Forever Family (River's End Ranch Book 26) Read online

  “I can just picture my dad’s face if I ask him that. And you didn’t argue this time when I told you we were getting married. I’m making progress!”

  She laughed. “I’m not sure what to say to you anymore. I’ve argued until my face is blue, and you still say that we’re getting married. What’s a girl to do?”

  “Marry me?”

  “We’ll see.”

  “You’re still waiting for the perfect proposal, aren’t you?”

  “I’ve known you six days. I’m not waiting for any proposal, perfect or not.”

  He stopped walking and turned to her. “I want you to know that even if I seem flippant about it, I’m very serious. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, living on this ranch and raising babies. How many kids do you want?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe a half dozen or so. All girls.”

  “Girls? What would we do with a houseful of girls? You can have two girls, but I want the rest to be boys.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I wouldn’t know what to do with a houseful of boys!”

  “I’ll help you. So will Don Juan. Between the three of us, we can raise boys.”

  Bobbi looked down at Don Juan. “I’m not sure he’s going to know how to raise boys or girls. I’m not sure if you noticed but…” She trailed off for a moment, and lowered her voice to a whisper. “He’s a dog!”

  “No!” Wilber shook his head. “He’s much too intelligent to just be a dog. Maybe he’s one of the fairies in disguise!”

  She laughed, resuming their walk. They were close enough to the lake that she could see it through the trees. She wanted to stick her feet in it. “When are you going to take me rafting?”

  “When are you going to agree to ride ATVs up into the mountains with me. I’ve been trying to get you to do that forever!”

  “Forever? Sometimes I think you have problems with exaggeration, Wilber Weston.”

  He shrugged. “Oh, I really do. But especially when I’m talking about you, because I love you so much!”

  She sighed. “Give me a few more days, would you?”

  “So if I give you a few more days, you’ll agree to marry me?”

  She shook her head, not in answer to his question, but wondering what she should do about him. One thing she knew for certain. He was a good distraction from thinking about her father.

  Bobbi opened the door of the spa, thinking they should have added it years earlier. She was seldom around to use it now, as it had only been open for a year. She went to the front desk and smiled at her daughter-in-law. “Please tell me there’s been a cancellation and I can have a twelve-hour massage.”

  Maddie laughed. “I don’t know about twelve hours, but I could make an hour and a half happen in about ten minutes.”

  “Are you kidding? I didn’t think there was any way I’d be able to get in.”

  “I’m as surprised as you are. We had a cancellation a few hours ago. The guest had a family emergency and had to head back to West Virginia three days earlier than planned. She was not happy.”

  “Well, I’m not happy that she had a hard time, but I have to be pleased about my good fortune. I need that time on the table, thinking about nothing and letting my muscles be massaged into oblivion.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Maddie waved a hand toward the water with orange slices floating in it. “Have some fruit water, or I can get you a root beer. I have a few stashed in the back for just such an occasion.”

  “A root beer would be absolutely wonderful. Do you mind?”

  “Not at all. Have a seat, and I’ll bring it out to you.”

  As soon as Bobbi was on the table, her mind wandered once again. Remembering just what had made her fall in love with the man who was now her husband was helping her remember why she needed to stay married. For a while, she’d thought she’d have to stay married for her six children, but it was more than that. She needed to stay married for her.

  She’d been at the ranch about two weeks, and all the furor had died down over her father’s escape from prison. On a Sunday afternoon, Wilber asked her if she’d go for a ride on the ATVs with him. He’d spent time teaching her to ride them, and she’d become proficient. She didn’t enjoy leaving poor Don Juan behind, but his mother promised her that she’d take care of her pet.

  So she agreed to go, looking forward to finally seeing the views from atop the mountain that overlooked the ranch. She met him outside after she’d changed out of her church clothes, and saw that he had a picnic basket with him. She was glad, because she was starving, and she knew he’d learned to always serve chocolate if they were going to eat together.

  She climbed onto the ATV and started it. “Why do they have three wheels?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “No idea. I hope someday someone invents one with four wheels. I think I’d feel a bit safer.” He led the way up into the mountains, stopping at a picnic table about halfway up. “I thought you might be hungry.”

  “Have I ever not been hungry? Face it, I’m a bottomless pit!” She wasn’t ashamed of it, because she was slender. She must have hollow legs, because there was no other explanation for where she put the sheer amount of food she ate.

  They ate together, laughing over some of her stories from the diner. She’d started waiting tables, and she felt good about herself for the first time in years. “A man I’d never seen before came into the diner, and he wanted the day’s special. The special was liver and onions. I don’t know what your mother was thinking. I tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t listen to me. So I took him out the special, and he wrinkled his nose, but he knew he was in the wrong, so he made himself eat every bite. Your mom and I giggled about it.”

  He laughed. “The pool is done, so they’re breaking ground on the first of the cabins. I’m excited that it’s finally happening. This was one of my ideas.”

  As they chatted, she realized that she was no longer nervous around him. He made her feel completely at ease, and she loved spending time with him. “Can we look for Bigfoot after lunch?” she asked, her eyes lit up.

