Page 16 of Her Cowboy Hero
Harper
If you’d told me five years and three days ago on that first morning in Cedarwood Valley that I’d end up married to a rancher twelve years my junior, I would have laughed and laughed and laughed until I fell off my chair. Not only did I believe I was destined for a life of solitude back then, but I also had it in my head that I was completely unlovable. I’m so glad I was wrong.
Austin has loved me in a way that has made me feel stronger than I ever was. I’d been raised to do my own rescuing, to take care of myself. But there’s something special about giving yourself over to another human being, showing them your vulnerability and having them love you, anyway. In many ways, it saves you—saves you from yourself and yourstinkin’ thinkin’as my gorgeous husband would say.
“I need to get back out there,” Austin says, groaning from his displeasure as he does every morning. When the kids are old enough to help out, we’ll all get out there together—just like Austin and I worked side by side for the few months of our relationship before learned I was pregnant—but for now, he’s out there with the rest of his crew while I work on the home front with the other wives, although I get to do a decent amount of mechanic work too, as well as the odd shift at the bike shop to help out when they’re a little overrun. I feel like my life is very well rounded, and I honestly couldn’t feel more loved and fulfilled if I tried.
“I’ll see you at lunch then?” I say with a smile as he gets up and gives me a toe-curling kiss.
“You’d better,” he says, “or I’m gonna come find you and have my wicked way with you.”
“In that case, I might just stay right here,” I tease, even though we both know I’ll be in the food hall on schedule because here on the ranch, we all have our part to play. And to skip out on your duties affects everyone.
Austin was right when he described this place as its own little community. Not long after we married, we moved into one of the cabins on site that are provided for ranch hands with families—the single guys have their own rooms in a bigger building near the food hall—and it was quickly apparent to me just how close-knit this group was. The women worked just as hard as the men do, doing ranch work where needed, focusing on the business side of things, and working out the logistics of feeding thirty men and their families three meals a day. It’s a crazy amount of work, but at the same time it’s very rewarding. The townsfolk in Cedarwood Valley may not be that accepting, but the ranchers are a completely different group of people. They only care that you can pitch in to help. I’ve never felt so at peace as I am here. I’ve never felt as though I belonged as well as I do here. And I’ve never felt as loved and accepted as I do here.
For the first time in my life, my height and my strength is seen as a positive. I spent so long hating the way I looked, and hating the way I stuck out like a sore thumb that I failed to see the positives, and the beauty in this body God gave me. It took turning my life upside down, almost getting gored by a bull, and accepting the love of a cowboy for me to see it. Austin has given me the kind of life I always dreamed of, and I will love him every moment of the rest of my life for being the one man on this earth who could save me. He’s my hero.
