Farmer Takes a Wife Read Free

Dave’s mother sat with Jamie in the back seat, while Dave and Emma again rode up front. They didn’t seem to have much to say to each other. As soon as they reached home, Dave’s mother loaded up her car, kissed them goodbye and promptly left.
    For the first time, the three of them were alone.
    “I’ll get Jamie ready for bed,” Emma said after Dave had carried in the suitcases. The child was exhausted and fell asleep halfway through her favorite story.
    Dave was waiting for her when she came downstairs. “She went to sleep okay?” he asked.
    “No problem at all.”
    “Good.” He shoved his hands in his pockets as if he wasn’t sure what else to do with them. “I’ve got some errands to run in the morning if you’d care to come along. I’d like you to see Buffalo Valley.”
    Emma hesitated.
    “The town’s not much, but there’s a grocery there and a great little pharmacy. I’ll treat Jamie to an ice cream soda. Hassie Knight makes the best sodas I’ve ever tasted.”
    “I’d like that,” she told him. They’d spent nearly a week becoming accustomed to the idea of marriage, of living together. She’d stayed at his house that first night—after their meeting at the Italian restaurant—and they’d talked endlessly; then she’d gone home to Seattle to make all the necessary plans. But every night that week, they’d talked for hours on the phone.
    Now they were married, and there was only silence, an awkward silence that stretched between them.
    “I was thinking …”
    “Maybe we should …”
    Nervous laughter followed, and they both hesitated. Finally Dave spoke. “How about a game of cribbage?” he asked politely.
    The previous evening, he’d taught her how to play. Emma remembered her grandparents had loved it, but as a child, she’d never gotten the hang of the counting system.
    “Sure,” she said, willing to do anything that would relax some of the tension they were obviously both feeling.
    They sat across from each other and as he dealt the cards, Emma noticed the plain gold band on his left hand. Her gaze dropped to her own wedding wing, equally plain. It was still hard to believe that the man who sat across fromher was her husband. She was
married
. This was for life, and it was for real. They were husband and wife.
    “Fifteen-two, fifteen-four and a pair is six,” Dave said as he moved his peg forward.
    Emma spread out her hand for him to see. “I only have …” She paused checking her cards a second time. “Fifteen-two, right?”
    “Look again,” he advised.
    She recounted. “Fifteen-four,” she said, then saw an additional two points. “Fifteen-six.”
    “Right.” He grinned broadly, and Emma grinned back. He hadn’t pointed out her error to her, but let her see it for herself. Emma appreciated that. In fact, there was a great deal to appreciate about Dave Stafford. She’d had a revelation of this during the middle of their wedding service when he reached down for Jamie, taking her daughter in his arms and holding her between them as they repeated their vows. This simple action reassured her that the vows Dave spoke included Jamie. He’d promised to love her, to care for her, to be her daddy.
    “It’s late and we’ve both had a long day,” Dave announced when she covered a yawn.
    Emma nodded. Until that moment she hadn’t realized how truly tired she was. After all, it wasn’t every day she became someone’s wife!
    She waited for him as, one by one, he turned out the lights. Together they climbed the stairs, illuminated by a single lamp that cast a soft glow about them. Emma paused outside the bedroom she’d slept in last night, where Jamie rested now. “Thank you, Dave, for a wonderful day. A special day …”
    He frowned. “You aren’t sleeping in there, are you?”
    Emma frowned, too, a little shocked by his question. They hadn’t discussed this, and she hadn’t planned to share his bed. Not yet, anyway. Not tonight. “You don’t honestly expect