{Chapter 18}

Aubrey breathed a sigh as she coiled up the lariat Wade had given her. Tomorrow she would be twenty-one years old. She had gone to great lengths to make sure no one but Wade knew, and he had probably forgotten by now anyway. She didn’t want to make a big deal out of her birthday, since it would be her first without her family. How could one really celebrate their birthday without the ones who love you and the ones you love? Yet the thought didn’t hit her as hard as it should. She didn’t really miss that her family was with her, she was just sentimental to the fact that they weren’t. Maybe her birthday in Texas could be just as good if not better. However, she hadn’t told them that it was her birthday, so they wouldn’t know.

She still smiled at the fact that she was free as a bird. She could do anything she wanted and there was no family to consider. Wade and Jay took care of themselves, though she wouldn’t put it past them to die before they cooked for themselves.

For once in a long, long time, she felt completely and totally… free.

**********

“You forgot? Wade!” Katie socked him on the arm for his thoughtless behavior.

“I know. It came to me a minute ago. I don’t have anything for her” Wade was panicking.

“Her birthday is a very important thing, Wade. Especially when she has no family to spend it with. You better think of something and think of it fast. Make it practical, because she needs some more practical things now.”

Wade held up a finger. He had an idea.

“Tell her I had to ride out and I’ll be home a little later. I’ve got to go” Wade situated his hat more firmly on his head and strode toward his horse. There were two things Aubrey needed.

**********

Aubrey paced the floor in front of the fireplace late that night. Wade still wasn’t back. Katie had told her that he had to “ride out” so she supposed that had something to do with the herd. But it was nearly ten o’clock and he still hadn’t returned.

Jay and Sadie were curled up on the bed, and she wasn’t tired, anyway. She had began to get really worried and was starting to contemplate whether to go looking for him when she heard a horse’s hoof beats nearing the shack. She breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door, stepping out into the cool night air.

Wade was coming from the nearly completed barn.

“Where have you been? I’ve been so worried” Aubrey met him halfway.

“I’ll tell you in the morning, hon. Why’d you stay up so late?” Wade kissed her cheek and they both started walking toward the shack.

“Because I was worried. Why wouldn’t I be? I thought something had happened to you” Aubrey wrapped her arm around his waist from the side without thinking, just relieved to find that he was alright.

Wade smirked. “I had some business to attend to in town. I would have told you, but I forgot about it until the last minute. Then when I got to town there was a delay so that took longer than expected. I’m sorry I’m here so late.”

Aubrey smiled at his weary face. It was obvious that he was bone tired. He stopped walking and groaned.

“Oh, I’m going crazy. I forgot to take the leather off Abe. I’ll be inside in a minute” he turned to go.

Aubrey stopped him.

“You go inside and resituate Jay so you can go to bed. I’ll take care of Abe.”

“No, I need to. You…”
“I’m not taking no for an answer. Now go” Aubrey pointed to the house.

Wade stared at her. “I really don’t want ya to, but I’m too tired to argue.”

“Go one” Aubrey waved him on while she walked toward the barn.

She neared Abe’s stall and started undoing the cinch that held the saddle on. After placing the saddle on its designated rack, hanging up the harness, dusting and putting away the saddle blanket, and putting Abe in his rightful stall, she blew out the lamp she had lit and headed for the house.

Coyotes howled in the distance, making her walk faster at nearly a run. She hated the sound of their desperate cries.

After entering the shack and closing the door, she took a deep breath or relief. She was safe in the four walls of the line shack. No coyote could get in here.

She looked toward the bed, where Wade and Jay were sleeping off to one side, leaving her spot for Sadie. Aubrey smiled and walked to remove the puppy. Sadie yawned and stretched his little paws before settling back to sleep in her arms.

Aubrey set him in the little sheet beside the bed that was supposed to be his bed and changed into her nightgown before slipping under the warm covers. Jay sighed as she lay down, but didn’t wake up. She smoothed his hair back and kissed his tanning forehead.

“I’m coming to love you, little guy” she whispered.

Aubrey woke up before dawn the next morning and yawned. She moved her hands to get the hair out of her face and found her left hand restricted. She looked down to see a hand encasing hers. Her gaze moved up the arm the hand was attached to as it lay over Jay’s side and attached to Wade’s torso. She smiled at him and looked down at his hand. She struggled with whether to get up or not.

No, she would just lay here until Wade woke up.

She sighed contentedly and rested back against her pillows, rubbing the back of Wade’s strong, calloused, masculine hand with her fingertips. His grasp felt so strong and constant, even in his sleep.

“I know that I can grow to love you with all my heart, and I’m gonna make you love me right back… even if it kills me” She heard his whispered words inside her head.

