Chapter One
"Are you almost ready?" Levi called from the foot of the staircase.
"Just a minute," Cath replied as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.
Cath was the least high maintenance person ever and Levi knew it, but he was nice enough to pretend that she was in the bathroom fixing her hair or applying mascara and not call attention to what she was actually doing.
Stalling.
Sunday dinners at Levi's house were stressful affairs. Even though Cath had been around his relatives more than her own in the past eight years their big family gatherings still make her stomach twist up in knots.
It was just so much. Lots of people. Lots of food. Lots of noise.
Cath did her best to blend into the background. To almost become one in the same with the furniture, but someone (usually Levi's youngest sister, Sarah…the other ones, Abigail, Hannah, and Leah were too busy wrangling their own children to worry about her) always tried to draw her out. Sometimes she was successful and Cath was able to act like a normal human being for the length of a conversation, but most of the time she just nodded and smiled and tried to escape to the bathroom.
"Sweetheart," Levi said, suddenly materializing. "We're going to be late." He planted a kiss on the top of her head.
Cath looked at her husband's reflection in the mirror. Husband. A year after the wedding and the word still tasted foreign on her tongue.
After nearly three years of living together in Arnold and countless proposals (Cath was really good at stalling) they were finally married on Levi's family ranch last fall. It wasn't that she didn't want to be with him (Cath wanted to be with Levi forever). But getting legally wed meant you were a grown up.
Never mind the fact that she had a full time job (book editor for an independent publisher in Chicago…she telecommuted…it was perfect…she got to do what she loved and didn't have to deal with actual co-workers). Never mind the fact she lived with a boy (actually Levi was more of a man now…then again he had always looked like a man) far away from her father and sister (Dad was still in Omaha…Wren in Scoffsbluff with Jandro and their son, no one was surprised Wren got married five seconds after college ended). Never mind the fact she wrote epic Simon and Baz adventures where the boys got married (because in the World of Mages no cared whether you kissed boys or girls).
The sparkly little ring on her left hand meant childhood was over. After talking things through with her sister and Reagan (basically them telling her not to be such an idiot) Cath said yes and never regretted it.
Except on days like today when she had to deal with Marlisse and company. To say she wasn't exactly close to her mother-on-law would be an understatement. Marlisse was just always in the thick of things while Cath preferred to hang out on the fringe.
Cath tugged on the hem of her cardigan, smoothing it out with her palm. "Okay," she said before turning around to face him.
Levi cupped her face in his hands. "You know they don't bite," he teased her.
"The cows do," Cath pointed out.
"They don't bite," Levi insisted. "They chew."
"There's just so many of them," Cath replied.
"Cows?" he asked her.
Cath rolled her eyes (old habits die hard). "Yes, and their table manners are horrendous," she said.
"The faster we get over there the faster it will be over with," Levi pointed with a smile (when was he not smiling, really).
"Logic," Cath huffed, but then smiled herself.
Levi released his grip on her cheeks and slid her hand into his. They headed downstairs (stopping in the kitchen to grab the brownies they were contributing to the meal) and then out to Levi's truck.
The ranch wasn't far from their home (not that anything in Arnold was too far from anything else). It was an easy commute for Levi who worked there alongside his parents and uncles. He had recently started consulting for other ranches in the area too. Levi lit up when he told her about the ways he was helping other ranchers become better equipped to do their jobs. It was one (of many…Cath had a word document full) of his endearing qualities.
Levi parked the truck at the end of the drive and jumped out to help Cath down. Once she was on the ground she clutched the brownies in her hands as if they were a protective shield between her and the rest of the world. They made their way up the front porch and inside. The house was buzzing with warmth and activity (it sounded more like a herd of elephants than cows).
"Cath!" Sarah exclaimed the second she stepped into the kitchen. Out of all of Levi's siblings she got along the best with the youngest girl. She was in graduate school, studying Library Science, so the two always had something to talk about. "Can you read something I'm working on?"
"Sarah," Marlisse scolded her daughter. "Let the poor girl take her sweater off."
Sarah rolled her eyes (Cath wondered if she had picked up the habit from her or if it was something all girls instinctively knew how to do). "Sorry," she apologized. She took the brownies from her hands and set them down on the counter.
"It's so good to see you," Levi's mother said and walked over to give her son a hug.
"I just saw you yesterday," Levi said with a chuckle as he returned the embrace.
"That doesn't mean it's not good to see you," Marlisse insisted. "You too," she said to Cath and gave her a hug of her own.
"Hi," Cath replied and gently patted her back before stepping away.
"Go have a drink," she said to both of them. "Dinner will be set in about fifteen minutes." She shooed them out of the kitchen and into the family room (the zoo).
Levi's father, Abigail, Hannah, and Leah's husbands, as well as Sarah's boyfriend, were gathered around a basketball game on television while the aforementioned women were playing a game with the kids on the floor. Levi greeted his sisters and joined the guys by the television. Cath said hello and took a seat on the couch. The kids were all very cute, but Abigal, Hannah, and Leah were all moms and they spoke in some kind of code Cath couldn't begin to understand.
"Since your sweater is off," Sarah said, joining Cath on the couch. "Can I show you my paper?"
Cath laughed and nodded her head. "Of course," she said to her. "Is it for school?"
Sarah nodded her head yes as she tapped away on her phone. "Okay, I just emailed it to you."
Before Cath could ask when it was due Marlisse walked into the family room and clapped her hands together. "Before dinner is ready I want to have a little family meeting."
Hannah's husband (or maybe it was Leah's…they all looked alike) muted the television. Levi sat down next to Cath on the couch. Everyone looked curiously at the family matriarch.
"As you know we're not getting any younger around here…as much as we try and deny it," she said with a soft laugh. "The time has come to retire and sell the ranch."
A brief silence came over the room followed by a hundred voices talking at once.
Sell the ranch? To who? When? Couldn't they keep it in the family?
Marlisee held up her hand and everyone quieted down again. "This was not an easy decision. We talked it over. We prayed on it. And as much as it pains me it's just something that has to be done," she said.
Cath looked over at Levi, his usual carefree face was completely clouded over. Despite the work he was doing outside the homestead she knew his heart was truly with his family's land.
"Now wipe those looks of doom and gloom off your face," Marlisee said with a smile (she was the only person in the room smiling). "And let's eat!"
