Chapter 23

23

E llen stood with Daisy, scratching her ears. Daisy had been one of the foundation cows of her herd of almost fifty Highland cows. It was hard to believe she'd been raising them for over ten years.

Still, it was spring, and there wasn't much to do regarding feeding them. They were on pasture, and all of them had calved earlier in the year. The calves were tagged and banded and it wasn't yet time to give them their vaccines or worm them.

So she checked her water trough, and then walked around the herd, looking at the babies. She didn't have her dogs with her. When they saw cows, they wanted to work. Even Chewy, who was her best trained canine, would be trembling with excitement at the idea of getting to do her job.

It amazed Ellen sometimes how much the dogs just loved doing what they were bred to do.

Regardless, she stopped by Daisy, and had stood scratching her for a while. Wondering what the men were talking about.

She knew that her uncle loved Travis, and she didn't think that he would have any problem at all giving Travis permission. Her uncle could be a little bit unique, and she could see him giving Travis parameters, like he had to wait for a year, or some such other nonsense.

Ellen hoped not. She wanted to get married right away. She'd been waiting forever, and she didn't want to keep waiting. She wanted to get that part of her life started.

She knew all the wisdom, that she should enjoy her independence while she had it and all that, but she felt like that was the world's wisdom. She didn't see that anywhere in the Bible. Other than Paul saying that he could serve God better if a man didn't have a wife and kids.

Actually, she felt like the world's wisdom went against what the Bible said. Because a person wasn't supposed to enjoy their independence. They were supposed to find a mate and raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. A woman was supposed to keep her house. It didn't say anything about fulfilling herself, or having independence, or enjoying time before she was tied down. None of those things were biblical.

Maybe the reason people struggled in marriage was because they were taught to indulge themselves, rather than being brought up to serve others, with a focus on learning to make a godly home and raise children that loved the Lord.

Ellen laughed at herself a bit. She might be singing a different tune ten years from now, although the Bible wouldn't be. It would still be saying the exact same thing. But she did know that a person had a tendency to think they knew a lot until they actually got into whatever it was they thought they knew a lot about, and then they realized they didn't know quite as much as what they thought they did.

"You look pretty good for a ten-year-old," she said to Daisy, scratching down her backbone.

She didn't want to think about how time slipped by, and eventually it would be time for Daisy to move on. That was part of farming, but it wasn't a part that Ellen relished. It would be nice to have Travis beside her when those hard decisions had to be made. She'd have someone to hold her hand and dry her tears.

Of course, men weren't exactly known for their compassion. Maybe Travis wouldn't want to put his arm around her and comfort her.

She tried to think about that, whether he would be that kind of husband or not.

Did it matter?

She hadn't figured that out, when she looked up to see him walking across the field, a big smile on his face.

She didn't have to ask whether or not Tadgh said yes. Of course, she hadn't been worried about that at all.

She left Daisy, and started walking toward him, her steps much faster than usual.

By the time they met, they were both walking as fast as they could, and maybe she even took a few running steps as he lifted her up in his arms, and swung her around.

She laughed, holding on to him, as the world spun crazily around her.

He kissed her before he even set her down, and she was fine with that. She didn't need to talk about it at all. He pulled away, before allowing her to slide down so her feet were on the ground, but he kept her pressed close to him.

"I guess you can tell he said yes."

"I was getting that impression," she said, a little breathless, still holding on to him to help keep her balance.

"I didn't realize he liked me that much."

"You don't give yourself nearly enough credit," she said, and while she was smiling, she meant it. He still thought of himself as the boy with the mother who was addicted to drugs, who would leave her children at home by themselves while she went and slept with a man for money in order to buy her next fix.

She didn't know whether Travis would ever come out from under that cloud, but she had to admit she loved that he stayed humble. That he didn't think of himself as some big shot, even though he had gone away and become successful.

"Well, credit or no, I have his blessing to ask you to marry me."

"What are you waiting for?" she asked, only partially teasing. Part of her was afraid that the other shoe was going to drop and she was going to find out that they had to wait five years or something.

