Choosing the Cowboy (Grape Seed Falls Romance Book 1) Page 5
“Has the man asked you to marry him?” Daddy cocked one eyebrow, his food completely forgotten now.
“That’s comin’ soon,” Chase said quickly. “I’m just…saving up for a ring.”
“But you can afford a ranch?” Her father’s incredulity echoed throughout the house, and Maggie didn’t appreciate it.
“Daddy, enough.”
“I’m just asking questions.”
Chase set down his fork with deliberate gentleness. “Frank and Heidi gave me the money for the down payment on the ranch. Frank said it was a wedding present, and I took it because I’m desperate to provide a life for your daughter that will satisfy you.” He reached for Maggie’s hand and gripped it tightly. “I love her, and I want her to be happy too.”
Daddy blinked, stunned into silence for long enough for Chase to say, “If you’d like to help, I’d love to have it.” He glanced at her mother and then Maggie, who nodded.
“Chase needs a co-signer on the loan,” she said. “The appraisal came back and said the ranch will be profitable in the first year. It’s already well-kept, and Chase knows what he’s doing. He just doesn’t own any property or have any credit history, and—” She volleyed her gaze from her mom to her dad. “Will you co-sign, Daddy?”
Chase couldn’t swallow, though he lifted his water glass to his lips. He finally set it down, the tension in the air as high as a kite.
“I’d like to see the ranch,” Charles Duffin said. “And the appraisal.”
Chase pushed away from the table, his chair scraping on the tile floor. “I have the property packet in my truck. I’ll go grab it.” He couldn’t get his legs to carry him fast enough, and he returned to the dining room out of breath.
“We can look at it after we eat.” Charles took the folder but set it next to him on the table.
Chase couldn’t do much more than nod, so that’s what he did. He finished eating, but the food didn’t taste like much more than sawdust. A real shame, because Maggie was a good cook and she had to learn that from somewhere.
Finally, Maggie’s sisters started cleaning up the kitchen, and Chase went with Maggie into the living room. They sat together on the couch, while her parents perched on the loveseat. Charles flipped through the folder, his face a perfect mask as he tipped the photos and fact sheets so Dana could see.
After several minutes, he closed the folder. He stared at Chase, and then switched his gaze to Maggie, where his eyes softened considerably. “The ranch is beautiful.” He stood. “I’ll co-sign.”
Chase lost the ability to speak, to move, but Maggie leapt from the couch, squealing and jumping up and down, and launched herself into her father’s arms.
Three Months Later
Chase fiddled with his tie, sure it could lay just a little flatter. He unbuttoned and re-buttoned his jacket, pulled on his belt, and adjusted his cowboy hat.
“Stop fidgeting,” Frank said from the doorway. “You look just fine.”
“Is my mom here?” Chase turned away from the mirror.
“Arrived about fifteen minutes ago. Maggie was with her.”
Relief brought a smile to his face, but it didn’t stay long. “Was Dana with them?”
“Sure was. They all looked happy, for what it’s worth.”
Chase nodded. “How long?”
“You can come out now. People are starting to arrive. The pastor wants to talk to you.” Frank pushed away from the wall and opened the door. Chase followed him into hallway and on into the chapel. The pastor bustled around the altar, and Chase nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to get to the front of the room.
“Pastor Abrahms,” he said, extending his hand to shake the pastor’s.
They exchanged pleasantries, and then Pastor Abrahms said, “So you’re ready to get married?”
“Yes, sir,” Chase said. He’d been dreaming of it—dreaming of marrying Maggie—for months. He couldn’t believe the day had finally arrived.
The pastor nodded and indicated the right side of the altar. “You’ll stand here as your lovely bride comes down the aisle.” His voice was low and soothing, and Chase lost what he was saying. He wished his father could be there, witness his wedding. Chase hadn’t spent a lot of time thinking about his father and what he’d miss, but now it felt huge, all-encompassing.
“And then you’ll be man and wife,” the pastor conclude.
Chase nodded and swallowed just as his mom came through the doors in the back of the chapel. She looked radiant and happy, her blonde hair flowing around her shoulders in curls and ribbons. She strode right up to Chase and embraced him. She held onto his biceps and gazed up into his face. “I’m so happy for you. She’s a wonderful girl.”
