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Her eyes lit up, and I couldn’t help but notice how that made me feel as if I was floating on cloud nine.
“Bryson,” she whispered, lifting up onto her toes to kiss me. “I feel guilty for being so happy.”
“Don’t,” I said as I tucked her hair behind her ear. “This is what I want, Rose.”
She smiled the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. “I want it too.”
The words were there, three little words that were my truth, and I really wanted to say them. But I didn’t want to scare the shit out of her when things were going so well between us.
“Do you want to go with me to family game night?”
I had yet to meet Rose’s brother Joshua, but not for lack of trying. He was young, in high school, and always on the go.
“Will I get to meet Josh finally?”
“Yes!” she replied. “But if you’re tired from traveling, I totally get it.”
“Family game night sounds great to me.”
“I’ll drive!” she said, taking my hand in hers and pulling me back out the door. What I really wanted to do was spend the evening alone with her, but we could celebrate my return to Montana after game night.
The drive to the Shaw Ranch from downtown Hamilton was about twenty minutes or so. The Bitterroot River went through part of the ranch, and it was nestled in the Bitterroot Valley tucked between the Sapphire Mountains to the east and the Bitterroot Mountains to the west.
“What was it like growing up on such a large ranch?” I asked as Rose drove up to the massive gate entrance that simply read, Shaw Ranch.
“It was like growing up on a few different ranches, to be honest. The ranch is mainly a cattle ranch, but with my dad and Uncle Tanner having their own part of the ranch, and each doing something different other than cattle ranching, it felt like a few ranches rolled into one. Anytime we wanted to do something fun, we went to Uncle Tanner and Aunt Timberlynn’s part of the ranch. We got to see foals being born, which was fun for any kid. Different types of horses and wild mustangs. My grandparents live in the second oldest house on the ranch, with my mother and father living in the oldest. It was always fun going there because they spoiled us. Then you had my father’s part of the ranch. Since he raises the bulls, it was always crazy. Especially when my older cousins and my brother started riding bulls. It was fun watching Blayze ride. He’s amazing on a bull. My father said he was better than Dirk, Brock, and him combined.”
“But he doesn’t ride professionally?”
She shook her head as we drove down the long driveway. Every now and then the road would go off in another direction, and I assumed it was to the different houses on the ranch. Rolling meadows were on both sides of the drive, and cattle, as well as horses, dotted the landscape.
“He is a rancher through and through. Though he will ride for charity events. Brock no longer rides and hasn’t for a few years. Neither has Dirk.”
“Does Josh want to ride bulls professionally?”
Rose turned and looked at me. “He loves riding them, but I think he enjoys the training part. I’m not so sure he wants to do it professionally. I know he likes working for Blayze and Hunter on the ranch.”
“Hunter is…?”
“Blayze’s younger brother.”
“Right! Brock and Lincoln’s youngest.”
“Should I make you a family tree?”
I chuckled. “I think I got it. But Bradly and Avery aren’t really blood related, but you still call each other cousins.”
“Yep. And don’t be surprised if I call them simply by their names. Every now and then, I throw in aunt or uncle. But their ranch isn’t far from ours. Aunt Merit grew up living next door to Uncle Dirk. Her family has a farm where you can go and pick things like strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries, tomatoes, you name it. I think I told you this already.”
Nodding, I said, “You did.”
“They have a farmers’ market at the farm, as well, each weekend.”
“So is Dirk a farmer now?”
“He is, but he also raises cattle on his family’s ranch. His mother passed away a few years ago, and it was a pretty tough time for him. He lost his father before Avery and Bradly were born.”
“I can’t imagine. That’s one of the reasons I decided it was time to settle down. I want to spend time with my parents, and I want them to be involved in my kids’ lives. If I kept playing baseball, that meant I’d most likely be living in Seattle a majority of the time. I didn’t want that. And I didn’t want to be away from my own family once I started one.”
