Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 110113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Sawyer blinks for the hundredth time.
I run my hand over his back. “It’s nice to be missed, isn’t it?”
“Mommy.” June tugs on my jacket. “Uncle Cashy let us ride the ponies! And Auntie Sally took us to see the goats. They smelled bad but were very cute.”
My heart swells, ballooning to fill my entire chest cavity. While I was at the hospital with Sawyer, his brothers took turns caring for the girls here at the house. It was just easier to keep Junie and Ella together, and we figured they’d be a comfort to each other while he and I were away.
Seeing their lit-up faces, I’d say we were right.
Also, I love how she’s already calling Sawyer’s brothers and sisters-in-law Uncle and Auntie. I bet that’s how Cash and Sally introduced themselves to my daughter. The way his family has welcomed us into their fold—no hesitation, no questions asked—has me tearing up too.
“Awww, look how cute the four of y’all are,” Mollie says as she steps into the hallway. “Welcome home, Sawyer.”
“Thanks, Mollie,” he replies gruffly. “Appreciate you helping hold down the fort while I was laid up.”
“Are you kidding?” She gives him a gentle side hug when he holds out his arm. “We had a blast with these two cuties. They’re bona fide cowgirls now, aren’t you? Uncle Cash made sure they learned to lasso and everything.”
“Uncle Cashy is a cowboy,” Junie tells me. “Just like Mr. Sawyer.”
“I like cowboys,” I reply with a smile.
“Who doesn’t?” Mollie says with a laugh. “Y’all come on in. Wyatt’s got pot roast in the oven—”
“And I got a couple of six packs of Shiner.” Cash holds up his longneck. “They aren’t gonna drink themselves. C’mon back. You need help, Sawyer?”
“Nah. I’m only mostly incapacitated.” Sawyer glances at me. “You good?”
My sweet cowboy, asking if I’m okay when he’s the one hobbling around with three broken ribs, a lung that’s only recently started to work again, and a busted lip.
I grab his hand. “Yeah, honey, I’m good. Really, really good.”
With Ella still on my hip, we head down the hall toward the kitchen. I allow Sawyer to go in first. He immediately draws to a stop when he sees that everyone is here—all his brothers, their significant others. Even John B and Patsy, Sally’s parents, showed up, along with Goody Gershwin, the ranch’s attorney, and her wife Tallulah.
I smile at the chorus of voices that greet his arrival. Everyone welcomes him home, Duke approaching to clap him on the shoulder.
“Dude, I miss the mustache,” he says with a smile. “You practically have a full beard now, and that’s my look.”
Sawyer starts to cry. Full-on shoulders-shaking, lips-trembling, big-fat-tears cry.
“Don’t worry,” he manages, wiping his eyes, “Ava already asked me to bring back the ’stache.”
Duke’s eyes meet mine over Sawyer’s shoulder. “She’s got good taste.”
“She did pick you, brother.” Wyatt hands Sawyer a beer he definitely shouldn’t drink but probably will anyway. “Of course she’s got good taste.”
Then he pulls Sawyer in for a hug, careful not to squeeze him too hard.
“Group hug!” Ryder calls out, and then everyone is piling on. Gently, of course. Ryder puts a hand on Sawyer’s back. Mollie grabs Sawyer’s hand, and Sally grabs the other. Junie wraps herself around his leg. Ella wiggles out of my grasp and wraps herself around Junie.
“Y’all,” Sawyer says, half crying, half chuckling. “This is … a lot.”
“You’re welcome,” Cash says, walking past me to join the hug.
I’m not sure there’s a dry eye in the room as I lean in and press a kiss to the top of his nape and hug him from behind. “Try to make us stop. I dare you.”
But Sawyer just shakes his head. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Because I think this—y’all—it might be the dream. It is the dream.”
“You bet your ass I’m a dream,” Wyatt says.
Sally hushes him. “There are children present.”
“You bet your behind,” he corrects.
“No, Uncle Wy, it’s bottom,” Junie says.
Ella nods. “Or heinie.”
“Y’all are so dang cute,” Patsy says with a smile.
I lean in to murmur in Sawyer’s ear. “Happy?”
Sawyer turns his head to meet my eyes. “Very.”
We go to town on Wyatt’s pot roast and Patsy’s mashed sweet potatoes. The girls are wild for the cupcakes Mollie brought from the Caffeinated Cowgirl downtown, which we serve with the hand-churned vanilla bean ice cream John B made for just the occasion.
It’s pure chaos. People eat at the counter, on the couch, and perched on the hearth by the fireplace.
It’s also a ton of fun. Sawyer doesn’t stop smiling. The girls love getting all the attention from the adults in the room.
Everyone pitches in to clean up. Patsy reminds us that there’s King Ranch casserole in the freezer and a roasted chicken in the fridge, which Wyatt and Sally stocked with essentials—milk, fruit, and yogurt and smoothie pouches for the kids.