Page 9 of Rancher's Rescue
“That sounds wonderful.”
“Which town or laying in bed all day?” I moved my hand down the side of her thigh.
“Both.” Her laugh filled the room and my heart.
It wasn’t ten minutes later the ruckus from above descended the stairs. Standing in the kitchen with Maggie, the kids burst into the room, chattering a million miles an hour.
“All right, go get some good clothes on. We’re going to the city.” I called above the noise.
“We are?” Kit asked, eyes wide and dancing.
“We are so hop to it.”
The kids ran noisily off and up the stairs to their rooms. Turning, I looked at Maggie. She was standing there with her arms crossed and her eyebrow arched. “The city? I thought we were just going to town?”
“It’s not that much further to the city, so I thought, why not? You have to get back to school shopping done, and we might as well take advantage of the rainy day.” Moving to her, I wrapped my arms around her waist and looked down at her and smiled.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Fine, but when they are bored asking how much further it is, you get to deal with them.”
“Deal.” Leaning down, I kissed her to seal our bargain. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, I just have to grab my purse.” Reluctantly, she moved out of my arms and went to gather her things.
* * *
The dive was miraculously good. Kit and Marshall behaved well, and the two hours it took seemed to fly by. “All right, where are we starting?”
“If you don’t mind, I would like to start at the mall. I know I can get the school supplies there.” Groans came from Kit in the back seat when school supplies were mentioned. She’d made it very clear she wanted to be homeschooled so she could work on the ranch all day. No matter what Maggie said, she was determined that when the end of August rolled around, she wouldn’t be on that bus, and Maggie was determined she would be. “It goes much better shopping for that alone. Would you mind keeping the kids?”
“I don’t mind a bit, you know that.” Smiling, I turned into the parking lot of the mall and pulled into an open spot. It lookedlike every rancher and farmer had the same idea. The lot was full of pickups, but this was Montana.
We ran to the entrance hand in hand, like a big chain. Maggie and I held onto Marshall so he could leap over puddles instead of running through them. “It hasn’t rained like this in three years.” Maggie said as she brushed raindrops from her face, smiling and laughing.
“All right, you head off and do your thing. We will wander around. Is there anything you want me to pick up?” I took Marshall and Kit’s hands and we were ready to look at what the mall offered.
“At the other end of the mall, there’s a western store. If you don’t mind helping Marshall pick out some clothes, I will pay for them when I’m done.” She waved as she wandered away.
The kids pointed at things and chatted as we made our way to the other side of the mall. Marshall was in his glory, picking out shirts, pants and even a new cowboy hat. Turning to Kit, she had stayed close to the women’s area looking at jeans and a jacket.
“Kit, do you know what size you need?” If she didn’t know, I was going to have to find one of the female staff for her.
“Mamma won’t let me have them. They are too expensive.” She looked longingly again, and I looked at the pile of clothes Marshall had. They weren’t cheap, so I wasn’t sure what the problem was.
“Why won’t she let you get this stuff?”
“It’s not practical. You can’t work in bell-bottom jeans. The jacket is only good for a few weeks.” She shrugged and ran her hand over the fuzzy jacket.
“Well, your mom isn’t here and I’m buying, so let’s get you ready for school, too.” I knew Maggie was right, but it must be hard to be the only girl at school without a dad, and she worked like a ranch hand from sun up to evening. She deserved whatever I could give her.
We walked out of the western store with more bags than I’d seen three people carry. Marshall was proudly wearing his new cowboy hat and Kit hadn’t stopped smiling since she tried on her first pair of jeans.
“Hey kids, can I ask you a question?” I stopped and pulled them over to a bench in the middle of the mall.
“Sure.” Kit chirped.
“What would you think about me asking your mom to marry me?”
Both kids sat down beside me as they looked at one another. They both smiled and nodded. “We’d be happy.” Marshall said sweetly, looking up at me with his enormous hazel eyes that looked just like his mom’s.
