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Across the yard, near the guests’ cabins, he spotted the kittens and Diva outside the cat house eating the food that Nash had set out for them. He’d grown attached to those squirts, and he was glad to see them all doing well. Sure, he was tempted to keep them at the house, but at the ranch, they were spoiled rotten. And the two tween girls who were staying at the ranch with their parents fussing all over the cats was proof of that. Of course, Gus was sitting by their sides, watching them closely. Come winter time, Nash would bring them into the new house. Everyone, including the cats, seemed good with that plan.
“Mornin’.”
Nash tucked his phone away, spotting Chase approaching from Ma’s house with blueprints rolled up in one hand, a coffee mug in the other. Today, they’d both come to discuss the rebuild of the barn at the ranch before Nash headed out on the cattle run. “Got the idea all figured out?”
“Yup.” Chase sidled up next to him, took a sip of his coffee, then placed the mug on the hood of Nash’s truck.
Once Chase opened up the plans, Nash studied the blueprints. The barn only had six stalls and was much smaller than what had originally been there. There was a tiny tack room and another larger one. “It’s a little small, don’t you think?”
“Nope, it’s perfect.” Chase smiled like he knew some big secret Nash didn’t. He gestured at the blueprints, a glint that Nash hadn’t originally noticed in his eyes. “This plan is for the new barn at the ranch.” He grabbed the paper from underneath. “This is what I was thinking for your property.”
“My property?” Confused, Nash looked down at the white paper that had a pencil drawing of a two-story log house and a barn with a sand ring set next to it. “What is this?”
“Your new house and training facility.”
Nash slowly looked up.
Chase burst out laughing. “If only I had a camera to take a picture of your expression. Oh, wait, I do.” He grabbed his phone and snapped a picture, still laughing. “Priceless.”
Nash wasn’t laughing. “Explain.”
Chase finally stopped laughing and cupped Nash’s shoulder. “After we heard that you were planning to move to the city, I gave you two months before you were begging Megan to move back out here. Shep bet a month. Emma thought you’d do anything for Megan and stay there forever. Harper said two days. And Ma said as soon as the shovel hits the dirt, you’ll be itching to move back onto Blackshaw land.”
Nash parted his mouth to say something, but Megan interrupted him.
“I gave you ten minutes.”
He glanced over his shoulder, watching Megan approach from the house. He had thought it odd that she wanted to come with him this morning to visit his mother. Now, he knew why she’d been so adamant. The world spun away from him until he realized that Megan wasn’t surprised by Chase’s drawing of their new place. He pointed at the drawing on the page. “You knew about this?”
She smiled and nodded. “Well, you see, here’s the thing: I had a financial condition on the new house. So, I contacted Scott at the bank and told him I didn’t have the down payment anymore. Which made the deal fall through.”
Nash arched an eyebrow. “You let the deal fall through?”
She stepped closer, pressing all her warmth into him. “Selling Blackshaw land—something that I know means the absolute world to you—to buy back the ring I pawned was the sweetest, most giving thing anyone has ever done for me.” She cupped his face, and he placed his hand over hers as she continued. “But living on Blackshaw land is a part of you. That other house suited me, not us. The plan was to take your house off the market, but then you told me it sold. So, when I heard you guys starting to talk about the rebuild, I went to Chase to see what we could do.”
He held her tight in his arms but looked at Chase. “Can we afford to do this?”
Chase gave a quick nod. “It’s the reason we kept the barn here at the ranch as small as possible. Shep and I played around with the numbers. From the money we got from the fire to the money you’
ll receive from the sale of your log house—”
“To my addition of the down payment that I had originally intended to use on the other house,” Megan said.
Chase smiled at Megan then nodded at Nash. “It’s doable.”
Nash studied the new plans, totally winded. There were words to say. Probably perfect words, he was sure of that. He simply couldn’t think of them. He finally only managed to sputter, “I can’t believe you all did this.”
Megan wrapped her arms around his waist tight and stared up at him with those pretty eyes sparkling at him. “You’re a good man, Nash Blackshaw. And it’s about time you had good things happen to you again.”
Jesus. How fucking lucky was he? Overrun with warmth sliding through his chest, he cupped her face and dropped his mouth to hers. He had expected one thing when got together with Megan, but what they ended up having was better. A selfless love that he wanted to protect.
He finished with a light peck on her lips then said against her mouth, “I love you, Freckles.”
She smiled. “I love you too.”
“You love me too, right?”
Chase was laughing by the time Nash looked at him. Nash took his brother into a tight hug. “Yeah, brother, you know I do.”
