Loving Against the Grain (Into the West #2)

Chapter 22

 

Not quite a half hour later, Noah paused on the back stoop of Edward’s townhouse, gathering his thoughts and emotions before knocking and entering the arms of his growing family. He could hear laughter and the clank of dishes from within, and felt a warm feeling of rightness seep through his entire being. On the other side of the door lay everything that he held dear, made even more so by the fact that he now knew without a doubt that his wife loved him, and only him. It was enough to make a man’s heart burst right in his chest!

Squaring his shoulders with an anticipatory grin creasing his face, Noah raised his fist and rapped smartly on the wood surface before him. Almost immediately the door opened, and there stood Edward, exclaiming with surprise, “Noah, old man! You made it!” But a high-pitched squeal drowned him out as Callie, who’d been stationed at the stove, turned and raced toward him, pushing her host out of the way and throwing her arms around the wrangler.

“Noah! It’s you! At last! After all these years…at last!” Her head only came up to his chin, but her grip was strong as she wrapped her arms around his slim waist, bursting into noisy tears while she held tight to the boy who’d left her home ten years ago, disregarding the fact he’d grown into a man during his absence. The rest of the room looked on, all eyes, even the masculine ones, turning damp at the tearful reunion occurring before them. Both at a crossroads when they’d met, the pair had leaned on each other for longer than they’d like to admit, and the bond had never weakened. Not even distance or heartache could sever the connection Callie and Noah had forged during that one Texas summer, long ago, when tragedy had struck their little town.

Even now, Noah’s long arms stole lovingly about the woman crying in his embrace, pulling her tightly into his body, protectively, while his eyes met Emmaline’s as she sat at the kitchen table, Rebecca cradled in her arms, asleep. She smiled tentatively into his gaze, though it faltered slightly at the sudden heat blazing from her husband’s eyes, a heat that had nothing to do with this family reunion, and everything to do with the passion between a husband and a wife. Emmie squirmed on her chair under Noah’s hot regard, a faint blush stealing over her features as she hurriedly glanced down at the top of her baby’s head, confused from the blatant desire she’d seen in her husband’s face.

 What had caused this behavior of his? Why did he look like he wanted to grab her up and throw her on the nearest bed and cover her with his body? And why were her senses already tingling in anticipation? They were in the middle of a family reunion! But still sensual warmth continued its creeping path through her body, pooling heatedly within her core till Emmie glanced longingly at the closed window, willing it to open and cool her fervid skin.

At last Noah broke that passionate connection between himself and Emmaline, dropping his hot eyes and instead gently setting a weeping Callie at arms’ length, bending his head slightly to look into her tear-streaked face and say, “We just got done with the spring floods, darlin’. Don’t start ‘em up again!”

His attempt at humor only brought more tears at the sound of his deep, masculine voice, and Noah resignedly pulled Callie back into his arms on a laugh, while the rest of the room laughed with him. Sonny McQuade stepped over to the wrangler at that moment, and, eschewing the more standard masculine handshake as greeting, he, too, wrapped his arms around the couple, reminding them again that the ties of selfless love bound people together even stronger than the bonds of blood.

Sonny was the first to step back, gently pulling his emotional wife out of Noah’s arms while mildly drawling to the room in general, “Guess we need to see each other more often, lessin’ you want to live like your namesake and build an ark for all these tears.” His comment brought more laughter, allowing Callie a moment to pull herself together and wipe her eyes with a lace hankie she drew from her cuff. When Noah met her eyes with his own gentle ones, hers threatened to overflow once more, but she battled the reaction to say without preamble, “You look good, Noah. You look happy. I think we have this lady and baby here to thank for that.”