Page 114 of Roping Her In

Jake looked at his parents and found them both smiling.

“We can always count on you boys to be succinct,” Daddy said.

“What are you guys talking about?” Jake asked.

Daddy got to his feet, and he reached out his hands to help Carson stand. He pulled him up and then right into a full-chested hug. “I love you, son,” he said. “And I’ll miss you powerfully when you move to Dallas.”

He bent his head until the brims of their cowboy hats touched. “But I think it’s awesome that you found a good woman like Denise to love. Does she love you back?”

Carson swallowed again. “I think so, Daddy.”

Momma stood and joined them. “Do you think she’ll come back here for the wedding?”

Carson nodded. “Yes, Momma, but I’m not going to ask her for a little bit.”

“You’re not? Why not?” Momma asked.

“Because the boy has to move to Dallas first,” Daddy said, grinning. “And find somewhere to live, and get a new job, and then he’s got to figure out if he and Denise really love each other while they’re living in the same city.”

He grinned at Carson and then Momma. “Give him a few months, dear.” He looked at Jake. “I love you too, son.”

Jake managed to get off the couch, though his lungs ached a little bit at the increased movement.

“And Hailey is a real fine woman, and you should do whatever it takes to keep her.” He raised his eyebrows and nodded before grabbing onto Jake and hugging him tightly. Jake felt all the love of his father in that moment, and he’d just stepped back when someone else knocked on the door. All eyes flew to it.

“Let’s go, Garth,” Momma said.

“You’re leaving already?” Jake asked.

Carson grabbed onto him and hugged him as Momma and Daddy went around the couch and toward the door. “Trust me, you won’t want us here,” he said.

Jake pulled away and held his brother by the shoulders. “I love you, Carse,” he said.

“I love you too, brother.”

Momma pulled open the door and let in the bright sunshine. It haloed the woman standing there, and all of her blonde hair, and the trays she held in her hand.

Jake swore it was Hailey.

His lungs seized up, but it had nothing to do with the cold he caught. Could it be her? Why was she here?

She spoke, and it sure sounded like her voice.

Then Momma and Daddy stepped past her, and Carson followed them, leaving Hailey to enter the cabin and close the door behind her.

“Tell me I’m not hallucinating,” he said.

She smiled and even laughed a little as she moved into the kitchen and set down a tray with a casserole dish on it and a second tray stacked on top with the most deliciously golden brown rolls Jake had ever seen.

She stayed over in the kitchen as she turned toward him. “You might be,” she said. “But if you are, then so am I.”

42

Hailey smiled as Jake ran his hands through his hair. “I wasn’t expecting you,” he said.

“I asked your family to keep it a surprise.”

He wore a mild look of horror. “Do you mind if I run down the hall and shower really quick?”