Love, Like Water (37 page)

“And they were all okay with it?”

“Well, as much as a bunch of rednecks can be okay with something like that. The live-in hands and the trainers, anyway. Don’t know about the guys who come in from Miller. But everyone knows about Jack Castellano and he’s never had a problem.” Eli leaned against the door, his arms folded across his chest. “But it is nice that your uncle promoted the hell out of the hospital when they expanded, so they’re gonna treat him nicer than the average.”

“He is going to be okay, isn’t he, Eli? Castellano said, but….”

“He’s gonna be fine. The heart attack didn’t even show up on the EKG thing—the only reason they know it happened is because of the blood work. Tuck’ll have to watch his diet and crap like that, but he’ll be okay. What about you?”

Joshua let out a long breath. He felt like there was a tight ball of guts inside him that was slowly, slowly unraveling, taking up its rightful shape and position, settling into where it belonged. “What about me?”

“You gonna be okay?”

He looked up at his lover. “Yeah,” he said finally. “Yeah, I think I am.”

Epilogue

“W
HAT
the hell is this?”

Sarafina looked over at Tucker from the stove. “Oatmeal.”

“
Oatmeal
? Where’s my breakfast?”

“That
is
your breakfast. From now ’til the end of time. Be quiet and eat it.”

Joshua laughed at his uncle. Tucker had come home yesterday evening after two days in the hospital having what seemed like dozens of tests run. His cardiologist—Joshua was pleased to see that Castellano was just the emergency room doctor, and wouldn’t be handling Tucker’s case from here on out—had assured Joshua and Tucker that Tucker would probably be fine if he made some changes in his lifestyle, mainly his eating habits—he’d called Sarafina directly and had a long conversation with her. Tucker had been delighted when the doctor had told him he needed to be out working rather than cooped up in the office, of course; he’d sent Joshua such a triumphant look that Joshua had started to laugh. But it looked like he wasn’t going to be so sanguine about the eating habits part of the program.

Then Sarafina came over and dropped a bowl of grayish-white mush in front of him and said, “
Everybody
eats healthy now, so Tucker doesn’t feel bad.”

There was a chorus of groans from the hands sitting around the table. Eli, just coming into the kitchen, slapped his hat against his thigh and said, “What the hell’s going on?”

“Sarafina’s decided that if Tuck has to eat healthy, all of us need to eat healthy,” Dennis said with a decidedly disgusted expression. “So it’s oatmeal. For
breakfast
!”

“How’s a man supposed to work hard on nothing but grits?” Ramon complained.

“Oatmeal, not grits. Grits is not good for you. I know this. Oatmeal is better.”

“Woman,” Tucker said ominously, “I can still fire you, you know.”

“Yes, I know, which is why I have decided to marry you,” Sarafina said calmly. “That way you can’t fire me and I will be able to keep an eye on you. I will still get a salary, though. I have a son to send to college.”

The kitchen went dead silent, all eyes on Tucker. He blinked, swallowed, and said, “But you’re still married.”

She waved her hand. “I’ll divorce him. I never liked him much anyway, and he drinks. This is why I live here, and not there.” She smiled at him and added, “Besides. You love me. I have known that for a very long time. I was waiting for you to know it, too, but you’re taking too long. I’m patient, but this is ridiculous, Tucker.”

“Sara….”

“You will still leave the ranch to Joshua. Neither Jesse nor I want it.”

“Want what?” Jesse asked, pushing his way past Eli’s frozen form.

“The ranch.”

“Why would I even think about that?”

“Because your ma just said she’d marry Tucker.”

“Oh,” Jesse said, and opened the cabinet door. “It’s about time.”

Tucker said to Sarafina, “You sure you want to marry me?”

“Who else will have you?”

“Good point. Josh, stop laughing. Eli, you sound like a hyena. Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ.”

That only set the rest of them off. Joshua watched him through streaming eyes as he stood up, set his hands on his hips, and glared at Sarafina. She only copied his posture and glared back. After a minute, he too started to laugh.

Jesse rolled his eyes and shut the cabinet door. “You guys are all crazy. How will you expect me to bring a boyfriend home to this crazy house?”

Joshua blinked. Tucker looked gobsmacked. Sarafina didn’t even react.

Eli put his hand up to stifle a grin.
Boyfriend
?

About the Author

An unrepentant biblioholic,
R
OWAN
S
PEEDWELL
spends half her time pretending to be a law librarian, half her time pretending to be a database manager, half her time pretending to be a fifteenth-century Aragonese noblewoman, half her time… wait a minute… hmm. Well, one thing she doesn’t pretend to be is good at math. She is good at pretending, though.

In her copious spare time (hah) she does needlework, calligraphy, and illumination, and makes jewelry. She has a master’s degree in history from the University of Chicago, is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and lives in a Chicago suburb with the obligatory Writer's Cat and way too many books.

Romance from ROWAN SPEEDWELL

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

Romance from DREAMSPINNER PRESS