Epilogue
One Week Later
“Right, there we go.” Travis waited until the last cow had entered the field and closed the gate. “That’s all of them. And they’re looking well.”
“Yes, they are,” Anna remarked, stepping on the bottom slat of the fence to look at the cattle they’d just acquired. “And they’re just right for what we needed. I can see our profits building quickly.”
“And those that were injured in the fire are recovering nicely, so it’s good to see things are getting back to normal.” Travis put an arm around her waist. “They’re not the only ones recovering. You’re looking happier than I’ve seen you in a long time.”
Anna smiled, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
“I guess things have finally come together. Having Edwin gone certainly helps.”
It had been a week since Edwin had been arrested and charged with various crimes. There was still a trial to go through, but he wouldn’t be coming back.
Which was fine by Travis. Anna was safer with her cousin locked away for the rest of his life.
He felt as if his life was finally beginning to settle, that things around him were clearer than they had been before.
It made him feel settled for the first time in a long time.
Now he had his own family. Granted, it was just the two of them right now, but he could see that changing.
Travis was sure they could start one of their own.
He hadn’t talked to Anna about it, but he could see her being a mother to several dark-haired children.
And she would be a good mother; she was good at practically everything.
“What’s on your mind?” Anna asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes as she looked down at him. “You look lost in thought.”
“I’m just thinking about how happy I am right now.” Travis tugged her down and kissed her. “I didn’t think it was possible to be this happy.”
“You had it with someone before, remember?” Anna reminded him.
He shuddered.
“That was a passing fancy. Nothing I felt for her can compare to what I feel for you, Anna.”
His wife rolled her eyes and laughed, slapping his chest as he stepped away.
“You’ve gotten soft-hearted since we’ve opened up to each other, haven’t you?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Travis asked, laughter in his voice.
“Just don’t go too far. I don’t want this marriage to turn into something sappy that makes me uncomfortable.”
Travis laughed.
“That’s not going to happen. But you asked me what I was thinking about.”
“All right, fair enough.” Anna put her Stetson on and looked up at the sky. “We should head back. We’ve still got plenty to do.”
Travis took her hand, smiling broadly as she beamed at him, pressing a kiss to his lips.
Then they headed back to the house. There was still quite a lot to do, including finishing the rebuilding of the barn that had been burned down, getting the horses settled, and clearing out the stables.
Not to mention, they had a couple of potential sales on the horses today.
It was going to be busy, and they couldn’t sit around doing nothing.
That could wait until later.
Travis looked around him, seeing the trees high above him and listening to the gentle breeze whistling through the leaves and branches.
This was not what he expected when he started living and working on a ranch, but it was starting to feel like a dream come true.
He couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
His job as a lumberjack was in the distant past.
Travis could sit out on the porch and watch the sun go down, knowing that this was his life. An evening spent with his wife.
That still felt really good to say that. Calling Anna his wife.
They were almost at the house when Anna stopped, putting a hand over her mouth as she stifled a giggle. Travis frowned.
“What’s the matter with you?”
Biting her lip, Anna pointed. Travis followed her finger and caught sight of Emily and Connor. Emily was leaning against the back wall of the barn, and they were kissing. Travis stared. He had seen the pair interacting a lot more over the last week, but he didn’t think it would come to this.
Anna put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. Connor jumped away from Emily, who looked dazed, leaning against the wall to stop herself from falling.
“Are you coming, Emily?” Anna shouted. “Did you have any problems?”
“I…” Clearing her throat, Emily dusted herself down. “None at all. We had no problems getting them here.”
“Them?” Travis was confused. He felt like he’d missed a lot of the conversation. “What are you up to?”
“I’ll go and let you know we’re coming back,” Emily said quickly, grabbing Connor’s hand. “Come on, Connor!”
Then they hurried off, Connor giving Travis a lopsided smile before disappearing. Travis turned to Anna.
“What’s going on? Why do I feel like I’ve missed something?”
“Well…” Anna took his hands. “It’s your birthday in a couple of days, and I didn’t know what to get you. Believe it or not, I’m not very good at gift-giving.”
“You don’t need to get me anything…”
“I wanted to do something.” Giving him a nervous smile, she tugged her toward the house. “Come on. This way.”
Travis was intrigued, but also nervous. Whatever it was, he was going to be gracious. It was a sweet thing for her to do for him.
“You know, when I answered your advert, I was taking a gamble. But now I can see it was a good thing.”
