Epilogue
Colton
It’s been just over a year since Ellie came to live with us on the ranch. A little more than three hundred and sixty-five days of breakfasts, of getting to see her smile everyday, of learning each other inside and out.
We’ve spent a good chunk of this year turning the ranch into something real special. We built a bunch of Eco-friendly cabins on the north side of the property, and we did a whole lot of work on the stables to turn them into something fancy enough for Remi and Sweetie to live in. Lord Chamberlain didn’t take too much persuading and ended up letting me purchase Sweetie for a couple thousand dollars.
She’s the perfect ranch horse, the cattle hate to see her coming, but I like to let her have some downtime in the pasture with Remi a few days a week when she’s not working with me.
This past month we hosted the first Cattleman Summer Camp for kids between the ages of eight and sixteen—George and Edmund even came for a couple of weeks. We spent long days out herding cattle, learning to lasso and how to care for the horses. Our nights were filled with roasting s’mores around a campfire as Wyatt strummed away on his guitar. Turns out, it’s fairly easy to tire out forty kids on a ranch, but I have to give credit to George and Edmund for showing me the ropes last summer—they were fantastic apprentices this year.
Before the summer rolled around, Ellie put the cabins to good use by hosting a handful of retreats for budding artists. She was truly in her element, and I would not shut up about how proud I was of her.
We got married in the spring of this year, an April wedding held outside, with views spanning over the hill country.
When she walked towards me, dressed in white, hair pulled back from her beautiful face, I’m not ashamed to admit that I shed more than one tear at that altar.
Meemaw made enough food to feed a small army, platters of smoked meats, salads and ribs—she even made a few of the recipes that Mrs. Shah emailed over.
The dessert table was something to write home about, pies, cakes and breads of every description. It was a small, intimate ceremony, but Sanya and Rory flew over to be in our wedding parties. They’ve visited a few more times since then, and it’s always a pleasure to see them. Rory was a big help in handling the transportation of Remi and Sweetie for us, and he knows he’s welcome to stay with us whenever he’s able. When he visited a few weeks ago, he let us know he’d heard that both Charlotte and Philippa had fallen pregnant at some point over the summer and that Peter fled the country after hearing the happy news.
Ellie has been no contact with her mom since the day she struck her in the face with her riding crop. The blank check Ellie sent in the mail has not been cashed, and she hasn’t made any attempts to retrieve Remi. Ellie mentioned that a month or so before our wedding, she’d received a a string of emails from an unknown address, claiming that Edith was in some kind of therapy and desperately trying to reach out to her.
Ellie stood her ground and has not reached out or responded to any attempts at communication, she tells me she has no plans to in the near future. She seems much happier for it, much lighter, and I make sure she knows I’m here for her if she ever needs to talk through anything.
She still has a video call with her therapist at least once a week, as do I, and we often go out for ice cream afterwards for our debrief .
Wyatt’s been enrolled in online university since he graduated from high school last year. He’s been a real help on the ranch, but he’s kept quite busy with his various classes and lengthy assignments. Christina went off to a local community college and we don’t see all that much of her, but she visits Wyatt occasionally.
He and Ellie are as thick as thieves, she’s gone with him to tour every college he’s visited over the past couple of months, and she helps him through whatever he’s got going on with Christina. Meemaw likes to schedule her time with my wife so that she doesn’t have to share her with us boys. Ellie encourages her far too much and I often overhear them gossiping about the ranch hands when they bake together on the weekends.
We’re currently renovating the house, adding a few extra bedrooms and an annex for Meemaw—who is absolutely loving having all the contractors around every day.
As for me, I work long days here and there, tending to the land and caring for our livestock. We’ve almost doubled the number of cattle on the ranch in the past six months alone. I took on the ranchers from last summer and now they’re with us full time, which allows me to spend more time with the people I love.
I visit the site where we buried my parents several times a week. Ellie will come with me some days, but sometimes I like to be alone so I can tell them all about her, about the ranch and all the projects we’re working on. I tell them about Wyatt and the man he’s growing into, I tell them about Meemaw and how happy she is to have us all here. On the days I come by myself, I always notice the freshly cut flowers sitting in front of their tombstones, the trimmed grass next to their plots.
Ellie has fit into life here on the ranch as if she was born to be here, and as we sit on the wrap around porch, my arm around her shoulders, I feel like the luckiest man alive.
“A truth for a truth?” Ellie whispers, as I gently rock the porch swing back and forth.
It’s a cool night for mid-September, the perfect temperature to sit out and watch the sun set over our land. I take a deep breath, catching the scent of fresh banana bread from the open kitchen window.
“Ask away,” I whisper before pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“What are you thinking about, right now?” She angles her head to look up at me, the colors of the sunset catching in her hair.
“I think,” I say, pulling her closer, “I think that I love you, Mrs. Brooks.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” She smiles, and I wonder if I’ll ever get tired of that sight. “I guess I’m quite fond of you, too, Mr. Brooks.”
“My turn,” I press another kiss to her head, “Tell me, are you happy?” I think I know the answer—she’s told me countless times over the past year, but I love to hear her say the words.
She takes a deep breath, “I’ve never known happiness like this, Colton.” Her voice is quiet, only intended for my ears, “This past year I’ve been living for myself, figuring out my own dreams and building bonds with the people I love—building a life that I love. And I can’t wait to spend the rest of it with you.”
I lower my face to hers, capturing her lips with mine as the sun crests over the horizon.
I’ll never get tired of this, of cherishing every day, every waking moment. We still have our own battles to fight, demons to face. But a problem shared is a problem halved, and we both vowed to help each other through the good and bad—though the good far outweighs the bad these days.
For now, we’ll take this wonderful life one day at a time, and I’ll continue to thank my lucky stars—or was it fate, that led me across the pond and into the arms of my beautiful wife.
My soulmate .
My Ellie.