Jack was driving the speed limit, and this fact was driving Maggie utterly insane. He normally drove like a maniac when he knew he was about to get lucky. But the 90-minute drive had taken a full two hours and Jack had taken a different route. Maggie was getting hornier by the mile, but Jack said he wanted to cruise past the river first. Weird. Something was up.

The sun was just starting to set as they crested the hill on the county road past Brysons’ farm. Maggie’s breath caught at the sight of the purple sky streaked with gold and yellow. It reminded her of the purple dress she’d worn on her would-be wedding day. 

She was about to delve into her sadness over that day, over the trauma of having to see Dottie again, over the fact that soon the sun would be setting on land that didn’t belong to her or to her beloved Jackson Clay…until a little strange flicker of light caught her eye. 

It wasn’t a firefly; it was staying in one place. As they got closer to the farm, there were more little lights, and they appeared to be lining the road itself.

“What are those, Jack?”

“I don’t have any idea,” he said, but Maggie could see and hear the smirk in his voice.

“What are you up to?”

He didn’t answer.

But there was definitely a row of flickering lights all along the road and up the driveway toward the house. As they got even closer, she saw there were dozens of cars parked in the farm field across the highway from the house, and there were strings of white lights between the house and the barn. 

“Jack, it looks like a party is going on. What’s happening?”

“Does it? That’s odd. Everyone knows I don’t much care for parties. I hope they clear out so we can put the animals to bed for the night soon.”

“Jack.”

“What?”

“Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

“Babe, I have even less of a clue than you do about all these woman things.”

“What woman things?”

“I don’t know. I do what I’m told and that’s it.”

“You’re acting super weird.”

“Am I?”

“When you throw the question back at me, it is extremely annoying and also a dead giveaway that you’re hiding something from me. You’re full of beans and you had better spill them, cowboy. Pronto.”

“Oh baby, I like it when you get mad like that.”

She huffed and crossed her arms. She did not like surprises. She would have to make sure he knew that in the future.

They drove up to the first light that had been placed alongside the road, and Maggie could see it was an antique lantern, fitted with an LED light. These little luminaries led all the way up to the house. It finally occurred to her. Mama had sold Jack the farm contingent on letting her use it for her retirement party when she got back from Greece. This must be it.

“Jack, is Mama back in town? Why didn’t anyone tell me? Ugh…I don’t know who to be mad at more. Is Lily coming to the party? Why didn’t we bring her with us?”

But then Jack suddenly stopped the truck, because something was approaching them in the road. 

It was Rolo, and he was by himself.

“What in the world?” she said. 

“Looks like Rolo got out. Come on and help me.” Jack slid out of the truck and beckoned Maggie to hurry up.

“What do you need help with? Just take him on home and I’ll drive the truck.”

“Will you just come on out here, please?” He slammed the door, evidently losing his temper at her hesitating to play along with any man’s shenanigans. But he wasn’t just any man. This was Jack. And this was their home, for now. Her Jack would have gladly agreed to some hanky-panky in an Iowa City hotel room. There was any number of people he could have called to help milk the goats that night. 

“Fine,” she said, huffily exiting the truck. She changed her tone when she got up close to Rolo and petted his dark face. Rolo’s mane had been professionally braided and woven with purple and yellow wildflowers. He had a new, fancy bridle and he’d been meticulously groomed from nose to tail. Jack was digging something out of a white velvet saddlebag.

“Wow, look at you, boy.” She stroked his nose and he huffed lovingly at her. “You look as proud as a peacock. Who dressed you up like this?”

He looked like he was ready to pull a royal wedding carriage. 

Finally, Maggie got a clue. 

A lump formed in her throat. 

She looked back over at Jack. He was down on one knee, holding a little box. 

Maggie burst into tears before Jack spoke.

“Margaret Catherine Jensen, will you marry me?”

She couldn’t speak at all because tears kept getting in the way. All she could do was nod as the tears fell. She covered her mouth to keep her from making any embarrassing sobbing noises.

