Chapter Fifty-Eight
It was five days later that Bucky returned home to Bluestone Ranch, riding on Luis’ delivery wagon. Runa stepped outside to see who was arriving when they heard the wagon out front, Iris remaining inside the kitchen to finish preparing dinner.
When Runa saw who it was on the wagon, she grinned and raced down the steps. Bucky practically vaulted off the wagon as Luis began to bring it to a stop, and he caught Runa in his arms as she raced to him. Bucky bowed his head to give her a heated kiss, before drawing away and smiling down at her.
“We’ve missed you.” She said, smiling up at him, before looking to Luis. “Luis, you’re almost just in time for dinner. Please, stay and eat with us.”
“That’s okay, Missus Barnes-Rogers, I’ve got more deliveries to make once we unload the wagon.”
“Are you sure?” Runa asked, “We have plenty, and you’re more than welcome.”
Luis looked torn.
“Come on. It’s the least we can do in return for you going out of your way to drive me out here.” Bucky grinned up at Luis, before looking to Runa. “Is there pie?”
“Cake.”
He looked back to Luis. “There’s cake. You don’t want to miss one of Runa’s cakes.”
Luis grinned. “I’m not going to say no to cake.”
“Thought that might change your mind. Come on; help me get this crate inside while the ladies finish up dinner.”
Dinner was a jovial affair, Steve just as glad to see Bucky as Runa was, and equally eager to show it. As they ate, Luis told the tale of how his cousin Arturo’s uncle’s brother’s cousin’s sister had encountered La Llarona by a river in West Texas. Runa tentatively asked who or what La Llarona was, and soon regretted it as Luis told the tale.
“There was this woman named Maria, right? Most beautiful woman in her town, had a good husband and children, but her husband went and left her for a younger woman. So, to get back at her husband for leaving them, she drowned their children in the river, and then drowned herself afterwards.”
Iris had paled. “That’s awful.”
“Yeah, but then she gets up to Heaven, right? And she’s at the gates of Heaven and Saint Peter asks her where her children are, but she can’t tell him where they are because she doesn’t know where their souls went after she drowned them. So she got sent back, and now she has to wander everywhere looking for her children. If she finds children that look like hers she’ll take them and drown them so they can take the place of her children.”
Even though she knew it was just a story, the hair on the back of Runa’s arms and the back of her neck prickled, and she decided that she wasn’t about to go for walks along the river alone. It was too cold for that anyway, thankfully.
Luis praised the meal, and praised the cake that was served afterwards. When he left, it was with another slice of cake wrapped in a napkin for later. Runa watched him go then turned to go back to the kitchen to do the dishes, but Bucky reached out and caught her hand.
“Iris has it.” He said, “Come on. Steve and I want to talk to you.”
“Oh?” Runa asked as he led her into the sitting room, which looked quite homey with white lace curtains hanging on the windows and the comfortable yet solid furniture they had ordered for it, replacing Steve and Bucky’s chairs with something far more comfortable, Runa’s rocker padded with cushions she had stitched together.
“It’s about why I went away.”
“To look at new stock.” She frowned.
“That… Wasn’t the entire truth.” Steve said, standing by the wooden crate on the floor that had Bucky’s carpetbag tossed carelessly on top of it.
“It wasn’t?”
“I did meet with someone to look over some new blood stock, and I got a good deal on some heifers to add to the herd, but that wasn’t the main reason for the trip.” He reached into his bag, and drew out four small boxes. “See, I noticed we were missing something.” He turned and opened one of the boxes, showing the contents to Runa, who gasped in delight at the beauty that was revealed. A gold ring, but it was far from plain, the metal embossed with a pattern of vines and flowers. There were three matching rings in that style, one a thinner, more delicate band than the other two. The Bucky opened the fourth box and Runa’s eyes widened. She looked up at him, face pale.
“That is far too much.” She said of the finely crafted ring inside, set with a sapphire as blue as her eyes, the stone flanked on either side by a glittering diamond.
“It’s not enough.” Steve said, coming over to get a closer look at the ring, letting out a low whistle. “You picked out a beaut.”
“Told you I would.” Bucky grinned at Steve, before taking the ring, then Runa’s hand, and sliding the ring onto her finger. Steve took the wedding band, and then added that to her finger as well. The two rings complimented each other, the gold and the delicate scrollwork and the glittering gems.
“This is too much.” Runa protested again. “I don’t need rings to remind me that I’m bound to the two of you.”
“No, it isn’t too much, and we know you don’t, but we wanted to get the rings anyway.” Steve assured her.
“You’ve got to let us spoil you a little bit darlin’, just once in a while.”
“You’re always spoiling us. It’s your turn now.” Steve agreed, taking one of the other wedding rings from Bucky, before sliding it onto Bucky’s finger, Bucky sliding the final ring onto Steve’s.
“You two are going to be the end of me.” Runa sighed finally, moving to pull Bucky into a tender kiss, then Steve.
“No, darlin’. This is just the beginning.”
“Our beginning.” Steve agreed, wrapping an arm around Runa, the other around Bucky. “Come on. Let’s head upstairs and celebrate Bucky’s triumphant return.”
“It’s only just after dinner!”
“The ranch can run without us for a few hours.” Steve promised, ushering them towards the door.