Honeymoon With the Rancher

“Stay with me.”

“At the Vista del Cielo?”

“It is a lot to ask, I know. It doesn’t have to be there…”

“But you love it there, Tomas. It is where you belong.” She looked into his eyes, feeling love run through every pore. It didn’t matter that they’d known each other such a short time. They knew each other better than many did in a lifetime. “It is where I belong, too, if you are there.”

“I want you to make your own choice, Sophia. I love you, and it is not conditional. Nothing you can do or say will make me take it away. I need you to understand that.”

She nodded. “And you need to understand that this is me, making my own choice. I believe in you, Tomas. I found myself in your heart.” She put her hand on his chest, feeling the solid beat beneath her fingers. “As long as I am there, nothing else matters.”

“They will say we’re crazy…”

“It doesn’t matter what anyone says.”

Tomas linked his fingers with hers, and her heart was full when he knelt on one knee before her.

And it overflowed when he bowed his head and pressed his forehead to her hand for just a moment.

But when he looked up, it was with determination and love and hope in his eyes. “Marry me, Sophia. Marry me and I will spend the rest of my days making you happy.”

The falls roared, birds called and monkeys chattered in the trees, but Sophia heard nothing but the thunderous beat of her own heart as she flung herself into his arms.

“Yes,” she whispered, feeling the world tilt, shift and settle exactly where it was meant to be. “A million times, yes.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE dancing had already started when Tomas tugged on Sophia’s hand, drawing her into a shadowed corner of the patio. Beyond them, over the hill, the ombu tree stood guard, and all around them the air was colored by the sounds of friends and family, enjoying themselves at the celebration.

“Tomas,” Sophia insisted with a laugh, “we’re ignoring our guests.” But the protest was weak and in fun; she had been longing to be alone with him for many long and tedious minutes.

“I am only trying to sneak a private moment with my wife,” he persisted, and her resistance melted when he touched his lips to her neck.

“I can’t think when you do that.”

“Thinking is not required.”

That made her laugh. “You’re teasing me.”

With a groan, he let her go. “Only half. The other half is completely serious, querida.”

The day had been utterly perfect. It had seemed to take forever to arrive, though. They had spent the week after the trip to Iguazú in Argentina. First they had gone to Vista del Cielo to tell Maria and Carlos the news and ask if they could have the wedding at the estancia. That had been important to both of them, but Tomas especially felt he needed their blessing. Rosa had been their cherished girl. Without saying the words, they knew that the estancia had been refurbished in her memory. Maria had wept a little, but in happiness, because she and Sophia wanted the same thing—Tomas’s happiness. Sophia had been overwhelmed at their generosity, and after talking it over, they decided they would stay with Maria and Carlos while their own house was being built close to the creek. The guest ranch was about to turn the page to a new chapter and become a real family business.

Then there had been the trip to Ottawa, making arrangements to move or give away Sophia’s things and explaining the latest developments to her mother, Margaret. That meeting had been the most difficult, as Sophia had been honest with her mother for the first time. There had been tears and recriminations on both sides, but now things were beginning to heal. In the end Margaret had insisted that if Sophia were happy, that was all that mattered. Sophia had even convinced her mother to attend today.

Tomas had done some fence-mending of his own, reconciling with his parents. Today they’d taken Argentine tradition and given it a twist as Sophia had proceeded up the aisle escorted by Tomas’s father and Tomas had walked with Margaret.

Now the revelry was well in hand as a band played in the backyard and a massive asado fed the crowd that had come to celebrate.

“It has been the most beautiful day,” Sophia murmured. Tomas’s hand slid over her shoulder and down her arm, the contact soft and intimate.

“And you were a most beautiful bride,” he replied. “Too beautiful to resist, I think.”

He moved in for another kiss but the unstoppable Maria came around the corner and spied them cozying up in the shadows.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said, shaking a finger at them. “You haven’t even danced yet. And there is the cutting of the cake.”