever it took to keep the kids safe. To keep the ranch safe. Even say the one thing guaranteed to make me turn away from you toward them.”
The ranch. Her smile fell, and she stepped back from him. Chills traveled over her skin.Oh, Lord, the ranch.“If you and Ed and Nick came after me…”
He nodded, his eyes serious. “We won’t be able to finish the cabin. Quade won. But Kaitlyn, I have you. I won too.”
“I’m so sorry, Drew.” Her voice trembled and her throat grew tight.
“I’m not. When we walked out of that jail, the choice was the homestead or you. I didn’t have to think about that, not even for a split second. There is always more land. There is only one you.”
He pulled her closer again, and his warmth seeped into the cold places in her heart. He rubbed his cheek against her hair. “I love you, Kaitlyn. I told myself to wait until the cabin was finished, till I could give you my full attention and convince you how I felt. But the truth is, I was scared. Scared of opening my heart again.”
She pulled back a bit and saw a flicker of uncertainty in his expression. She laid a hand against his cheek, fingering the marks he’d gotten fighting for her. “I was scared too. Scared I wouldn’t be enough for you. For the kids.”
“How could you not be enough? You’re everything, Kaitlyn. My everything.”
He rubbed a tear away with his thumb, his calloused hand rough against her cheek. She turned her face into the caress as warmth flooded her soul. Protection. Acceptance. Love. Understanding. It was all there in his gaze, his touch. “Oh, Drew, I love you so much!”
He kissed her forehead. Her cheek. The tip of her nose. She rose on tiptoe as he lowered his head to hers, his lips firm against hers. She felt commitment in that kiss. Homecoming.
He raised his head enough to whisper, “I want this to be a real marriage. A marriage with love at its center.”
A smile spread across her face, and her eyes brightened with joy. “I want that too. So much.”
Later, much later, she snuggled next to him in a hotel bed, her cheek resting on his chest, her mind drifting over the eventful day.
She’d never thought she’d feel grateful for brothers, but Nick and Ed were nothing like Michael. She might not know Isaac as well, but she knew enough to know he wasn’t either. When Ed had hugged her to welcome her to the family, he’d whispered, “I’ve never seen my brother so happy. The cabin doesn’t matter. Don’t you give it another thought.”
Except how was she supposed to do that? It was supposed to be his home, and he was her family now. There had to be a way. Maybe they could try to prove up a different piece of land. She bit her lip. Or…
“Drew, what happens to the land if we can’t prove it up?”
Drew blinked awake from the pillow next to hers. “Hmm—what?” His voice was still rough from sleep.
She sat up, tugging the blankets around her shoulders. “It goes up for sale, right?”
Drew nodded.
Her grip tightened on the blankets. “The bank will be open, and my money is there. What if we buy the land before anyone else can?”
Drew looked thoughtful for a moment, then he smiled. “The land office is in Calvin.”
“Then I guess we’d best get moving, Mr. McGraw.”
Chapter20