Up at the house, the light strings and arrays of old glimmering lanterns lit up the path as they rode together on Rolo’s back. The grass had been freshly cut, and there was a small crowd of 

people around, sitting on small straw bales, enjoying cocktails out of mason jars, dressed all in their Sunday best. Which, in Middleburg, meant women in pretty knee-length dresses and men in their darkest jeans and best ties. She then saw a tent off to the side, outfitted with picnic tables decorated with mason jars, wildflowers, rocks and tiny fairy lights. 

Everyone stood and watched as they rode up. Then Maggie saw Judge Diamond in his robe approaching. “Are you ready to do this now?” 

Maggie looked down. “I’m a little underdressed.”

“That’s not going to be a problem.” The voice was one she hadn’t heard in person in over a year. Out from the celebratory crowd appeared the woman responsible for all of this. Jane Blaise, with Lily and three more foster siblings flanking her. Jack got off the horse and lifted Maggie off and set her gently on the ground. 

“Mama?”

She about fell to pieces, but Jane had her in a motherly embrace the next second. 

Maggie took a step back. “Hold up just a minute. We need to talk about something. When you told me I could come and stay here, why in the hell would you leave out a simple but extremely important detail such as, I don’t know, you selling the farm?”

Jane smiled and shook her head. “I was so worried about you, but I knew I had to let you go off with that awful Alex person and make your own mistakes. And then as soon as I hired Jack here, I knew right away he was ten times the man that anybody else you’d ever paid attention to was. I wished for you to come home 

and meet him for the longest time. But you never came home. So when it came time for me to sell the farm and move on, Jack was ready to buy. And then when you called me out of the blue, I thought it must be destiny. I knew if I told you the truth, that the farm didn’t belong to us anymore, you’d never come home and I might lose you forever.”

Maggie glared at her foster mother, but inside she could not make herself feel too angry. After all, Jane had turned out to be a pretty amazing matchmaker.

“I missed you, Mama.”

“Now, now, enough of that. Everyone’s waiting. Let’s go get you dressed.”

Maggie never thought she’d have her mama and sisters surrounding her like this on her wedding day. In moments they had her hair done in an up-do with a braid, curly tendrils framing her glowing face, and purple and yellow flowers like a crown on her head. Her simple purple dress had been transformed. Mama Jane had worked her magic with a sewing machine, taking the dress completely apart and put it back together with yards of silk, adding angel sleeves, a defining bodice, and it was now long enough to make the slightest train, which could be bustled. It looked like something out of a fairy tale. The words she thought of when she looked in the mirror were prairie princess. 

“How did you have time to do all this?” 

Lily laughed. “Oh, you know if anybody can pull together a big bash wedding in a week, it’s Mama.”

“You knew about this?” Maggie still felt confounded.

“Yes, I did, and I drove like a maniac to beat you back here!” Lily laughed.

“Nobody can say no to me,” Mama Jane said.

“That must be where I get it from,” Maggie said, smiling through tears in the mirror at Jane’s reflection.

Then she turned and thanked Jane for everything. 

“Don’t go on and on,” Jane said. “You’ll ruin your makeup.”

Everything was perfect and even better than Maggie had imagined her wedding to be. Somehow Jane had made everything exactly as Maggie would have wanted it if she had planned it herself. The theme was, of course, rural chic. Wildflower arrangements everywhere, table linens pulled together from burlap, cotton and ticking cloth. Lantern and mason jar luminaries everywhere casting a warm glow on the faces of all her foster siblings and their families, homemade wine on all the tables. A cool string quartet playing not Bach but bluegrass. And the most amazing—and uninterrupted, this time—ceremony in which Jack and Maggie exchanged vows without hesitation. They promised to love each other through all things, as they stood under a white arbor bursting with flowers. But Maggie’s hands-down favorite moment of the evening was the surprise animal procession following the quick ceremony. A sweet little donkey and an alpaca, both crowned with flowers, led a mini parade of all the baby goats, ahead of the fiddle players which led them through the crowd as husband and wife. It was a more joyful scene than Maggie had ever experienced in her life, and in her mind she took a snapshot of it, never wanting to forget a single moment.

Jack, who had quick-changed out of his denims into a tailored suit and bow tie, could not have looked more incredibly handsome. And he’d never looked so hot. He immediately led Maggie onto the dance floor, where the string band followed them, playing Garth Brooks, of course, for their first dance. 