"I want to do it right. I don't even have a ring yet. I mean, I thought about getting one, but I wasn't sure whether I should take you with me, so we could pick it out together, or if I should get one on my own. I… You don't wear a whole lot of jewelry and I don't have any idea of what you like."

"Something small and unpretentious." That was easy. She didn't wear a lot of jewelry, because she wasn't a bling bling kind of person.

"See? I would've wanted to get you the biggest rock I could find, so the whole world knows that you're mine."

"Well you can do that if you want to. It might get in the way when I'm trying to feed my cows though."

He laughed. "And that's what I love about you."

"That's all you love about me?" she teased.

"I don't know. There might be something else in there."

"Well, I love how quick you are to ask a girl to marry you. Hint hint."

"Really? I wanted to spend the next year courting you. You deserve that much. You know, candlelight dinners, date nights, trips to The Cities and just spending fun time together without any responsibilities."

"First of all, I don't deserve anything. And secondly, I don't care about any of that. I just want to be with you."

"Really?" he asked, and his tone had turned tender. Maybe there was a little wonder in it, like he couldn't believe that she could look at him and see someone that she wanted to spend so much time with.

"Really. Do I have to ask you?" She put a hand on her hip, and leaned back a little, looking up into his face and trying to put a stern look on hers.

"You can if you want to. I'm not going to turn you down."

"Kind of want to. But I don't want that to be the precedent for our marriage. I don't want to run ahead of you, and I suppose if you're going to be the head of our household, I ought to get used to relaxing, and making sure that I'm doing my job. The job God gave me. And not trying to do your job too. After all, if He thought I could do two jobs, He would have given them both to me."

"You know, sometimes I think about that. How much pressure that puts on me. A man in general I guess. After all, I answer to God for what I do. How I treat you, how I run our household. The decisions I make He is watching, and He wants to make sure I treat you right."

"That's funny, because I think a lot of men think that God put them in charge, so they can boss their wife around, make her a servant, while they get to do whatever they want, and the wife has to submit. But I think the way you see it is the way it's supposed to be. After all, just because you're the husband doesn't mean that you get to not be a Christian anymore, and as a Christian, we're supposed to serve others."

She didn't feel it was her place to lecture him on what the Bible commanded him to do, but he seemed to know. Maybe it was something that he'd been thinking about. Maybe he had used those extra years to study what the Bible said about what a husband was supposed to do. How he was supposed to treat his wife, and think about what kind of husband God wanted him to be.

"Exactly. The Bible says I'm supposed to love you the way I love myself. I kind of think that's funny, since the Bible doesn't have to command us to love ourselves. No one deliberately is unkind or draconian to themselves. Why would I be that way to my wife?" He brushed a hand down her cheek, and she put hers over top of it, pressing it against her skin. "I think remembering that you are a child of God, and I don't want to get to heaven and explain to God why I wasn't kind to His daughter."

"I couldn't imagine you being unkind. Couldn't imagine you being anything but the best husband you can be."

"I'm not going to be perfect," he warned her.

"I know. And, I'm unlikely to be perfect either." She wondered if those words would come back to haunt her. How many meals she would burn, or forget to cook altogether. Sometimes she did that already, where she got so involved in something that she forgot it was time to eat, and it was particularly discouraging when Ashley had been counting on her to make supper. Most of the time Ashley laughed and said she'd done the same thing. She hoped Travis would be as forgiving.

She wasn't really worried about it. Travis had never had a temper, and because he was so humble, she hardly thought that he would hold her to a higher standard than what he had for himself.

Of course, it didn't matter what he did. The Bible had commands for her, and it didn't command her to make sure that he did what he was supposed to. She was just supposed to make sure she did what she was supposed to. And let God handle everything else.

"Were you serious about not wanting to be courted? To just get married?" he asked, both of his hands sliding down as he gripped hers between them.

She squeezed. "Yes. Completely serious."

"I don't even have a place to live."

"What's wrong with the house you're living in?"

"It's not exactly the kind of place where I wanted to bring my bride."

