"I bet the Dutch are counting on it. And orders for wooden shoes, too. And the French for French bread, and..."
"Okay, already," Barbara laughed as they walked on with the filly. "I've some plans for rebuilding, too."
"Like..."
"Like letting my friends Leila and George buy me out of my airport, cheap. I'm sure they'd love to keep it for themselves, now they've worked so hard at it while I've been away."
"Then what will you do?"
"Raise little Becky's."
"Raise horses? Sounds like a good idea. You love horses, and so do I. But we couldn't buy a ranch on what I have in the bank from a teacher's salary."
"Didn't I tell you, I'm rich?" Barbara asked, casually.
Stephen didn't look or sound all that surprised or impressed. "Swell. Then we won't have to worry about money."
"You wouldn't mind, that we could buy a ranch with my money? It wouldn't bother your male ego?"
Stephen's eyebrows raised in mock astonishment. "Do I have a male ego? I haven't noticed."
She was sure he had one, but kept it wonderfully under control. He was secure enough not to throw his masculinity around, like a huge heavy black medicine ball in a gym workout.
"Money's never been very important to me," Stephen said lightly. "Doing what you love and believe in, is."
Gail would have loved you, and so would Paul, Barbara thought.
"But if you didn't think I was marrying you for your gold," Stephen said, "it wouldn't bother me if you paid for the mortgage on a horse farm. I'd pay it for us, if I had it. Where'd you have in mind?"
Barbara didn't have to think about that. "Wyoming, around the Grand Tetons. That would be the place. Ferrying planes, I flew over them half a dozen times and fell in love with the mountains and valleys around Jackson Hole."
"I'd love that. Great horse country and fantastic scenery.
I could help you with the horses, and maybe find a school nearby to teach in. Tim could go there, too."
Oh, my God, but I love this man!, Barbara thought.
"Would you mind if my friend Edna came to live with us? She's been like a second mother to me. Actually, like a third."
That surprised him. "How many mothers have you had?"
"You've heard of forefathers? I've had three mothers.
Another part of my dark past I might tell you about some day."