Rough and Rugged: A Meet Me In Milwaukee Charity Anthology

Epilogue

Tina Marie

TEN YEARS LATER

“Tina Marie!” Braden comes storming into the kitchen, all fired up about something. He spares a smile and a kiss for the girls who are doing their homework around the table, then heads straight for me.

“What?” I snap. I have a chicken that doesn’t want to cook and children who would rather play than do their homework. I do not have time to deal with whatever’s crawled up his ass.

“Why is Buck eating one of my pies?”

Buck has been our foreman for ten years, joining the farm after Braden and I tied the knot. Once we got married, Braden became part owner and had other responsibilities, so it made sense to hire a foreperson to replace him.

There were other changes, too. Mama left before I even had the chance to kick her out. She was always a smart woman, and knew she’d lost. I guess my brief outburst that day clued her in on which way the wind was blowing—and it definitely was not in her favor.

I finish basting the chicken and slide it back into the oven before turning to handle my caveman of a husband. With three daughters under the age of ten, a son in his last year of high school, and a whole farm to run, I’m a very busy woman, and Braden’s jealousy will have to take a backseat today.

“Because it’s his birthday. And I made him a cherry pie, not strawberry rhubarb. You don’t own all the pie flavors in the world, Braden McClain.” I emphasize my point with a poke into his hard chest. My man has only gotten better and more solid with age.

“All your pies belong to me… especially cherry.”

“Mama, why does daddy want your cherry pies? He hates cherries.” my precious daughter, Charlie, asks. She’s the second oldest and the most vocal out of them all.

“I love your mama’s,” Braden murmurs so that only I hear. After ten years together, I don’t have any cherries left.

“Because he’s a silly, silly man who likes to pester your mama with his nonsense. Now the three of you hurry up and finish your homework. When you’re done, Colton will take you out riding until dinner is ready.”

“But Daddy said I couldn’t go riding with Colton.” That was from Georgie, the oldest and boldest of the trio.

“Your daddy tends to overreact.”

Braden bristles at my comment, tapping my shoulder to get my attention again. “I don’t overreact. And what did I tell you about overruling me?”

Ignoring him, I address the girls again. “Take your things and go into the living room. Colton will be here in fifteen minutes.”

They leave in a whirl of laughter, brunette ponytails swinging in the air.

Now alone, I take the opportunity to take their daddy down a couple of notches. “You are being ridiculous, and you know it. First of all, you do hate cherries… and any special ones I had were given to you years ago. Secondly, Colton is your best friend and the girl’s surrogate uncle. He’s only in town for a few more days and hardly gets to spend time with them as it is. So what if Georgie said he was cute? She’s nine. She thinks frogs are cute. It’s not like they’re going to run away together.”

“You never know. I mean, when she turns eighteen, all bets are off then.” Stubborn to the core and adorable, that’s what this man is.

“Aww baby,” I coo, wrapping my arms around his broad chest. “What are you so worried about? Afraid she’ll end up like her mama?”

“Yes… yes, I am. What if all of them end up like you? Nineteen years old chasing men old enough to be their fathers?”

“Again, your math is off. And would it be so bad? We turned out all right… wouldn’t you say?”

Finally, he flashes a smile. The one that stopped me dead in my tracks all those years ago. The one that made me fall in love.

“Oh angel, we turned out better than all right. We turned out perfect.”