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Chapter Sixteen

Miranda stepped down off the front steps of the porch and came over to where Casey leaned against the split rail fence that ran the perimeter of the yard. She ran her hands up his back then wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head on the firmness of his shoulder blades. “Are you glad to be home, cowboy?” She asked, letting her fingertips slip between the buttons on his shirt and trace a path over the ridges of his chest.

Casey put his hands on top of hers and turned around, leaning back against the fence and pulling her to him. “I am definitely glad to be home,” he promised her, leaning in for a quick kiss. “I have to say, you’re a trooper. Not many brides are quite so willing to drop everything on their honeymoons and take off for a cattle drive.”

“Are you kidding? If all those selfish brides knew how exciting it is to be surrounded by good-looking, muscular cowboys all day long, there would be a riot at the airport with brides ripping up their tickets to the Caribbean to head out west instead!”

Casey raised one eyebrow at her. “Good looking cowboys? Plural? As in, more than one cowboy was good looking?”

“Well, for starters, there’s two of you, but you knew that already!” Miranda nodded, acknowledging that he and Carey were still often mixed up for the other one. “But, don’t worry, there’s only one cowboy who can get my attention, Mr. Carson.”

“Well, Mrs. Carson, it’s still nice to hear you say it! I mean, do I need to be careful with you around my brother because we’re both so handsome? He’s invited us to have dinner with him tonight, and I’d hate for all this gorgeousness times two to be more than you can handle.”

“Well, that would be a real problem,” Miranda admitted playfully. “If your brother’s date didn’t carry a gun. Trust me, I won’t be looking at either of you when she’s in the room, just to be on the safe side!” Casey laughed before giving Miranda a lasting kiss that left her nearly breathless. “How long’s the ride to the hunting lodge?” She asked, wondering whether they’d take the horses or the truck to have dinner with Carey and Amy, where they were staying on her ranch getaway.

“Only a couple of hours if we take the truck, longer if we take the horses, obviously,” he answered, smiling as Miranda clearly tried to process living on property that took hours to cross. “I thought we’d pack some overnight things and camp out tonight. What do you think?”

“You haven’t had enough of living ‘cattle drive’ style, have you?” She teased, already plotting how to get him to at least throw a real mattress in the bed of the truck. “I’ve had plenty of sleeping on the ground to last me at least a month or two.”

“Fine, we’ll compromise. You sleep in the truck, I’ll take the ground,” he offered with a quick kiss, knowing she would never go for it. Miranda was shaking her head before he’d even finished.

“Not a chance, Mr. Carson. You’re stuck with me from here on out. The justice of the peace said so!” She beamed proudly as she said those words. Casey leaned closer to give her one of his wonderfully ravaging kisses, the kind she could never imagine growing tired of, but first whispered against her lips.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He held out his hand to her and they walked inside to gather their things, then headed to the truck. Soon enough, they were bouncing along the same piece of land where Casey first took Miranda to propose to her.

“Do you think this old farm of yours is magical enough to be lucky twice?” She asked Casey, leaning her head on his shoulder as he drove.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I mean, I didn’t fall in love with the ranch, but I fell in love with you because of the man this ranch helped you become. Do you think it can work its magic on Amy’s heart in the same way?”

“I can’t say for sure,” Carey answered. “You know she’s a tough sell. I think she really cares about my brother, but even you can see what a culture shock this has to be. You left a good-sized city to move out here, but she’d be leaving behind her city and her sense of purpose.”

Miranda nodded thoughtfully. As much as everyone had tried to welcome Amy and make her feel like she belonged over these past three weeks, there was still something about her that seemed hesitant. On the surface, she seemed to enjoy being a part of the ranch, and it was obviously to anyone with even halfway decent eyesight that she and Carey were falling in love. But there was something else, some force field at work inside her that kept Amy from really being a part of it all.

“Well, Carey did say he had some ‘big news’ for us but he wouldn’t tell me anything else,” Casey explained. “Maybe their big news is that Amy’s going to stay for good and make an honest woman out of my little brother!”

Miranda sat up suddenly, excited over Casey’s announcement. “Really? Big news? You sure he said, ‘Big news'? How did he sound when he said it, did he sound like it was important, or did he sound surprised?”

Casey laughed, watching the eager expression on his new wife’s face. “Whoa! Slow down there! You’re gonna hurt yourself with all that guessing! He just said it in a regular way, nothing fancy. I’m sorry, I didn’t know his facial expression was going to be on your exam!” Miranda laughed along, then returned to her position beside Casey, her arm wrapped through his, her head on his shoulder.

When they arrived at Carey and Amy’s temporary vacation site, the hunting lodge Carson Hill Ranch rented out each season, they were thrilled to see the couple arm in arm on the front steps, waiting outside once they heard the roar of the oversized truck approaching. Carey and Amy waved them in, both of them smiling broadly.

