Page 92 of Promised to the Cowboy

“Goats don’t. Not with that attitude.”

Evie sits beside me, laughing as Max holds out a damp piece of potato for her inspection.

She takes it solemnly between two fingers. “Excellent work, Max. Strong shape. Good structural integrity.”

Max beams.

Shay looks across the table at me. “She fits.”

The words are quiet enough that nobody else hears.

I look at Evie. She’s still examining the potato as if Max has handed her a rare jewel. Her braid is loose over one shoulder. One hand rests beneath the table over the curve of our daughter.

“Yeah,” I say. My chest feels too full for anything more.

At the far end of the table, Daniel glances at Maggie. “All right. What’s going on?”

Maggie is standing beside the sideboard with an old envelope in one hand. “Sit down and you’ll find out.”

“I am sitting.”

“Then stop talking.”

Daniel closes his mouth.

Delaney presses her lips together, badly concealing a smile.

Maggie moves to the head of the table, beside the empty chair that has always felt as though it belongs to someone even when nobody sits in it. She holds the envelope carefully. The paper has gone soft at the edges, worn from years of handling. Her name is written across the front in faded ink.

The room gradually quiets.

“This is going to take a minute,” she says, “so everybody hush.”

Even Tom obeys.

Maggie looks down at the envelope. For the first time since I have known her, she appears unsure of herself. “Ruth gave me this before she passed. Years ago now.” Her thumb moves over the worn edge. “She told me I’d know when the family was ready to hear it.”

Her voice wavers, then steadies. “I’ll be honest. I’ve carried it all this time thinking I might never know. Thinking I’d choose the wrong moment and spoil whatever she meant to do.”

She lifts her eyes. They pass over Daniel and Delaney. Ethan and Jenna. Henry with Shay and Max. Tom and Kitty. Ben. My father. Then Evie.

“But I should’ve trusted Ruth better than I trusted myself.” Her expression softens. “The moment’s obvious. It’s a Sutton and a child on the way. A feud that’s gone on too long. Two stubborn old brothers finally sitting at the same table.” Her gaze lingers on Jacob and Ben. “If she was ever going to want this read, it’s tonight.”

Maggie opens the envelope. She unfolds several sheets of paper and puts on her reading glasses.

Then she begins. “My darlings, if Maggie’s reading this, then I’ve gone on ahead, and I want you to know I’m not the least bit sorry about the timing, because I always did like a dramatic exit, and there is no exit more dramatic than the grave.”

A faint laugh moves around the table.

Maggie smiles through the first shine in her eyes and continues. “First, the important business, since you are all terrible at sitting still. The land is yours. All of it. I’ve left the particulars to the lawyers, but I want you to hear it from me: it was never about the gold, or whatever else they decide is worth digging for. It was about a place where this family could put down roots deep enough that nothing could pull them out. Protect it. Not for what’s underneath it. For what’s living on top of it. For each other.”

An almost sacred hush falls over the room.

Evie’s fingers slide through mine beneath the table. I hold on.

“The jewels are real, in case you’ve been wondering, you nosy lot. Six stones, and they came out of this ground, which I always thought was the loveliest thing—that the land would give us something beautiful as well as something to fight over. Their meaning will become clear in time, so be patient. Marlie Sloane helped me hide them, God bless her. The best friend a foolish old woman ever schemed with. The mail-order bride business was her idea and mine together, and if it has brought even one of you the kind of love I had with my Ben, then it was worth every bit of the trouble and every talking-to I’m sure you’ve all given me since.”

Delaney looks toward Shay. Shay looks toward Jenna. Kitty raises her glass.