Carrie and Scotty—who was now home from Afghanistan—had whipped up a feast of barbecue brisket, local ramps and greens. Ever had supplied about a dozen peanut butter Oreo pies. 

It was like something out of a dream, which took a turn for the bizarre halfway through the wedding dance when a drunk Chet Easley showed up.

The moment was like a record scratch as he approached the happy couple on the dance floor. 

“Come to gloat, Chet? I thought I was supposed to stay 400 feet away from you at all times. What the hell are you doing here?”

“Just came to personally congratulate you and your lovely bride.”

Jack and Maggie exchanged looks. Her look told Jack, don’t you dare start a fistfight at our wedding. His look to her said, don’t worry, honey, I’ll be a good boy.

“Man,” Jack said to Chet. “You got the farm, and you got even more money out of me through Dottie. Congratulations to you. You got me where you want me. You drained me two different ways. You must be very proud of your business acumen. But the one thing you’ll never have is class. You were not invited here tonight, Chet. But I’ll let that go because I’m going to use this opportunity to give you free advice. Money will get you things, but 

you’ll never be happy. You can own every piece of land from here to the Mississippi and fill it with cramped hog lots from here until kingdom come, but you won’t be happy. So that’s one thing I’ve got. I’m happy, and you’re not.”

“And he’s about to get a lot less happy.” That statement came from Jane, who was nearby listening, just as the police pulled up.

“You can’t have me arrested for trespassing on my own soon-to-be property. We’re under contract,” Chet sneered. 

“No, I cannot,” Jack said, “But the police have some questions for you about a little thing known as prescription pill pushing.”

What in the actual hell? Maggie had no clue what was happening now. But she sure was enjoying the show.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Clay?”

“What I’m talking about is you getting ratted out by a junkie who you bribed to ruin our first attempt to get married, in an attempt to smear my name in the courtroom. Why do you think I gave in to sell the farm to you? I had to pay her off to tell me the whole story.”

Maggie’s stomach churned. “Are you talking about Dottie?”

As the police hauled Chet away in handcuffs, Jack explained it all to Maggie. 

“So, as unlikely as it seems, Dottie turned out to do the heroic thing.”

“And,” added Jane, sidling up to the couple, “since his assets are now frozen by the D.A., your farm is no longer available for him to buy. The contract is void. You can keep your money and the farm, Jack. Oh, and one more thing…”

The stunned couple stood in silence and expectation. Maggie did not think she could stand one more surprise. But then, old Mr. Bryson approached, and handed him a piece of paper. 

“My wedding gift to you,” Jane said with a smile. “The deed to the Bryson farm as well.”

“Mama, you don’t have that kind of money. In fact, you currently have no income at all.”

“Oh, have you not met Andreas?”

Maggie shook her head at this sudden, nonsensical distraction. 

But evidently there was a man named Andreas at the reception, who sidled up to Mama Jane and slid his arms around her waist and kissed her temple with a sweetness that took Maggie’s breath away. Mama Jane momentarily looked down shyly and blushed. Mama Jane did not blush for anybody. Her whole demeanor changed. 

“Whoa…” Maggie said, gawking at the silver-haired, olive-skinned demigod canoodling with her mama. “No, I don’t believe we’ve met. Andreas?” She held out her hand.

The strange man broke his gaze momentarily away from Jane, as if he were under a spell. He took Maggie’s offered hand and kissed it. “Many best wishes to the happy two of you,” he said in slightly broken English.

Maggie stood stunned. “Very nice to meet you, Andreas.”

He continued. “Your mother is an amazing woman. I try to keep her with me in Santorini, but she tell me her babies are in trouble.” His brown eyes revealed an intensity and seriousness. Maggie could see why Mama Jane had stayed in Greece longer than intended. She deserved a long, extravagant vacation. And she deserved the love of a shockingly gorgeous man, more than anything. This was no boy toy.

“Don’t let his manners fool you,” Jane said with a wink. “I was flouncing around his beach in a two-piece bathing suit. I was having trouble applying sunscreen on my back, since I was alone, and this smooth talker came along and offered to help me out.”

“It’s true. I was checking on a property and I saw this beautiful sunbather, and I thought, I must meet this woman who has this confident energy. And as soon as she spoke, I knew I must have her in my life.”

