Homespun Bride

have plenty of room for all the bookshelves I intend to build.”
    Exactly what she herself would have wanted. “W-with big windows and a porch for quiet summer evenings?”
    “Yessiree. With a roomy kitchen for my wife.”
    “W-wife?” Agony filled her. She clamped her lips together, set her chin and braced herself for the sorrow.
    As much as she longed to be the woman who could marry him, his happy future mattered more. Her sadness faded away like one last long note, leaving only peace in her soul. “You are ready to settle down. You must have someone in mind.”
    “I’ve got my eye on a real nice lady.” His baritone warmed gently. Perhaps he was worrying he was hurting her feelings.
    Her love for him shone so strongly within her that she felt as if she were glowing, too. Happy for him, deeply and truly happy, she leaned back in the seat, sure, so completely sure, that God would bless Thad in this new part of his life. “Do I know her?”
    “I think you do. Maybe you might offer your opinion on the plans for this house. I want her to have a roomy place to do all the kitchen work easily and not so close that she catches her skirts on fire on the stove.”
    “Very easy to do,” Noelle agreed.
    “And a sunny spot for the kitchen table, a place where you just want to sit over a cup of tea and spend time jawin’.”
    “I can imagine it. A lot of cabinets and a roomy pantry—you could spend some of your winter months making them for her. A round table between the corner windows and a place for boots and coats to dry.” The future she could see might have once been her dream, but it felt right sharing it with him. “There will be children one day who will need a place to come in from playing in the snow and warm up.”
    “Children.” His baritone dipped intimately. When he spoke next, his voice vibrated with emotion. “Now, I hadn’t quite got that far. Except for four upstairs bedrooms.”
    “Four sounds like a nice number.”
    “It surely does.” His heart was full to bursting as he nosed Sunny off the main road. “I’ve been thinking about building a little cottage behind the main house for my ma. Aiden’s taken care of her all this time, and I feel as if it’s my duty now. What do you think of that?”
    “As long as she would want to move. She has her own house.”
    “Yep, and with both of my brothers there, too. It’s my hope Aiden will come to marry again one day, and then she’ll be feeling in the way again.” He gripped the reins more tightly. He could feel his dearest hopes ready to come true, and it was so much to lose. “I would like her close. I’ve missed her, and she can feel good helping to take care of things at my place. She likes taking care of the people she loves.”
    “Then it sounds like a good solution. She would be closer to any future grandchildren.”
    There she went, mentioning children again. Thad couldn’t say what that did to his heart, but he was fairly sure it would never beat normally again.
    “As long as she got along well with your wife,” Noelle pointed out sweetly, “it sounds perfect to me. Does this mean there will be another wedding soon?”
    “I’m praying that’s the truth.”
    “Praying? Does this mean you’re a praying man again?”
    “Maybe. You never know.” The Worthington manor came into sight, windows ablaze with golden lamplight. It looked like the family was already home. “About this wedding of mine. Think you’d like to attend?”
    “Absolutely beyond a doubt. It’s what I’ve been praying for.”
    How about that. Thad reined Sunny to a stop outside the porch. He climbed out from beneath the snug buffalo robe and circled around the sleigh to help Noelle out. Powerful love for her broke him wide-open, and it was greater than anything he’d ever known. Incapable of speech, he simply took her hand in his, and led her with care up the porch steps. Joy lifted him so far up, he couldn’t feel the boards beneath his boots, for there was only her. Just her. In his thoughts, in his heart, in his soul.
    She broke the silence between them when they reached the door. “You will let me know how tomorrow goes with the land agent?”
    “I will. The moment the land is mine, you will be the first one I tell.” He acted on impulse and again cradled her face in both his hands with all the tenderss in his soul. He wanted more than anything to tell her he would take care of her, that he would do his best for her, and how great his