  “What’s your obsession with Bigfoot?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I just think he’s really cool, and if he does live in this area like I’ve heard, I want to be the one to find him. Is that so wrong?”

  “I guess not. But think about this. If you find him, is telling people about him the right thing to do? What if you ruin his entire life, and even his ecosystem by telling scientists about him. They’ll just want to study him, and then where will you be?”

  She frowned. “Fine, then I’ll just know where he is and not tell anyone. When our kids are old enough, I’ll be able to tell them without a shadow of a doubt that Bigfoot lives in our mountains.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her.

  “What was that about?”

  “It was the first time you’ve referred to our children as if having them is a foregone conclusion. I liked it.”

  She grinned. “I didn’t mean to say it that way.”

  “I know you didn’t. That makes it even more special, because you did it without thinking about it first. That means you really believe it. I guess it’s time for me to start planning my proposal.”

  “You aren’t supposed to tell me when you’re planning a proposal! I’m supposed to be surprised by it!”

  Wilber grinned. “But if I surprise you with it, how will you be able to practice your reactions?”

  She laughed. “Do you want a big wedding?”

  “I want whatever you want. If you want to run away and get married by a justice of the peace, then that’s what I want. If you want to have a big wedding and invite everyone we’ve known since kindergarten, that’s fine too. All I care about is you being happy. So do what will make you happy.”

  She looked at him with stars in her eyes for a moment. “What did I ever do to deserve you? I can’t imagine that I ever did anything good enough to deserve the kind of love you give me.”

  “You were born. You came to Id
aho. That’s good enough for me.”

  “You really do know how to make a girl feel special.”

  He shrugged. “My mama was careful to raise young men with manners.”

  “She did a very good job.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, getting bolder with him every day. She knew she was going to marry him, and she saw nothing wrong with a bit of kissing before they were married.

  “Mrs. Weston, your massage is over.”

  Bobbi yawned, startled. “Already? You just started!”

  Andrea, the newest member of the spa team there on the ranch, laughed softly. “I promise I gave you the full hour and a half. I’d keep going, but I have another client due here in five minutes.”

  “I’d better hurry and dress and get out of your room then, huh?”

  Andrea nodded. “That would be really nice.”

  As she walked back to the cabin, Bobbi felt a sense of peace come over her. She’d tell the kids about her father getting out of prison, and she’d let them decide if they wanted to meet him. They had every right to meet their grandfather, and they had never met their grandmother to hold her death against him. No, it was time to give them the choice, and she would abide by whatever they said.

  It was a huge weight off her shoulders to not make the decision. She would be able to move on with her life and deciding whether she and Wilber were going to make it. Not that there was any doubt in her mind when she walked into the cabin and saw wildflowers everywhere. He loved her. What more could she ask for?

  Chapter Seven

  Bobbi spent the next morning helping out at the Kids’ Korral. It was one of her favorite places on the ranch, and not only because three of her grandchildren were there all day. She arrived early in the morning. “I’m here to hold babies,” she announced.

  Debbie laughed. “You’re welcome to hold babies all day if you want. Are you willing to feed and diaper them as well, or will you just sit quietly and hold them?”

  Bobbi grinned. She liked Debbie a lot. They were close to the same age, and she enjoyed talking to her. “I will do whatever you need. It doesn’t even have to be babies, though I would like a few minutes to hold my granddaughters.”

  “Go ahead and start out in the baby room then. Tori is being true to form and wiggling the morning away, while Willow sleeps. Tori could use some extra cuddles from Grandma.”

  “Just think, you’ll be on grandma duty soon, too.”

  “I’m not sure I’m ready for that!” Debbie grinned as Bobbi disappeared into the baby’s room.

  Bobbi found Tori lying on a mat on the floor on her tummy, wiggling like crazy and fussing at random intervals, then smiling broadly. She scooped the baby up and walked over to one of the gliding rockers, snuggling her close.

  Tori looked up at her with the Weston ice blue eyes, a look of laughter filling them. “How’s my baby? How’s my little girl?”

  Tori started giggling, which surprised no one. “You are the happiest baby in the whole world, aren’t you?”

  The baby teacher, Alexis, laughed softly. “Willow’s a pretty happy baby too. They aren’t old enough to get excited when their mother comes, but they do! She comes in to feed them around ten-thirty every morning, and I could swear those babies can tell time. They start wiggling and giggling about ten-twenty.”

  Bobbi let Tori sit up on her lap as she liked, and she thought back to when her twins were that small. Tori was just like Dani, always sitting up and wiggling and trying to do more than she possibly could for her age. Willow was more like her mama, happy to just be there. Kelsi seemed to dress them as if they were like her and Dani as well. Willow would wear pretty pastels and always had a bow in her hair. Tori wore darker, more “masculine” colors.

  She rocked the baby back and forth, and her mind wandered off to many years before. She and Wilber had made it farther up into the mountain than she’d ever been, and she stood looking down at the ranch in awe. “I can’t believe all that land belongs to your family.”

  He grinned. “We’re about to buy that area over there, too. It’s been in the Cooper family for generations, but their only son, Tim is in prison and probably never getting out. He’s a wastrel.”

