Chapter 26.
Emily stayed in the guest room of the great house for the next few days, sleeping in the plushest, softest bed she'd ever known. She wore Victoria's clothes, a better fit for her than Audra's, while she waited for her own to be laundered and fully dried.
The first night, she drafted a letter to her father telling him her news. She knew he would share it with her brothers. She had written about the Barkleys, even about Nick, in previous letters but she had only intimated about the blossoming romance so she felt her letter needed to include some reason, some justification, for her decision. The letter was surprisingly easy for her to write and putting her feelings and understandings to paper confirmed what she had recently come to realize.
She felt now she was able to see herself better than she had in a long time. She thought and re-thought what life on the Barkley Ranch would be for her. And the more she thought about it, the better it seemed to fit.
She and Nick spent a lot of time talking about expectations and desires and the future. Emily talked about Sam and about her new understanding of how being his sweetheart, then his wife, and then his widow had defined her for so long. They talked about marriage to each other and what that meant. They talked about adopting children.
Emily said she didn't want a house of her own. She wanted to remain in the main house, partly because she didn't want to be lonely (and there was enough room to be alone) and partly to enjoy having Victoria as a mother (something she never had). Nick was privately relieved by her decision and Victoria delighted, especially since Audra would be leaving soon.
The day Nick returned her to her shop, she was wearing the clothes she had left in but was returning as a changed person. The shop felt somewhat foreign to her. It was also very cold and Nick lit the stove for her. It was his first visit to her tiny kitchen and he found its size astonishing. If it seemed small before, Nick's presence in it made it seem Lilliputian.
While her shop warmed up, they ate dinner at the Cattlemen's Hotel, and afterwards, as they strolled the streets and looked in shop windows, Nick turned to her and proclaimed, "We have to get you an engagement ring!"
"Nick, I don't want a ring," she told him.
"Well, you have to have a ring!" he said in his Nick Barkley Voice of Declaration.
"Why?" Is there a law?" she teased. "Really, Nick, I don't want or need a ring. Just a simple wedding band will do."
He stood and looked at her a moment, then demanded, "Well, what do you want?"
Emily knit her brow and thought about it a moment, then looked up at him and said, "Riding boots."