"We can wait if you want to. But I don't need a fancy house."

"I don't have a place for your cows."

"We can ask Tadgh if he'll keep them until we have a place."

She didn't mean to rebut every one of his arguments, but what he was concerned about did not bother her at all.

"I just don't want you to not like what we do. If it's more important for you to have everything perfect, and to wait, then I'll suck it up." She gave a brief smile. Only half joking.

He stared down at her, serious, his thumbs brushing over the backs of her fingers softly, like he didn't even realize what he was doing.

Finally, he lowered onto one knee, and looked up into her face.

"I wanted more for you. Truly. But, we did wait a really long time. Almost a decade. The idea that you don't care to wait until I get everything set up perfectly I think is a little more temptation than what I can handle. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, and I wanted to start as soon as possible. Eight years is long enough to wait. Will you marry me?"

She smiled, she couldn't help herself, and she nodded her head, before she could clear her throat and say, "Yes. Yes."

There weren't any other words, and thankfully he didn't seem to need them, as he stood back up, the glow on his face surely matching hers, as he grabbed her and held her close, pulling her against him and kissing her, a different kind of kiss than before. It was full of promises and hopes and dreams and the passion of eight long years of waiting.

"How soon?" He lifted his head after a while and breathed into her ear.

"Today?" she said, just as breathless and just as soft.

He laughed. "I love you."

"I love you too." Forever. All of her life. Until she died. She would love this man.

She wanted to tell him all of that and more, but his phone started to ring, startling them, and she looked around, trying to figure out where the sound came from.

"What a time for a phone call."

"It's probably best. We ought to get back anyway. We have plans to make. And, who knows what's going on with the children."

"It's Alaska. I'd better answer," he said, as he looked at the screen of his phone.

Immediately a swirl of unease went through her. Fear tightened the skin on her neck, and she was grateful for Travis's arm which was still around her.

"Hello?" Travis said, answering the phone and putting it on speaker so she could hear too.

"I have to go. You need to come back right now. I'll leave the children here. I have to leave."

"Relax. Is the house on fire?" Travis said, turning as he did so, like they needed to walk out of the pasture immediately.

"No."

"Are the kids in danger?" he asked, his words fast, staccato.

"No. Not right now. But they will be if I stay."

"Okay. Calm down. You don't have to leave before we get back. But we're coming right away. We'll be there in ten minutes."

"I can't wait ten minutes!"

She started to cry.

"You have to. There's no vehicle there for you anyway."

"I'll take Ellen's car. I need to go. I shouldn't have come to begin with. I just love my kids so much."

"If you need to call the police. Do it."

"He's not here now. But he said he was going to find me. He said he would know where I was, had heard about my children, and that he was coming for me."

Travis grabbed a hold of her hand and walked as fast as he could through the field toward where their car was parked. Ellen held on tight, and took a couple of jogging steps to keep up with him. She didn't want anything to happen to the children. She didn't know exactly what was going on with Alaska, but whatever it was, she didn't want that to touch the kids.

Wait. Was she saying what it sounded like she was saying?

"Is this little boy yours too?" Ellen asked, and Travis's eyes opened wide, as he glanced at her, never slowing his stride.

"Yes. I'm sorry. I know I really took advantage of you guys —"

"You didn't. We were happy to help. Now, if you're in danger, hang up right now and call the police. Otherwise, hold tight until we get there."

"I'll wait," Alaska said, quietly, almost whispered. "I'm scared."

"We'll be there. We're not going to let anything happen. Now, I'm going to go, because I'm going to call and get some help."

"Alright."

By that time they'd reached the truck. Travis opened her door, but didn't stay to close it for her. Rather, he ran around and jumped in on his side.

"If Tadgh is watching us, he's going to think we're rushing off to get married."

Travis laughed, although he had already started the truck and put it in reverse, backing up to get out.

On the seat, Chewy whined, lifting her head and looking at Ellen. It was like Chewy knew that there was a problem too.

"It's okay," she said, as much to calm herself as to calm Chewy.

