Evangeline wrapped her arms around his neck as he swished her sideways to allow Seth entrance. “Do you plan to carry me all the way to the cabin?”
Logan met her gaze, a roguish grin lighting his eyes. “Nope, just to the wagon. For now.” He waggled his brows. “Once we get home, though, I plan to sweep you up again and not let you out of my arms until sometime tomorrow.”
“Logan!” Evangeline swatted his shoulder as her cheeks burned, not that the scoundrel cared.
In fact, her unrepentant husband dipped his chin and captured her lips in a kiss that stole every thought of protest from her mind. By the time he finally pulled away, her fingers were thoroughly entangled in the hair at his nape, and her breathing had become embarrassingly ragged. The only thing that saved her from complete mortification was the fact that Seth was currently giving Christie the same treatment.
Her brother tugged her satchel from Christie’s limp fingers and pushed it into the hand Logan had positioned beneath Evangeline’s knees. Once the transfer was complete, Logan marched straight for the back door and out onto the porch.
A chorus of hoots, hollers, and whistles erupted. Evangeline hid her face against Logan’s neck.
“Logan Everett Fowler,” a cultured feminine voice scolded, “that’s the future mother of my grandchildren you’re manhandling.”
“I’ve got a good hold on her, Mama,” Logan called, removing any hope that he’d allow Evangeline to walk on her own two feet to the wagon. Then his clean-shaven jaw nudged her face up so he could look into her eyes. “And I’m never letting her go.”
Her insides swirled and dipped like a ballroom full of waltzing troubadours. She no longer cared that they were making a spectacle for her neighbors and friends. All she cared about was the man she adored.
“I love you, Logan Fowler,” she whispered for his ears alone.
His crooked smile made her pulse flutter. “I love you, Evangeline Pearson Hamilton Fowler. Forever.”
He carried her down the porch steps, and everyone surrounded them to give their final well wishes as they made their way to the wagon. When they reached Logan’s mother, though, he paused and bent down with Evangeline still in his arms to allow the small gray-haired woman with dancing eyes to kiss his cheek.
The change in Logan’s mother had been remarkable. She had gone from a withdrawn, hopeless widow to a vibrant woman of renewed purpose and vitality. According to Logan’s aunt, the change had started the day she received Logan’s letter and solidified the first time Logan had introduced her to Evangeline.
It turned out her grief had not solely been due to the loss of her husband and home. The most acute portion had been reserved for the son she believed had followed his father’s disastrous path. Once Logan convinced her he’d left that life behind, her sprits revived, and the baby blankets she had once knitted for the poor box were now piling up in a chest for the grandbabies she hoped would soon follow the wedding.
Evangeline reached a hand toward her mother-in-law. “Will you be all right, Mother? You know you’re welcome to stay with us as long as you like.”
“Nonsense, dear. I’ll not be getting in the way of those grandbabies you promised me.”
Heavens. Even Logan’s mother? Evangeline doubted her cheeks would ever recover. They’d surely be stained bright red permanently.
Mrs. Fowler had avoided going inside any of the buildings of her former home. Not the house, nor the barn. The closest she’d come was to pat the trunks of the peach trees near the porch. She’d been staying with Logan until today and had accepted the Clems’ hospitality for a final night before she left for her sister’s house on the morrow.
“I’ll expect letters, though.” Mrs. Fowler’s eyes narrowed. “Detailed letters. Regularly.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Matilda Fowler turned her attention back to her son. “Go on, now.” She released Evangeline’s hand with a grin and waved them on. “Take your bride home.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Logan’s long legs ate up the ground between the crowd and the waiting wagon.
Zach had the team hitched and waiting, and after Logan gently dropped Evangeline onto the bench seat, her brother approached. Logan moved to the horses’ heads, checking harness Evangeline knew was perfectly in place.
A frown crinkling her brow, she turned to question her brother, only to find Zach’s eyes tinged not with joy or teasing, but with something far heavier.
She reached a hand out to him. “What is it?”
He took her hand, looking down at their joined fingers. “I’m leaving Pecan Gap, Evie.”
She reared back, heart thudding in alarm. “What? Why?”
“Logan’s responsible for your welfare now. Seth’s settled with Christie. You don’t need me watching out for you anymore. It’s time for me to set out on my own.”
She tugged on his arm, trying to draw him closer, but his feet remained stubbornly rooted to the ground. “You’re my brother, Zach. I’ll always need you.”
He finally lifted his eyes. “We’re not kids, Evie. You and Seth have found the lives you’ve always wanted. Now it’s time for me to do the same.” His mouth twisted into a smile she didn’t quite believe. “With Seth raising hogs now instead of crops, he can manage without me.” He gazed over at the muddy pens where snorting hogs rooted around in the same ground that once supported sorghum stalks. “I hate farming, Evie. You know that. Crops, hogs, doesn’t matter what kind. There’s a fellow up north with a lumberyard who’s looking for a partner to expand his operation. I’m meeting with him on Monday.”