“It’s very nice to meet you.” Jack and Andreas shook hands. 

Andreas put his other hand on top of Jack’s hand and said, “You are the goat herder, yes?”

Jack blushed and didn’t bother to clarify that, technically, it was Ranger the dog who herded the goats most of the time. He simply nodded, and Andreas continued. “When I was a boy, I cared for my grandmother’s goats. They were beautiful animals. They gave us the most delicious milk and cheese. My family’s fortune has been in hotels and in shipping. But I have never had a more rewarding job than that of taking care of those wonderful little 

animals. I miss it dearly. So I had to help. Consider it an investment.”

Jack and Maggie exchanged another look. This time, neither of them knew what to say next. 

Jane interjected. “What Andreas is too humble to say is, he has more money than the whole GDP of the state of Iowa. So, here you go. You got your farm back and just doubled it in size. And, he’s got connections to buyers who make cheese, who sell rare breeds. I’m saying, you got yourself a backer, but you’re free to run your farm any way you see fit.”

This was too good to be true. Except it was all totally true. Maggie began to cry again. “Mama, you have spent your whole life sacrificing for us. Now it’s your turn, and I could not be happier for you. I hope I can make you and Andreas proud.”

Jane told her to stop her blubbering. “The only thing you need to do to make me happier is to start making me some grandbabies. That’s the only way I’m even going to get Andreas to come back to Iowa with me, is to visit them. Oh, didn’t I tell you? Andreas and I got married before we came home, and I’m moving to Santorini permanently. Isn’t this a hoot?”

Maggie did not think she could handle more shocks in one night, but there it was. Some people give and give their whole lives away without expectation of a reward, and people say they will get their reward in heaven. A jewel in the heavenly crown and all that. But Jane was still here, and she was receiving her reward now, in this life. Which made much more sense.

* * *

“Shut the door, Maggie.”

He could tell by the look on her face that she got it. What a relief.

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Good lord. I’ve been waiting for a man to say that to me since the first time I saw that movie.” She moved to close the door and her hips swayed in a way that drove him crazy. He approached her from behind and began unbuttoning the back of her dress.

“How old were you?” he asked, pulling his shirt tails loose from his trousers.

“Seventeen,” she said, slowly slipping the dress off her shoulders. The silk tumbled to the floor in an extravagant pile. 

Oh shit, she was wearing lots of extra-fancy underthings that he wished were not there. 

He sucked in his breath. “You like that movie?” He took off his suit jacket and tossed it on the floor, ran his hands through his hair. 

“I liked Paul Newman. You remind me of him,” she replied, turning around and beginning to unbutton his starched white shirt.

“Did your boyfriend take care of you after you watched that movie?” His fly was open and his shirt was off, joining his jacket on the floor. He watched Maggie’s eyes fall to his chest.

“No,” she said, tossing her bra aside and slowly unsnapping her garter belts. “He wouldn’t watch old movies with me, so I dumped his ass.”

“Good, he didn’t deserve you.” Jack dropped his trousers and kicked them to the side. Off came his socks, too.

“Would you like to know what I did after that?” She slipped her stockings to the floor and they flopped on top of his. She was now down to her ridiculously hot lace panties. The sight of her topless in them made him so damn hard. 

“I sure would, Maggie.” He was now down to his boxer briefs, and he could feel her eyes exploring his manhood that was seriously making a tent right now.

She took a step toward him and said, in that low voice of hers. “After the movie was over, I went to my room, that room down there right below us, closed the door, and touched myself.” She peeled off her lace panties and used her toes to toss them on the floor. 

Jack inched closer, making sure she could feel his desire pressing against her. “Did you make yourself come, Maggie?”

Her hard little pink nipples caught the moonlight that shone in from the window. “I did. Now every time I’m with a man, I have to think of that movie in order to come.”

Jack suddenly had her by the waist, his hands gripping her round, soft ass, pressing his cock hard against her flesh. His mouth spoke close to her neck. “I’m about to give you a whole new fixation.”

“You’d better, Jackson Clay.”

“I like the way you say my full name.”

“Jackson Clay.” Jack bowed his head and latched on to one breast with his mouth, careful not to use his teeth. He licked around her nipple, while his hand worked the other breast. She caught her breath and moaned. 

