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Isaac nodded, crying, and then he watched the cow give a deep breath.
The calf plopped out of its mother’s body, quickly but gently, and the birth was complete.
Isaac edged farther away, giving the creature space. He watched the mother get to her feet, then she turned to the calf and began licking it clean, letting it know that it was safe and loved. Showing it that it had a place in the world, right here.
“Good girl,” he whispered to the cow. “You did great.”
“I did?” said Peach, returning, a brave smile on her face. Then she froze, looking at the cow. “Oh my goodness! There’s blood all over your shirts! What happened?”
“The calf was born,” said Isaac, standing up and putting his arm around Peach. “Everything is good.”
Peach gave a huge sigh of relief, and he could see how stressed out the poor girl had been. “I managed to call emergency services. I told them about the green tag in the cow’s ear and they knew the farmer. He’s on his way out here. I think a vet’s coming too.”
“You did good, babygirl,” he said, squeezing Peach’s hand. He felt his father’s hand still resting upon his own shoulder, and a great calmness washed over him.
“Isaac?” Peach asked. “Are you okay? You’re looking kind of… weird.”
“I feel… healed,” Isaac replied.
“Healed?”
“By love.”
Peach cocked her head at him. “Okay, now I think something’s definitely up. You don’t sound like Real Isaac to me. Are you a fake?”
Isaac smiled. “Actually, I think I’m more real than I’ve ever been.”
He looked at Peach, really looked at her. His kind, sensitive, sweet wife. So full of big-hearted ambition and love for the universe.
“Peach,” he said softly. “I’m ready to start the rest of my life now. And I’m ready to start it with you.”
Peach bit her lip, looking off to one side. “I… don’t know… We just went through something pretty traumatic. Here, but also at the ranch. And then back in Miami, too. That argument. I just don’t know if we’re—”
“Let’s at least talk,” Isaac told her. “There are things I want to tell you. Things I want to explain. At least then you’ll know who I really am. And then you can decide how you feel.”“So you know how you feel?” Peach asked. “It feels like, just a hot minute ago, you were pretty mad at me. You’re not mad anymore?”
“I’m mad as hell,” Isaac replied, quick as a whip. “But not at you, Peach Trimble. In fact, asking you to marry me was the sanest thing I ever did.”
Chapter Twenty
PEACH
“I’monlyherebecauseI’m worried about you,” Peach said. “I wouldn’t normally agree to stay in a dirty motel with a man who said marrying me was a waste of time.”
The cow had been reunited with the farmer. Apparently, he had a length of broken fencing and the cow had wandered off. A vet had turned up too, and both of them had congratulated Isaac on a job well done. Isaac, who had showered since dealing with the birth of the cow, and was now pacing up and down the small room, turned to her, confused. “I said that?”
“Back in Miami. When you found out your aunt wouldn’t sell you the ranch.”
Isaac sat on the edge of the bed beside her and put his hand on her arm. “I only meant putting you through the whole marriage pact.”
“But… you didn’t put me through anything,” Peach said with a shrug. “I’d been enjoying myself up to that point.”
“Even though you think I’m… how did you put it… a greedy asshole who hates animals and would never give anything to charity?”
Peach blushed. “I don’t remember using any of those words, Daddy.”
She wasn’t sure why that word had slipped out a couple of times. Was Isaac her Daddy anymore? Unlikely after everything that had happened between them. But he had called her “babygirl” a few times, and it felt good when he did. Natural, somehow. It was the same for her calling him Daddy.
“You know what?” said Isaac. “There’s some truth in that stuff. Iamgreedy, in the sense that I enjoy making money. Hell, I fucking love it. It’s been a hobby of mine since I was a kid, and it turns out I’m really damn good at it.”
