"Goodnight, Spencer," Cara said softly as she carried the candle out of the boy's room.
"Goodnight, Mama," he answered sleepily.
Cara stopped in her tracks. "I'm not your mother, sweetheart," she reminded him. It hurt her to have to say it, the memory of his dead mother still fresh for all of them even after these last few years.
Spencer shifted in bed to face her. "You're my mama now," he countered.
"I'm nobody's mother. You'll call me Aunt Cara. And now you'll go to sleep."
With that, she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. She paused by the door. She took a deep breath in and blew it out and gave herself a little shake.
She turned to head to her own bedroom for a moment of peace, but she was blocked by a mighty figure in her path. Cara gasped slightly in surprise.
"I'm sorry," came Jacob's rumbling voice.
"You startled me," she murmured, placing a hand on his chest to steady herself.
"Not about that. I'm sorry for…"
When he trailed off, it took her a moment to realize what he was saying. She looked up at her husband to see his face clouded by shadows from the flickering candle she held. "You heard me talking to Spencer." It wasn't a question.
Jacob nodded.
"Never any need to be sorry for the truth," she told him.
"I can be sorry it is the truth. I can be sorry I couldn't give you a child. I couldn't make you a mother like you deserve to be," he said.
Cara shook her head. "None of that. If I let either one of us be sorry that I couldn't give you children—now you stop pretending like it's the other way around," she insisted holding up her hand when he tried to protest. "If I let us despair about that, I'd never stop despairing. And there's work to be done."
If she believed that her words would put the subject to bed as neatly as tucking in their nephews, Cara was sorely mistaken. Jacob pulled her into his arms and held her close. She had to hold her arm out to avoid hitting him with the candle. He didn't seem to mind.
She sighed, "You mustn't be gettin' sentimental on me now. What sort of a cowboy do you call yourself?"
"One who loves his wife," he answered without a moment of hesitation.
Cara pulled back from him. "Don't I know it. Now go make sure the windows are all latched downstairs and come to bed."
Jacob frowned. "You just put the boys to bed."
"And if you'd get to latching the windows, this cowboy's wife will show you how much she loves you," Cara said with a little smirk.
His eyes went wide in understanding and a crooked sort of grin crept up on his face. He hurried past her in the hall to do his chore. She goosed his behind for good measure and he gave a small yelp in surprise.
"Shh! You'll wake the boys!" she hissed to scold him.
He turned around with an expression that said more than words. Cara just giggled and hurried down the hall to their room to get herself ready for him.