She kissed each of his knuckles and felt a burning inside her she hadn’t felt before for anyone.

“I think you might be winning, Wade Dylan” she whispered into the morning air.

God, please help me to figure this out.

**********

“Oh, we’ve got to lose the ponytail, Mr. Sterling” Toni watched as Katie evaluated Adam sterling as he sat in the barber’s chair.

Katie was the one giving him the makeover; Toni was just there to make sure he obeyed her.

Adam touched his short ponytail and scowled at Katie. “You’re not touching it.”

“You have an emotional attachment to your hair? That’s really masculine, isn’t it?” Katie crossed her arms.

Adam and Katie hadn’t got along since the very first.

“That’s not it. I’ve worn my hair like this since I was a teenager,” Adam explained.

“It’s ridiculous looking, Adam,” Katie protested. “Do you brush it 100 times every night?”

Adam scowled at her. “No. Don’t be silly, Katie.”

“Fine, we’ll let you keep the ponytail. Ugh” Katie rolled her eyes and looked at the barber, who was standing nearby with a nervous look on his face at the two women in his shop. “Give him a shave then, and include that beard.”

Adam touched his facial hair. “It’s called a goatee, Katie. What are you trying to do? I’ll have to introduce myself to my own brother.”

Katie arched an eyebrow. “The beard, too?”

“It’s not a beard.”

“Take your pick, Adam. The ponytail or the beard… er… goatee?” Katie leaned against the counter across from Adam.

Adam looked to Toni. Toni put her hands up, not willing to be his ally against Katie.

“Ben would have looked good in a goatee,” Katie said with a faraway look in her eyes.

There was a moment of silence while thinking about Katie’s late fiancé, who had been killed by the same rustlers that had nearly killed Erik. Katie sniffed and walked to stand beside Toni.

“Go with the beard” she told the barber.

Adam made no objection.

“We can’t have the new sheriff looking like a ragamuffin, Adam” Katie defended herself.

“How do you explain Duncan, then?” Adam asked as the barber slathered shaving cream on his face.

“Duncan shaves.”

“Pfft.”

Toni smiled as the barber removed the last bit of shaving cream from Adam’s face. He looked surprisingly handsome without the goatee.

“Much better” Katie clasped her hands in front of herself and smiled.

“I hope you’re satisfied,” Adam mumbled.

“Don’t be a baby, Adam” Katie scoffed.

Adam slammed his hat down on his head and excited the barbershop, pursing his lips and scowling at Katie.

It was a shame that they didn’t get along better, because Toni thought they might make a cute couple.

What’s gotten into you? You’re starting to sound like Katie, Toni.

**********

Erik and Sandy sat at the table in the kitchen, bored out of their minds. Sandy was swinging her feet from the chair she sat in, clutching her doll in one hand and holding her head up with the other.

“Well, what do you wanna do? Your mother isn’t here to order us around, and Jay isn’t here to occupy you” Erik sighed.

Sandy shrugged. “Can I write Aunt Emily?”

“You did that yesterday, sweet pea,” Erik said, thinking about his little sister back in Georgia.

“Can I ride my horsy?” Sandy asked.

“Your horsy is out grazing right now, honey.”

Sandy sighed and stared at the knife that Erik was twisting in his hands.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a knife.”

“What does it do?”

Erik smiled. “It stabs stuff.” He thrust it into the tabletop. “Like that.”

“Does it hurt?” Sandy reached out to touch it.

Erik moved it out of her reach. “Yes, and you can’t touch it, okay? It’s very sharp.”

Sandy stared at the blade.

“Erik!” a voice called from outside.

Erik stuffed the knife into the sheath at his hip and picked Sandy up into his arms before walking outside.

“What are you doing?” Mark asked him, planting his hands on his hips.

“I’m spending time with my daughter. What are you doing?” Erik replied.

“I’m wondering why you’re not working” Mark said.

“Well, it’s obvious that you aren’t working like you’re supposed to be, either. Because in working like you should, you would have failed to notice that I wasn’t in that corral getting my insides knocked around by a horse,” Erik said to his uncle-in-law.

“My job is to make sure you all are working, now tell me why a two-year-old is more important than your job right now” Mark was growing impatient.

“This two year old has always been more important than my job, Mark. I’ll start on that horse when my wife is home and someone’s around to watch Sandy, okay?” Erik turned to go to their house.

“You’ll work when I say to” Mark corrected.

Erik turned around. “Or what? You’ll fire me? Na…”

He felt Mark’s eyes boring into his back as he retreated like a coward toward the safety of his home. He preferred to walk away from arguments, but it was just plain fear of Toni’s uncle that drove him away from this one.

“Is he mad?” Sandy asked.

“He’s just being difficult, Sandy” Erik explained. “Like always.”

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