"I'm going to call Ezra." Travis spoke as soon as he had it in forward gear, heading toward the highway.

Ellen wanted to ask why. She knew who Ezra was, and had met him a couple of times. His family, the Clyborne, consisted of twelve kids, including Ezra who was the oldest. From what Ellen understood, he was close to forty. She knew Travis had invested in their ranch, the Sweet View Ranch, and he and his siblings had been working hard to make it successful.

They had been supposed to move in eight years ago, but there had been some kind of hang up. She wasn't sure what it was. Maybe that was something she could talk to Travis about at some point, but she hadn't seen him long enough to run out of other things that she felt were more important. Like when they were going to get married.

"Hello?"

"Ezra. It's Travis." Travis's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Hey, man," Ezra said easily.

Ezra had always struck her as a quiet, confident man who was used to being in charge. As the oldest of twelve siblings, it stood to reason that he would need to have a commanding nature. Especially since from what Ellen understood, he had been the head of the family since their parents had been killed in a car accident.

"I have a woman who needs a job. She doesn't have any references, and… I can't even tell you for sure whether she's going to be a good worker. I just know that she's scared, and needs a safe place."

"Send her out to the ranch."

"I figured that's what you would say."

"It's gated, and with all the people and dogs around, we're not going to have someone come in without us knowing about it. If she has any kind of aptitude at all, I can put her to work as my personal assistant. I've been looking for one for a while. Just haven't taken the time to actually interview anyone."

"I can't vouch for how honest she is. Or anything."

"You send her out. We'll make sure that nothing happens to her. If she's not honest, I can't guarantee we'll give her a job, but at least she'll have food and a place to sleep."

"There's a hitch."

"Hit me."

"She might have two children with her." Travis's face squeezed like it pained him to say it, but Ellen agreed that the children should be with their mother if it was possible and she admired the sacrifice it obviously was for Travis to admit that. "One is a small baby."

There was silence on the line. Ellen found herself holding her breath. Was that going to ruin everything?

She almost opened her mouth and said that they could take care of the baby, even the little boy. They could take care of both of them. But, as a woman, she couldn't imagine walking away without her children and she didn't want to make Alaska do that.

"I'll make sure they're safe."

"Thank you."

"No problem. When you have details, you can let me know."

"I'll try to get what I can. I'll text you everything I know. Right now, I'm assuming it's the father of the children who is threatening her. But, she didn't actually say. I don't have a name."

"If you can get one, that'd be helpful. But, like I said, we'll keep her close, circle around her, and if someone wants to get her, they'll have to go through us first."

"I appreciate it."

They hung up, and Ellen watched the grass along the edge of the road speed by before she turned with questioning eyes.

"Ezra is a good man. I figured he'd help us out."

"It's too bad you couldn't give him more information."

"I'll give them what I can. But, that's a safe spot up there. It's far enough away that a person has to be deliberate about going there. And there's enough people on the ranch that someone will notice anything that's off. After all, everyone who works there is related, so if they see a stranger, it's going to stick out. Plus, they have a bunch of dogs. The barking is almost deafening when you pull in."

Ellen laughed. "You better not say too much about that. You might have a house like that."

"And I'll love every minute of it," he said, glancing across the seat at her, before he looked ahead, putting his turn signal on as his driveway rapidly approached.

"I've kind of fallen in love with that baby. The idea of her leaving with her hurts my heart, but I don't have any job for her. And now I'm planning a wedding."

Those words made warmth and happiness bubble up inside of Ellen, despite the fear and the tension that seemed to grip her throat and chest.

"I appreciate that consideration. But I admire you for taking responsibility, and doing something about it. Not thinking that it must be somebody else's problem."

"I guess that maybe the world might be a better place if we all try to take care of each other a little better, instead of looking the other way when someone needs help."

She nodded, loving that was his attitude. That it wasn't that he would just let someone else do it, so he wasn't interrupted, or inconvenienced in any way.

She didn't know how things were going to end, but she knew that Travis would do the right thing, no matter how hard that was. That, along with the deep trust that God was in control, gave her confidence and peace.