Dismay churned her belly. “So soon?”
“It’s time.”
Time for him to finally have the freedom he’d always craved. She remembered the tough kid with the chip on his shoulder who scared off all potential adoptive families so that he could create his own life instead of having one forced upon him. Yet one had been forced upon him anyhow. A life of instant parenthood, making him responsible for two orphans who depended on him for everything. A life that brought him back to the land, a living he despised, yet one he willingly took on to provide for his siblings.
It would be unfair of her to hold him back just because she would miss him. He deserved his chance at happiness, even if it meant she must revise her definition of happily ever after.
He was right. It was time.
“Promise me something?” she said.
Zach raised a brow, immediately suspicious. “What?”
“Don’t cut yourself off from us.” Evangeline squeezed his hand with all the pent-up grief and love this conversation inspired. “We’re still your family. Always and forever. Follow your dream, Zach—heaven knows you deserve it—but share it with us. Write to us. Visit. Keep us involved. I’ve already lost one brother. I couldn’t bear to lose another.”
Zach cleared his throat and returned the tight grip on her hand. “I promise.”
His low rasp brought tears to her eyes, but she blinked them away. Zach had never handled her softer emotions well.
“Then go with God, brother, and may he bless you as richly as he has me.”
Zach gave a quick nod, then dropped her hand and stepped away from the wagon. As if the signal had been prearranged, Logan abandoned the horses and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Take good care of her, Fowler,” Zach said.
Logan nodded. “I will.”
Zach saluted with a touch to his hat brim, and Logan released the brake. The team plodded forward as the crowd behind them cheered.
Evangeline turned to wave, her smile bright until her gaze found Zach. To him she sent silent vows of support and encouragement. He might not be the heroic figure she’d once believed him to be, his knightly armor dented and tarnished from past mistakes and lingering repercussions, but he was her brother, and she loved him unequivocally.
Gradually, the house, her friends and family, and her worries for her brother faded from view, leaving her alone with her husband.<
br />
Logan covered her knee with his hand. “You all right? Zach told me about his plans this morning before the wedding.”
She clasped his fingers. “I will be.” She looked down the road as if looking into the future. “I’ll miss him terribly, but he deserves his freedom.”
“A man’s plans don’t always work out the way he expects.” Logan’s smile instantly reminded her of all they had gone through to get to where they were today. “Sometimes God throws a fork in the road at just the right time.”
She grinned at her husband. “I just hope that stubborn brother of mine will be smart enough to see the road sign and follow it. He can be a mite set in his ways.”
Logan caressed the outside of her knee with his thumb, and Evangeline’s pulse stuttered. “If the Lord sends your brother a road sign even half as spectacular as the one he sent me, Zach will see it.”
Evangeline’s stomach fluttered in pleasure. Such a glorious compliment deserved a reward. She stretched upward and kissed her husband straight on the mouth.
She intended the contact to be brief, but Logan took charge, dropping the reins and wrapping his arms around her. He drew her close and kissed her so deeply, she completely forgot where they were or what they were doing.
Until the wagon lurched to one side as the horses wandered off the road.
Logan released her and took up the reins, a chuckle rumbling in his throat. “You, Mrs. Fowler, just earned yourself a bumpy ride home.” That roguish gleam danced in his eyes again as he snapped the traces and set the team off at a gallop.
Evangeline squealed as she grabbed the side rail with one hand and her bonnet with the other.
Her husband would always be a man of surprises, and who was she to complain? She rather liked him that way. She laughed into the wind as they raced by the trees, suddenly as eager as he was to discover where their next adventure would lead.
Christy Award finalist and winner of the ACFW Carol Award, HOLT Medallion, and Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer writes historical romances because she believes the world needs more happily-ever-afters. She is an avid cross-stitcher and shower singer, and she bakes a mean apple cobbler. Karen makes her home in Abilene, Texas, with her husband and three children.
To learn more about Karen and her books and to sign up for her free newsletter featuring special giveaways and behind-the-scenes information, please visit www.karenwitemeyer.com.
Books by Karen Witemeyer
A Tailor-Made Bride
Head in the Clouds
To Win Her Heart
Short-Straw Bride
Stealing the Preacher
Full Steam Ahead
A Worthy Pursuit
No Other Will Do
Heart on the Line
More Than Meets the Eye
A Cowboy Unmatched from A Match Made in Texas: A Novella Collection
Love on the Mend from With All My Heart Romance Collection
The Husband Maneuver from With This Ring: A Novella Collection
Worth the Wait from All My Tomorrows Novella Collection
The Love Knot from Hearts Entwined: A Historical Romance Novella Collection
Resources: bethanyhouse.com/AnOpenBook
Website: www.bethanyhouse.com
Facebook: Bethany House
Twitter: @Bethany House
Karen Witemeyer, More Than Meets the Eye
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