The Cowboy's Love

{Prologue}

{Prologue}

“Gram, I don’t need a husband. I’ve told you this before” Aubrey Cutshall said softly as she placed a bowl of soup in front of her bed-ridden grandmother.

“A woman ain’t whole until she’s gotta husband” Gram mumbled.

“It’s just that there’s no man I know that I can really fall in love with. All of the men I know are uptight, brooding men who don’t as much as give me a sideways glance. There’s… just not a good man left in the world, Gram. None like Pawpaw” Aubrey sat on the bed beside Gram and rubbed her wrinkled arm.

“I’m not talking about here in Lovelace. You’ve gotta get out and see the world, Aubbie. You can’t stay here in Tennessee and see the same old trees day after day,” Gram told her. “Of course, I’m not saying you’ll find one exactly like your Pawpaw, but surely there’s one nearly like him out there.”

Aubrey sighed. “I’m afraid I’d come running right back home if I left. I love it here too much” Aubrey brushed her grandmother’s hair off her forehead. “You get some of that good soup Robin made in you and get some rest, okay? I’ll be back up to check on you in a little while.”

She walked out of her grandmother’s room in the upstairs of her two-story home and walked down the hall to her father’s office.

“Hey, Daddy” she smiled as she entered the room.

“Hey honey bunch” her father smiled but didn’t look up from his paperwork.

Aubrey sighed and sat across from him. “Gram said that I should get out and see the world, what do you think about that?”

“That’s nice, honey” Daddy muttered.

“By the way, I saw in the newspaper this morning that Spain is invading Virginia and planning on taking over all of America” Aubrey leaned back in her chair and smiled.

“Really? That’s nice, dear,” Daddy wrote another number in his ledger book.

Aubrey shook her head and stood, leaving him to his work. Running the town’s mercantile wasn’t as easy as giving groceries and collecting money. Humming to herself, she walked downstairs to where her two little twin brothers, Jake and Jordan, were playing in the hallway. They had little toy horses and were racing them down the hallway, trying to beat the other. Aubrey stepped over the galloping tin horses.

“Ya’ll be careful, okay? Momma’ll be fit to be tied if she finds you little fellows broke something.” She tousled Jake’s dark brown hair and went on downstairs.

“Aubrey! Aubrey!” 17 year-old Bridgette came rushing up to her. “He’s here! He’s here! Do I look okay? I look like a rat, don’t I?”

Aubrey knew that Bridgette was referring to the young Colton Strasse, a young man who had been courting her for the past few weeks.

“No, you look lovely” Aubrey smoothed her sister’s dark brown hair - a trait that all Cutshalls had inherited - and smiled. “Want me to stall him while you go look for yourself?”

Bridgette nodded and hugged her quickly. “Thank you so much. I’ll repay you for this!”

Aubrey shooed her upstairs and a knock sounded on the door.

“I got it!” she hollered upstairs before every member of the household ran downstairs, causing a stampede.

She opened the door. “Hi, Colton. Bridgette will be down in a moment. She’s upstairs.”

Colton was a kind hearted, muscle-bound man who hauled freight for a living. Aubrey had wished for more for her sister, but Colton was as good of a man as there was in these parts.

“I’ll wait for her out here, then” Colton smiled.

Aubrey knew that Colton felt uncomfortable in her family’s nicely furnished home, the product of generations of the family mercantile business. She stepped outside onto the long, wide porch and motioned to a wicker rocker. “Have a seat?”

Colton nodded and sat down. She took a seat beside him. “It’s a pretty day, isn’t it?”

Colton nodded again. He was a man of few words.

“Look, buster. I wanna know your intentions toward my sister,” Aubrey blurted. The only way to get the man to talk about anything was to make it sound urgent.

Colton looked at her, shocked. “My intentions are nothin’ but honorable, I assure you, ma’am.”

Aubrey nodded. “See that you keep them that way. Bridgette is a special girl. She’s kind considerate, charming…”

“Funny, smart, beautiful, and worth so much more than I can give to her. I don’t blame you for having suspicions” Colton finished for her.

Aubrey was satisfied. “There’s a fine line between suspicions and cautions. There comes the young lady now” Aubrey stood as Bridgette came onto the porch.

Her sister gave her a curious glance before directing her attentions toward her beau. Aubrey looked back and forth between the lovebirds with an affectionate smile before going inside.

“Is that Colton?” Momma asked as she neared the front window.

“Yes’m” Aubrey answered, smiling when Momma peeked out of the window at the couple.

“When’s he gonna ask her to marry him?” Momma huffed.

“Momma, they’ve only been courtin’ for a few weeks. He’s a shy man, but he’ll come around in due time” Aubrey assured her, wrapping an arm around her mother’s shoulder and watching the couple ride away.

“He’d better make it soon. I don’t wanna die knowing that I have a single daughter alone in the world. You remember that” Momma stuck a finger under her nose.

“Yes, ma’am” Aubrey drawled out. “Where’s Pawpaw?”

“He’s in the library playin’ checkers with himself again” Momma answered her.

“Suppose he’ll need company” Aubrey sighed and walked down the narrow hall to the library.

Her grandfather was right where she expected him to be, sitting in front of the window, leaning onto his elbows and staring at the checkerboard in front of him.

“Want some real competition?” she said in an arrogant voice.

He looked up and smiled. “You know I can beat you any old day.”

“Wanna prove it?” Aubrey narrowed her eyes at him.

“Hope you got some feathers, ’cuz I’m gonna beat the tar outta you” Pawpaw smiled and cleared the checkerboard.

“Harsh words coming from an old man” Aubrey teased.

Pawpaw motioned to the seat across from him and Aubrey sat down. She thanked God every morning for each of her family members, and knew that if she had a choice, she would still pick the same seven people.