  She frowned, thinking of her dad. Was he a wastrel too? “Does your family constantly buy land?”

  “Yeah. If it’s on the border of the ranch, and it goes up for sale, we’re the first in line to buy. There’s so much more we want to do. The Coopers’ land we’re buying will eventually be made into a row of houses. We’ll rent them out or use them for employees. Not sure yet, but we’ll put it to good use.”

  “I’m stunned by the magnitude of the ranch. It seems like so much for just one family to be in charge of.”

  He smiled. “That’s why we need lots of sons, and we need to raise them to love the ranch as much as we do. We need help running the place.”

  “What about daughters? Daughters can help too, you know!”

  “I won’t forget the daughters, but I sure hope the boys come first. If the girls are as beautiful as their mother, I’m going to be beating potential boyfriends off with a stick, and it would be nice if I had sons to help me!”

  She grinned. “You sure do know the right things to say to reach my heart.”

  He pulled her against him, her back to his front, and just wrapped his arms around her waist. “I could stand here like this with you forever.”

  She leaned back against him, completely at ease. “If we stand here like this forever, how will we search for Bigfoot?”

  He laughed. “You and your Bigfoot obsession. I hope our children don’t inherit that from you.”

  “Why not? I think at least one of them should join me in my search for Sasquatch.”

  “If you say so.”

  She turned around in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. “It can’t be just the two of us looking for him forever, after all.”

  “I don’t have a choice in the matter, do I?”

  She shook her head. “Not until one of the children joins my quest. Then you can stop.”

  He leaned down and kissed her softly. “If we’re now talking about our future children, don’t you think it’s time for us to start talking about a wedding date?”

  “Not yet. I want to just enjoy being a couple for a little while longer. Marriage starts the years of work and raising children. Can’t we just be in love for a while?”

  He froze, staring into her eyes. “That’s the first time you’ve told me you love me. Do you mean it?”

  She grinned, nodding emphatically. “Of course, I do. I don’t think there’s a girl alive who could resist falling for you. Why, if Mother Theresa had met you as a young girl, she’d have fallen in love too!”

  He laughed. “I’m not sure I could have convinced a devout nun to leave her course of life. I wouldn’t have fallen for her, after all. You were the one the fairies sent to me. I know that because Jaclyn told me.”

  She brushed her lips against his. “Are we going to believe Jaclyn and her fairies? Or are we going to decide for ourselves?”

  “Well, I believed her immediately, but you seem to be taking your own sweet time. We’ve known each other forever, and my ring is not yet on your finger.”

  “Ring? You haven’t shown me a ring.”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box. “I’ve been carrying it since a couple of days after I met you. Do you want to see it?”

  She bit her lip. She did want to see it. Of course, she did. But…she also wanted to be surprised when it was time. “No, I’ll wait.”

  “Are you going to let me know when I’m allowed to propose?” he asked. “I don’t know how else I’ll be able to tell that I’m supposed to.”

  “I’ll make sure you know when I’m ready.” Bobbi knew she didn’t need a lot more time, but a bit longer would make her very happy. She was in love and enjoying it. Marriage would come…soon. But not today. She needed more time to just enjoy being in love.

 
; Tori wiggled in Bobbi’s arms, reminding her where she was. She jiggled the baby on her knee, overwhelmed at the idea that this baby would never have been born if not for her love for Wilber. The second generation was being born now, and she was going to love every second of it.

  When Kelsi came in to feed the twins, Bobbi moved out of the second chair. “They’re all yours.”

  “Thanks, Mom. What are you doing here?” Kelsi asked as she quickly began to nurse Tori.

  “I came to see my grandbabies today. Willow slept all morning, but I played with Tori.”

  “Willow’s a really good sleeper. Tori is a wiggler. Is there any doubt about why I called her Princess Wiggles?”

  “None.” Bobbi walked over to peer into Willow’s crib, seeing her lying wide awake with her fist in her mouth. She unlatched the crib and picked the baby up, cooing to her softly. “I’m going to change your diaper, and then your mama’s going to feed you the good stuff. Are you getting hungry?” The girl was dressed in a pink dress, complete with a bow in her hair. Tori was wearing blue overalls with a green shirt. “You never leave anyone in question of who’s who.”

  “Well, they’re not identical, but they do look quite a bit alike. It’s just easier this way.”

  Alexis walked over as Bobbi finished changing Willow. “Do you want me to take her?”

  “No, I’ll hold her until Kelsi’s ready for her. Then I’m going to run over to the school-aged children and steal Vivian. I think she needs a grandma day, don’t you?”

  “You just want to spoil her rotten. What are you planning?”

  “Oh, I thought I’d grab a four-wheeler and take her up into the mountains to search for Bigfoot. It’s time to get the next generation interested, don’t you think?”

  Kelsi nodded emphatically. “I got the twins onesies that say, ‘Bigfoot doesn’t believe in you either.’ Blue for Tori and pink for Willow. If they have matching outfits, they’re never the same color.”

  “I didn’t mean to scar you girls for life by dressing you alike. I thought that’s what you did with twins.”

  “We’ll get over it. Five or six years of intense therapy should do just fine.”