Free Country Bride (Country Brides) by Ava Catori

Things might not work out in the end, even knowing there’d be heartache involved. She wasn’t sure this was the life for her – not here.
    Going into town, she went into the post office and picked up her mail while talking to Sadie. She said that jobs rarely open up around here, because so many folks rely on them for their livelihood. She would probably have to go over into Lawrence. She suspected so much, and wasn’t feeling excited about the prospect. She’d have to find a place there too, which would make driving in the winter rough to see Ty. She wanted things to fall into place, but life didn’t work that way. She’d have to bend and make the pieces fit, and she wasn’t sure she had the energy to work it all out. It felt like so much, starting over yet again, and going home to what she knew was looking better every day.
    Kristin picked up a few things, and then headed back home, only she didn’t get far. Just leaving the main road, she got a flat tire. This was the last thing she felt like dealing with. She’d either have to walk back into town, try to drive on it, which could ruin her rim, or change it herself.
    Getting out of the truck, she walked around looking at the tire. Shaking her head, she bent under the back of the truck, finding the spare , and then sat on the bumper and cried. It was all too much. Her father had taught her how to change a tire when she first learned to drive, but she hadn’t actually done it since then.
    With a deep breath, she looked under the tru ck again, and worked to get the tire out. It was heavy, and as she struggled, she spit out her frustration, yanking at it, finally getting it to fall on the ground. She dug around to find the jack, reaching up into the space.
    P ulling the tire out from under the edge of the truck took all of her strength. Sitting down on the tire, she put her head in her hands, frustrated and worn.
    She heard the truck, and looking up she saw Ty parking. “What happened, flat tire?”
    Standing, she cried. “I hate this place, I hate having to live this way, and I can’t do it anymore.” She couldn’t stop the flood of feelings. “There’s no work, where will I live, what will I do. I only have enough to get by until the summer, and then I was supposed to go home. What am I supposed to do? I fell in love with you, and my entire world changed. You made things better, I felt alive again…but I can’t live here. I can’t do this. I don’t belong out here.”
    Ty pulled her close, letting the waterfall of tears and emotions spill out. “Shh, it’s going to be okay.”
    Kristin sobbed into his chest, hating that she cracked like this, and that he had to see it.
    “If you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to stay,” he said sadly, his heart breaking. “I want nothing more than for you to stay here forever, to be my wife, to have my children, but if you wouldn’t be happy living here, I wouldn’t ask that of you.”
    “Your wife?” She looked up, rubbing her eyes, looking at him.
    He nodded, “I was going to ask you on Valentine’s Day, do something romantic, but I might as well put that out there. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. But I feel almost silly asking you now, knowing you want to leave.”
    “Children?”
    “I was hoping for three or four kids, a simple home life, and a wife that I could love forever. We could get married in the spring, and you could move into my place.”
    “But…what would I do? I don’t know where to find work.”
    “You could work with me at the office until we have children. You’d be a great mother,” he said, wiping away her tears.
    “A baby?” Her voice was soft, her blue eyes never leaving Ty’s face.
    “What do you say? Would you consider becoming my wife, having my children, and making me a happy man? If you don’t think you’d be happy here, and need to leave, then I’ll have to make peace with that, but I sure wish you’d give us a chance. And I’m sorry about