Free Mistletoe Mayhem: Clean Historical Western Cowboy Romance Novel (Dawson Chronicles Book 1) by Linda Bridey

started training horses while he was gone and I wasn’t going to stop just because he’d come back.  I was determined to live my own life and he could live his. 
    “He kept trying to apologize and make it up me, but I didn’t believe that he’d ever change from the selfish, womanizing, gambler and be someone I could count on.  I wasn’t trying to force him to change.  I just loved him so much that I’d hoped that he’d want our marriage to be a real one, not in name only.”
                  “How did you make up?” Devon asked, the idea of her parents splitting up bringing tears to her eyes.
                  “Well, you know your father.  He doesn’t give up easily.  Look at how strong-minded he was about getting electricity.  He was determined to win me back—to show me that he meant it when he said he loved me.  Remember me telling you about Polly?”
                  “Yeah.  She was your first horse.”
                  “That’s right.  When I first moved here, I missed her so much.  Joe went back to Walhalla, my home town, and bought her from my father.  He never told Amos who he was, though, because he never wanted him to track me down here,” Lacey said.
                  Devon said, “Too bad he hadn’t come here so Daddy could shoot him for being abusive to you.”
                  Lacey laughed.  “He would have, but then he’d have gone to jail.  While he was in Amos’ house, Joe asked to use the washroom.  He snuck into my room and grabbed things that he thought I’d like to have.  He told me he’d have brought more, but there was only so much he could hide in his pants.”
                  Devon laughed with Lacey over that.  “I can just see Daddy shoving jewelry and stuff down his pants.”
                  Lacey grinned.  “When he came back, he hid Polly in the barn and slipped a note under my bedroom door.  It said that there was someone in the barn to see me.  I couldn’t imagine what he was up to, but I was too curious not to go find out.  I couldn’t believe that she was here.  He knew that other than Jamie and Sammi, Polly was my best friend. 
    “It amazed me that he’d traveled all the way to North Dakota to get her for me.  He wrote me the most wonderful letter, telling me how sorry he was and how much he loved me.  He said that if I’d just give him another chance I’d never regret it, and I never have.  I’m a very lucky woman.”
    “And I am a very lucky man,” Joe said, startling them as he came out onto the veranda.  “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard your story and, well, ok, so I was eavesdropping.  You caught me.”
    He had Devon scoot over and then sat down by her, putting an arm around her.  “You see, your mama is a very special woman.  She’s the most beautiful woman I know, she makes me laugh, and she doesn’t let me get away with anything, which I need.  She’s got the biggest heart and she’s got a lot of patience to have been able to put up with me all of these years.”
    “I’m so sorry about your baby,” Devon said.
    Joe blew out a breath.  “Me, too.  But, I guess God had a reason for it.  Maybe to make me wake up and grow up.  Whether or not that was His reason, it did both.  I’d lost a baby, but I wasn’t gonna lose the woman I loved without a fight.  So I dug in my heels and worked hard to make up all the ground I’d lost with her.
    “I’m glad that I’m so stubborn because now we’re happy as clams with all of you kids and our family.  And you’re right: I wasn’t gonna stop until I got us electricity.  We might only have three electric lights in the house, but that’s more than we had before.  And now we have a telephone, too!”
    Lacey and Devon looked at each other and laughed.
    “See?” Lacey said.  “He’s got a one-track mind when he gets an idea in his head.”
    Joe grinned.