Homespun Bride

control, he handed his ma her coat, and then Aiden his. “He said there’s a piece of land along Angel River for sale.”
    Aiden cheered up at that. “Which parcel?”
    “It’s near the falls.” Thad came back around to Noelle’s chair and settled his hand on her shoulder. There it was, the connection between them, so binding and infinite that he could feel his spirit turn around her like stars around the North Pole.
    “What luck.” Aiden’s voice came muffled, as if from very far away. “That’s prime land. I can’t remember the last time anything upriver from the falls has been for sale.”
    “No one deserves it more than Thad,” Noelle said quietly, sincerely.
    She captured his heart all over again. Yep, he was in a bad situation, loving her as he did. His soul hurt with the strength of it.
    “I’m grateful for this chance.” His tone was raw and real, betraying his feelings. That embarrassed him because he wasn’t talking about the land.
    Noelle leaned toward him, as if she were unaware of his turmoil and his adoration. “It looks as if you will be able to have your horse ranch, just as you’ve always dreamed.”
    He prayed it wasn’t only the land she meant, for she was part of his dreams. He carefully shook out the folds of her wool coat. “Think your uncle will let me see you home?”
    “Maybe.” There was that mischievous smile again, the one he loved so well. “But there you go, assuming I’ll want to go with you.”
    “Darlin’, I know what you want.” Yes, he could see that clearly, too. He helped her slide back her chair and then into her coat, tenderness filling him up so there was hardly any room left to breathe. Hope could do that to a man.
    The whisper of the falls came quietly at first through the soft music of the night, a quiet whir above the low-noted air whizzing past her ears, hardly noticeable at all. Then rising in volume until it was the dominating sound. It was a solemn chorus of water and snow and hope against the steady chink-chink of Sunny’s shoes upon the ice.
    It had been a perfect evening. The excellent meal was improved with excellent company; there seemed to be no one more dear than Thad’s gentle mother. And to have spent the entire evening in Thad’s presence, at his side, sharing simple conversation, had uplifted her. She still felt as light as the airy, spun-sugar snowflakes dancing lazily against her cheeks and eyelashes.
    She knew where they were without a single word from him. It wasn’t the sound of the waterfall alone, but Thad’s wistful sigh. “Are you planning on going into the land office tomorrow morning?”
    “You know I’ll be there well before they open. Just trying not to let myself get too excited.” The amused notes in his voice told her he was grinning ear to ear. “I’ll try to be dignified for your sake.”
    “For my sake? I’m not Henrietta. As much as I love her, I do not think reputation and decorum are everying.” She smoothed the buffalo robes covering her skirts, to give her hand something to do. Many secrets lay inside her heart. It would not do to give him a single hint of them.
    “Then I can let out a whoop?”
    Now she was grinning ear to ear. “I have no objecons.”
    “I’d better not. Best not to scare any fellow traveler up ahead. They may take out their rifle, thinkin’ I’m a wolf. And considering how I look, who could blame them?”
    She felt the laughter bubbling up. Oh, no one could bring summer to her life the way he could. She could tell he was slowing the sleigh, for Sunny’s gait slowed. Taking a long hopeful look at the land? At his land? She hoped he was not only grinning ear to ear but glowing with happiness from the bottom of his soul. “What’s the first thing you’re going to do with the land?”
    “The first thing?” He fell silent a moment, and the crash of the falls began to ebb a tad. “I ought to fence it, but seeing as Aiden, Finn and I have been repairing fence for the past month, I’m not too keen on starting out digging one hundred and sixty acres of fence posts.”
    “If not the fence first, then what will you do? The stable?”
    “No. I’ll start on a house.”
    A home. Her chest wrenched. How could she be ecstatically happy and deeply sorrowful all in the same moment? “T-tell me about it.”
    “It’ll be two stories. Not big, I can’t afford something grand, but a nice-size parlor to spend winters cozy by the fireplace without feeling cramped and still