He stepped back and looked at her fully naked body in the moonlight. She took his breath away. He could not keep his hands away from her long enough to get a good look. He simply could not decide what he wanted to do to her first.

“Tell me what you want, Maggie.”

Her face was all desire, and she licked her lips again and knelt down in front of him. “I want to finish undressing you with my teeth.”

It wasn’t physically possible for him to get any harder, but somehow his cock managed to do just that while her face was mere inches—no, millimeters—away from his throbbing organ. She worked steadily, pulling his drawers down with her teeth, his cock springing free in relief. When she reached his knees, she let his briefs hit the floor and he stepped out of them. 

“Stop,” he said. “Stand up.”

“All right, boss. Tell me what to do. I’ll do whatever you say.”

Could she get any more perfect? He doubted it. “On the bed. Lie down on your stomach.”

She did as he asked, and he took out his stash of scented massage oil from the bedside table. Yeah, he liked using that stuff on himself from time to time. He dabbed some of the sandalwood - scented stuff into his hands and rubbed it sensuously all over Maggie’s muscular back. The hard work, in just three weeks or so, had amplified her already-defined physique. 

“Dude, you’d better be using that stuff on my lady bits as well because I’m about to scream if you don’t get inside me within the next 20 seconds.”

“I like the idea of making you scream. But I’ll put it in you anyway.”

Jack spread her legs apart from behind and found her slick center with his oiled-up hand. She was warm and ready. He spread her apart and entered her from behind. She was wet and hot and extremely tight. She clamped around him as he slid in and out. Her juices, combined with the oil, made the most maddeningly hot scent, it was all he could do to not pull out and go down on her with his mouth. 

“Oh shit…hang on…condom,” he blurted out, remembering himself in the heat of the moment.

She sighed and reached a hand back and gripped his buttock. “Leave it in. I want all of you, boss.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Jack continued to work her body into a frenzy. Every gasp and moan that came out of her made him that much closer to exploding. He reached down and gripped her inner thigh, and parted her legs even further, giving him even better access to her core. He reached underneath, and she responded by slightly lifting her stomach off the mattress. Perfect. This way he found her clit and was able to work that sweet little button for her while he thrust in and out. 

His plan worked. They came in unison. Her already-tight pussy clamped down hard with an involuntary flex as her back arched and she cried out his name. At the same time, Jack thrust deeper than before and found the inner erogenous zone at the front of her vagina, and she screamed and came even harder while his cum filled her up. Hearing her scream his name felt like Christmas and New Year’s and every other good thing wrapped up into one.

The next morning, Jack rose early and kissed his fair bride on the temple before slipping out of bed to get her wedding gift ready. He left coffee and biscuits for her on the table and went outside to the driveway and got to work. 

When Maggie rose a couple of hours later, she found him hard at work, installing a new archway over the driveway. It was wrought iron and announced the name of their farm. They hadn’t discussed it, but Jack hoped she would like it.

He heard her squeal with delight and nearly drop her coffee. He hopped down off the ladder and drew her up in a salty morning kiss. “Happy first day of marriage. I hope you like your present.”

Arms around each other, they gazed up at his gift to her. The sign over the driveway now read, “Morning Glory Farms,” and a burned wooden sign underneath the metal arch swayed in the breeze and read, “Arts and Event Center.”

“I thought you could use the porch to give art lessons, and maybe eventually we could build a gallery, and a studio, maybe even a retreat building out of the old stone barn.”

Maggie sighed. “Everyone is trying really hard to make me cry this week,” she laughed. Then she reached up and kissed him. 

“Thank you. I love it. I never knew this was what I wanted it, but I do. This is perfect.”

This was exactly the reaction Jack had been hoping for. She was what he never knew he needed. For the first time in his life, he was happy to surrender to what he both needed and wanted. 

Maggie turned to him and said, “I didn’t buy or make you anything special for our wedding, but I do have a surprise.”

Jack turned to his beautiful bride, and he knew what it was before she said it. 

There was going to be another little Clay to run wild at Morning Glory Farms. Another little goat herder to help keep it going, but most importantly, be a shining light as a result of Jackson and Maggie Clay’s love for each other.