Chapter 7

Amber begins to tell me about her life before we met, and how she had been hurt in the past. Her eyes searched mine for understanding as she spoke, and I could feel her vulnerability in every word. She had been married once, she says, but her ex-husband was a different kind of person back then. He had changed over the years, becoming someone, she didn’t recognize anymore. Her voice was soft, but there was an underlying strength in her tone that suggested she had faced her share of hardships and come out the other side.

Her heart had been through a gauntlet of emotions, she says, and now all she wanted was someone who could appreciate her for the person she had become. Someone who would cherish her quirks, laugh at her jokes, and hold her tight when the world got too much to handle. She didn’t need a knight in shining armor; she needed a partner, a best friend, someone who could share in the mundane and the magical moments of life.

When she hears about my plans to buy cattle, sheep, and pigs for a farm, her eyes light up with intrigue. She’d always been a city girl, but there was something about the idea of rolling fields and fresh produce that tickled her fancy. “You’re going to be a real farmer, then?” she asks with a playful smile. “I’ve never met a man who can handle a plow and still look good in a pair of jeans.”