Montana Wife (Historical) (23 page)

May, one year later

“T
here, little one. Mama's here.” Rayna lifted her infant daughter from the cradle. Looking like a little rosebud with her pink dress and socks, Ruby Danielle Lindsay stopped fussing and gave a wide toothless grin.

“You just wanted to be held, didn't you, love?” Nestling her sweet girl against her heart, Rayna grabbed the cookie plate with one hand and gave the screen door a shove with her foot. The hinges whispered and the warm breeze sifted over her, smelling of sunshine and growing grass and lilacs blooming.

“There are my two favorite ladies.” Daniel took their daughter into his big strong arms, love etched into the corners of his eyes. The emotion looked good on him. The past year had been a hard one, but the rewards were many. Having him at her side was the greatest.

“Ma! Just in time.” Hans dismounted from the pony Daniel had bought and taught him to ride. “I'm starving.”

“Be sure and share with your brother.”

Kirk, grown taller and broader, the very image of Kol, looked up from his schoolbook. His studies interrupted, he let the wind batter his textbook as he took the plate of cookies and held them out of Hans's reach. “Gee, thanks, Ma. They're all for me, kid.”

“Those are for me, too.” Hans shoved at his brother and they wrestled affectionately, the plate of cookies set aside as the boys took off to race in the sunshine.

Kirk in his last year at the town school was studying for his graduation exams. He was to attend college in Oregon in the fall.

“Come sit on the porch with me.” Daniel held out his free hand.

The moment she twined her fingers through his, she felt the surge of pure love moving through her like sun through the maple trees. She had to be dreaming, for how could anyone be so joyful?

But this was no dream, just hopes for a happy marriage come true.

With supper roasting in the oven and a temperate afternoon to spend with her husband, Rayna let him lead her to the porch swing he'd built. When he settled in next to her, Ruby gurgling against his chest, she could feel the affection in her heart double, as it seemed to do every time she felt his hand in hers.

He must have felt it, too, because his fingers tightened around hers and he leaned against her to brush a tantalizing kiss across her lips. “Have I told you lately I'm in love with you?”

“Only twice today.”

“That's not nearly enough. I love you.”

“I love you.”

Like all dreams come true, there were no words that
could describe the depth of her feelings. The depth of her feelings for this man she'd married.

It was enough to let the dappled sunlight filter through the maple trees to warm them. And to gaze out at the endless blue sky and their fields of green growing wheat.

To know that all she needed to be happy was to spend her days beside Daniel. The man she would treasure for this new season of her life.