“Welcome, guys!” Carey called out as he and Amy met them beside the vehicle. “What can I carry?” He followed Casey around to the bed of the truck, retrieving bundles of dinner things and supplies.

Miranda and Amy, meanwhile, linked arms and went into the house, but they were only a few steps away when Miranda had to speak up. “So, I heard you have some big news,” she began, before squealing and grabbing Amy’s left hand, holding it up to inspect its digits for an engagement ring. Amy looked shocked, then mildly amused at Miranda’s implication.

“Now don’t you start, either!” Amy began, laughing and hugging her new best friend close. “I’ve been hearing all the hints I need for right now! No, it’s a different big news but you’ll have to wait until the boys come in. No sense spilling it and then having to repeat it!”

When all four were inside and had had the chance to catch up on the goings on at the ranch, Carey looked to Amy and gestured for her to begin. “Well, guys, someone over here blabbed that I had some news to share.” Miranda practically bounced in her seat while Casey leaned forward expectantly. “So, I’ll let you guys be the first to know that I’ve decided to stay in Hale. The judge has appointed me to be the new sheriff!”

Their faces frozen into forced glad smiles, Miranda and Casey alternated between looking at Carey and Amy, and looking at each other. Was this good news, or not? And what did she mean, staying in Hale? That was almost an hour away!

“Um, that’s great, Amy!” Casey began, looking pointedly at Miranda to celebrate. She recovered herself and clapped her hands excitedly—maybe a little too excitedly to be believed—before jumping up and giving Amy a hug. “I mean, that is great, isn’t it? This is a good thing?”

“Of course it’s a good thing!” Amy said with a laugh. “I think it’s going to be just the change of scenery I needed to get back into what I love doing. And with the DEA still uncovering how deep the drug ring in Hale goes, I figure I can also be needed around here.”

Carey had been fairly quiet during their congratulations, smiling proudly but not saying much. Casey and Miranda exchanged a worried look, but didn’t let their nagging worry for the next Carson brother ruin the evening’s mood.

While Miranda and Amy sat on the porch after dinner and enjoyed the pampering of the twins having cooked and now offering to clean up, Casey stole a moment to whisper to his brother.“So, you didn’t seem too excited about Amy taking that sheriff position.”

“Was it that obvious? Damn, I’ve been working all day on my excited face,” Carey said back snarkily. “I mean, I can’t even tell you how glad I am that Amy’s staying around here, I just wish it was for a different reason than being the right cop to unearth a drug ring.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Casey replied. “but are you sure that’s all it is, and not the fact that she’ll be taking the job all the way over in Hale?”

“Well, there’s that, too. But we can always figure that out. It’s far, but it’s not like it’s across the country. It’s not even across the county!”

“Then what’s the problem? You got her to stay in this part of the country, that was a huge decision right there,” Casey explained, trying to be sympathetic while getting his brother to see that a major battle—losing Amy as she returned to life up north—had already been won.

“I just don’t like this whole business with Matthews and Crazy Mack, it’s just not sitting right with me that these things were happening right next door to us all this time, and we never knew about it.” Carey paused his pacing in the small kitchen and leaned back against this kitchen sink, running his hands through his hair. “And now, Amy’s going to get tangled up in all of it. I think she was right all along, this goes a lot deeper than just two local boys. I just can’t stand the thought of something happening to her, and she’s gonna go off and fight the bad guys!” Carey complained quietly, casting nervous glances to the front door to make sure they weren’t overheard.

“Dude, it’s gonna be okay. If that girl can survive in Detroit, then I don’t think Hale, Texas is gonna be too be a leap for her!” Casey didn’t know that Amy almost didn’t survive Detroit, and that was a huge part of the reason she’d stayed, knowing there wasn’t much of a life to go back to in the city.

Carey nodded begrudgingly, admitting there was some truth to what Casey said. “You’re right. Deep down, I know it but it’s still hard to think about.”

Miranda called from the front porch for the brothers to join them, and the four of them sat together and visited under the stars. After their conversation dwindled down to a comfortable, thoughtful silence, Casey spoke.

“Carey, now would you please put my wife out of her misery? She’s trying really hard to hold it together, but I don’t know how much longer she can take it,” he asked in an exasperated tone. It was Amy who giggled first, causing Carey to laugh along.

“What are you talking about?” Miranda demanded, pretending to be angry and narrowing her eyes at Casey. She watched the three of them laugh good-naturedly at her expense before nearly losing her patience, making them laugh even louder. “I’m not playing, you guys! Someone tell me what’s going on, before I die from the suspense!”

It was Amy who finally ended the torture as she extended her hand to Miranda, waggling the fingers on her left hand and letting the row of diamonds on her now-replaced ring catch the moonlight.

“Carey asked me to marry him, and I said yes!”

The End