He grinned and hugged his mom again. “Thanks, Mom.”
The organist started playing and people took their seats. More and more kept coming, and Chase couldn’t believe all the cowboys from Three Rivers had made the drive to Amarillo. Maggie’s family knew a lot of people, and after ten minutes of prelude music, the chapel was full.
The wedding march began, and Chase couldn’t tear his eyes from the doors at the end of the aisle. Several seconds passed before Maggie appeared. Their eyes locked, and Chase’s face split into a grin.
He couldn’t look away from Maggie’s eyes as she came forward, step by slow step. She finally reached his side, and he tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. “Hey, pretty girl.”
The pastor spoke, and Chase’s skin buzzed with energy. By the time the man said, “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride,” Chase thought he might combust.
He kissed Maggie, all his nerves and cells lighting on fire. He wasn’t just kissing Maggie anymore.
He was kissing his wife.
“Can you get me the rest of the paint from the garage?” Chase glanced over his shoulder, his position on the ladder making the paint retrieval harder for him than for Maggie.
“Sure thing.” She opened the side door in the kitchen and entered the garage. The music she’d turned on earlier still blasted through the house, and Chase took a few seconds to admire the blue she’d chosen for the homestead’s walls. He only got a few seconds these days, as he worked from sunup to sundown around the ranch, hiring cowboys, and remodeling the homestead.
But he wouldn’t have it any other way. This ranch in Grape Seed Falls had provided a new life for him. One he was determined to make into something grand, one that would provide for Maggie and their children.
“Here you go.” She lifted the paint can as high as she could, and he reached down to take it from her.
He poured a healthy amount into the tray secured to the ladder and reloaded the roller. “Thanks, Mags.”
“I’m gonna run into town and grab something for dinner. What do you want?”
“Whatever you want.”
She cocked her head at him and gave him a wry grin. She climbed up a couple of steps on the ladder and tilted her head back for a kiss. “I love you, Chase,” she whispered.
He held onto the roller and wrapped his arm around her back, careful not to get any paint on her clothes. “Love you too.”
“We’re gonna make this ranch into something amazing, aren’t we?” She looked at him with so much hope it almost hurt his heart.
He beamed at her, no doubt in his mind. “We sure are, pretty girl.” He sighed and looked at the living room, which was almost finished. “We sure are.”
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Read more by Liz Isaacson
Want to learn more about Heidi and Frank who gave Chase and Maggie their down payment? Great! Read The First Lady of Three Rivers Ranch, a book in the bestselling Three Rivers Ranch Romance series.
Ready to read another short roman
ce about a brand new ranch? Fabulous! Go to Brush Creek Horse Ranch and read A Wedding for the Widower.
Enjoy small town western romance? We all do, right? Read all the books in Liz’s Amazon #1 bestselling Gold Valley Romance series.
About Liz
Liz Isaacson is the author of the #1 bestselling Three Rivers Ranch Romance series, which includes seven full-length novels and six novellas, and the #1 bestselling Gold Valley Romance series, which just began in January 2017. She writes inspirational romance, usually set in Texas and Montana, or anywhere else horses and cowboys exist. She lives in Utah, where she teaches elementary school, taxis her daughter to dance several times a week, and eats a lot of Ferrero Rocher while writing.
Learn more about all her books here. Find her on Facebook, twitter, and her website.
She also writes as Elana Johnson, who is the author of the YA dystopian Possession series, the Elemental series, and ELEVATED and SOMETHING ABOUT LOVE, which are young adult contemporary romance novels-in-verse. She also has a YA time travel duology, RIFT and MEND.
Her adult contemporary romance series is out now from Cleis Press/Start Media, and her debut adult fantasy, ECHOES OF SILENCE, just released from Amazon/Kindle Press. See all of Elana's books here.
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CHOOSING THE COWBOY
Book One in the Grape Seed Falls Romance series
by Liz Isaacson
Copyright © 2017 by Elana Johnson, writing as Liz Isaacson
Published by AEJ Creative Works
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
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