Free Mason's Marriage by Tina Leonard

family—there were always more ears stretched out to hear your business.
    “Tell us,” Bandera urged.
    “No.” Mason glowered at him. He was still pretty sore with Bandera for not sharing Mimi’s secret. Mason understood why Bandera hadn’t, but still, a brother ought to be more loyal to his brothers.
    The journal burned at the back of Mason’s mind, and he sighed uneasily. “I do have something, but I’m not ready to share it right now.”
    “Is it…about the ranch?” Fannin asked, newly in from Ireland with his wife, Kelly, and their children. “Everything all right?”
    Beside him, Mimi shifted, looking into the distance.
    “Give us a topic at least,” Calhoun said. “You’re killing us, bro.”
    “Nah. Tonight is for marshmallows.” He stood. “Mimi, could I talk to you for a minute? Alone?”
    “Oh,” the brothers and wives said in unison.
    He could tell that embarrassed Mimi. “If you don’t mind, folks, this particular family business is just between Mimi and me.”
    They all beamed and then tried to look as if they weren’t, which none of them were successful in doing. Mason sighed. Mimi was reluctant to remove Nanette from her lap and follow him, and it didn’t help to have his brothers gibing him.
    Once she’d sent Nanette to sit with Valentine and Annette, Mimi rose to follow Mason. It was a beautiful evening, with twinkling stars as far as the eyes could see. The smell of the campfire teased his nostrils with memories of other marshmallow toasts and campfires, with Mimi always there, part of his life. And maybe a part he’d always ignored and never really understood.
    It was said that sometimes someone had to lose something important before they fully realized its worth. He had been guilty of that, but now was the time to change. Never a man for change—Godknows everyone ribbed him about that—now he wanted it desperately.
    “Mimi,” he said as they strolled toward the moonlit pond. Tex had been fond of planting lilies there; all the brothers had helped build a small swimming dock for the Jefferson children. The pond had been on Mimi’s land, before he’d bought it, and the swimming hole had always been something that they’d shared.
    Until she moved into town, away from him. That should have been his first wake-up call. Or second, or third.
    “Mimi,” he began again, when she didn’t say anything, “I noticed you didn’t answer when I proposed. In fact, it struck me that you seemed more shocked than…receptive.” He took her hand in his and they walked onto the dock. During the day, it was shaded by a giant willow tree. Right now, under this beautiful, romantic willow tree, he intended to make everything right.
    She looked at him, but there was no smile in her eyes. Mason’s heart began thundering with foreboding. “It also hasn’t escaped me that you still haven’t replied to my proposal. It was an honest proposal, Mimi. I want you to know that.”
    She nodded. “I know, Mason. You are always honest.”
    “Not with myself,” he said earnestly. “Mimi, you’ve changed my life by giving me Nanette.”
    Again, she nodded. “And I’ve thought a lot about that.” Taking a deep breath, she said, “Mason, I called Brian today. After your proposal.”
    “Brian?” Mason’s brows furrowed. “What does he have to do with this?”
    “He’s our family lawyer.”
    “Ours, too,” Mason said, his heart beginning to take on a sharp case of heartburn. Nerves, he thought. All men get nerves when their proposal is on the table.
    “I discussed with him what has happened recently,” Mimi said, “that I had told you that you were Nanette’s father. And that you had brought her to your house. Then proposed. In a rather sporadic, haphazard fashion for you, Mason. You’ve always been the most diligent thinker and deliberate decision maker.”
    She looked up at him, her eyes wide and clear. “You never asked me to marry you before. And then you took my child away from