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“Why wouldn’t we?” Darcy is puzzled.
“I just mean, I know there are offers on the table, if it came down to it.”
“Where’s all this coming from, Ranger?” Darcy looks at me suspiciously, and I retreat.
“I’m just thinking about our future, that’s all. I want to provide for you, and any kids we might have.” I turn my attention back to the garden.
Darcy smiles at me, soothed by the thought of children. “Ranger, we’ll figure it out. Don’t worry. We’ve got the land, and sometimes it’s a pain, but it usually pulls through.” I smile at her weakly and go back to working.
Later that night in bed, I can’t sleep. Beside me, Darcy’s gentle breathing is a balm against the guilt building inside me. But it’s not enough.
I want to marry her, but should I?
The question startles me because it’s making me doubt everything. I think back to that precious moment on the porch swing. When I’d asked Darcy to be my wife, it had felt spontaneous and right. But now, lying in the dark bedroom, I have to acknowledge the fact that my intentions are less than honorable because marrying Darcy means I will have access to everything: bills, paperwork, and the deed to the farm. And even if she won’t readily volunteer to put my name on the deed, I know I can sweet-talk her into doing so.
The question is, do Iwantto do that?
I look over at the beautifully innocent girl sleeping soundly next to me.
This all started because my goddamn brothers couldn’t be trusted to behave in a civilized manner.I grimace as I imagine telling them about marrying the beautiful woman. They’ll probably howl and tease me to no end before clapping me on the back and making a grab for her property.
I groan and immediately look to make sure I didn’t wake Darcy. Her breathing is steady.
God how am I going to tell her?
Darcy hates my family. She detests the McLaughlins, and it’s as simple as that.
I don’t entirely blame her.
Over the last few months, what had started as necessary questioning about Darcy’s situation had turned into genuine curiosity. Unfortunately, it came at price. I learned even more just how horrible my brothers have been toward her family, and I cringe as I think back to our conversations.
One night, I casually asked Darcy about the family that lived on the surrounding farm, interested to know if shereallyhated my family or if it was just an inherited emotion from her father’s experiences. It was even worse than I thought.
She told me that she knew the two younger McLaughlins, Cole and Zane, from school. It turns out that she and Zane were the same year, and that there was no love lost.
When I probed a little further, Darcy confessed that my brothers tortured her at school, but wouldn’t provide details, brushing it off as ancient history. But she spoke with much more vehemence when she told me about their threats against her father: the ruined truck, torn down fences, and the ‘anonymous’ calls to the house. When talking about the abuse her father endured, Darcy had started crying tears of rage and I knew in that moment that a known McLaughlin would not be welcome in her life.
I twist around on the bed, my thoughts making it difficult to find a comfortable position. I move around until I’m lying on my back, staring up at the dark ceiling into nothingness.
My own family has had our issues with Darcy’s. I guess I was spared from the details for a long time, first because I’d been sent away to boarding school but then because I’d been occupied with the Lazy M’s finances. I was what you called “back-office,” with little thought as to actual operations. But on more than one occasion, my brothers had called me complaining about old man Fields, and I admit that their grievances had negatively colored my impression of his family.
‘The old curmudgeon won’t sell,’ Cole grunted over the phone. Sam had suggested, ‘We just go ahead and take care of him ourselves.’ They’d vandalized the truck, yes, and even went so far as to hold a gun against old man Fields’ temple. But the worst – and I thank god over and over that Darcy doesn’t know this – was when Zane, the unstable one, had shown up on the property with kerosene and matches, ready to torch the crops.
Fuck. How do I deal with this?
I have to protect her, obviously. But from my own family? That sounds like a tall order.
If I leave Darcy now, not only would we both be heartbroken but she would be even more vulnerable than she already is. And my brothers, villainous assholes that they are, would sweep in and destroy her life.
I grow rigid thinking back on the threats my brothers have made over the years.Thank god Dad called meto intervene when he did. But dammit, why did he put me in this position?
I’m not a fool. I’m the businessman of the family, in charge of farm finances and I control of the cash flow.
My damn brothers can call me a city slicker all they want, butI’mthe one who keeps the damn family as wealthy as it is.
In the past, I wanted the Fields Farm to merge with the Lazy M just as much as anyone because it’s a pain in the ass to own all the land around this one tiny place when we really need a monopoly on the farmland in this part of the state. But now? I’m not so sure. I’ve interacted with the curvy girl myself. I’ve seen how Darcy struggles, how she works her fingers to the bone, and how much she loves this property. Am I really ready to pull the rug out from underneath her?
It’s a nasty business, Ranger, I console myself.