“And you plan on staying forever?” Anna teased, giving him a sly smile.
Travis laughed. “That’s a given. I’m not going anywhere.”
“That’s good.” She squeezed her hand. “I wouldn’t want you to go, anyway. Things would feel empty and cold without you, Travis.”
“I hope you remember that when we’re older, and we’ve gotten fed up with each other.”
Anna laughed. It was nice to hear her laugh and to see her so relaxed. Travis loved hearing it. He would happily listen to her all day without getting bored. She was so happy, and he liked to think he was part of the reason.
He would endeavor to do what he could to make her happy every day.
As they neared the house, Travis caught sight of the people sitting outside, gathering around a large table. Mrs. Mason was serving, and Emily and Connor were there, but the rest made Travis slow down. He thought he was seeing things.
This wasn’t possible.
“Travis!” Peggy stood up and hurried over, flinging her arms around his neck as she hugged him. “It’s so good to see you again.”
“Peggy!” Stunned, Travis managed to return the hug before releasing her. “What’s going on? How did you get here?”
“You have your wife to thank for that.” Marcus was approaching them, his smile warm and ready. “She wrote to Peggy asking us to surprise you for your birthday, and when Peggy told us about it, we were more than happy to come here.”
Travis looked across at the other guests. Colin and Eleanor Tremaine were there, waving at him with beaming smiles, Marcus’s wife and Peggy’s husband, and their children were playing on the grass nearby. It looked like a family reunion.
He felt tears pricking at the back of his eyes, and he blinked hard to push them back. No one had ever done this for him. He looked at Anna, who squeezed her arm.
“Many happy returns, darling,” she said, her voice full of warmth.
Travis slipped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, burying his face in her neck. It was getting harder to stop himself from crying.
“Travis?” She rubbed her back. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He lifted his head and kissed her. “Thank you. For everything. I appreciate it so much. You didn’t have to do this for me.”
“But I did.” She cupped his face in her hands, smiling up at him. “You’ve done so much for me since you’ve come here, and I never truly showed my gratitude. This time, I want to do something for you. This is what I came up with. I thought you’d want to see the people you call your family again.”
Travis was trying very hard to hold back the tears, but it wasn’t easy. Anna wiped away a tear with her thumb and kissed him. Then Peggy was leading her away, tugging her over to the children. Marcus clamped an arm around Travis’s shoulders.
“You’re looking so well, Travis. I hardly recognized you.”
“I haven’t changed much, have I?”
“Not physically, but I can tell with your demeanor. You’re looking a lot happier, and there’s a spring in your step. This move has done you the world of good.”
Travis felt his chest swell with pride hearing that.
“At least I found my way,” he remarked as he and Marcus stood and watched the group, who were chattering away happily as Mrs. Mason passed out cups of tea and cake.
“I wouldn’t have been able to thrive if I was still around Clara.
She would’ve made me feel even more miserable, and I’d look like a fool. ”
“I have something to say about that.”
“What?”
Marcus looked like he didn’t know whether to be uncomfortable or burst into laughter. He chose the laughter, chuckling as he relayed the story.
“Apparently, things are not good for Clara and her new husband. Despite being rich, Turner is incredibly tight-fisted, and he won’t allow Clara to go around spending his money as she wants.”
“Really?”
“She’s on a tight budget, and the allowance is a fraction of what she got from her father. She had to go to Turner and tell him she needed money, and that caused some friction between father and husband when they confronted each other.”
Travis could see that happening. Clara had been materialistic. While she said she understood why Travis couldn’t do it, and she didn’t care because she loved him, she clearly did care. She pouted about money all the time.
Hearing her husband tighten his fist around the money and refuse to give Clara what amused him.
“Maybe he was just trying to get his wife to be a little less reliant?” Travis suggested.
Marcus chuckled.
“Anyway, she came by the house the other week. Said that she wanted to know where you’d gone.”
“Me?”
“Apparently, she regretted getting married to a cruel man, and she wished that she’d been with you and stood up against her father.
She wanted to know where you were, and if she could write to you.
” Marcus shrugged. “I simply told her that I didn’t know, and even if I did, I wouldn’t give her that information after the way she hurt you.
She wasn’t happy about that, but she left after I told her three times that I wasn’t going to help her mess up your life again. ”
Travis was surprised at how he felt hearing about Clara. Normally, the mere thought of her left his stomach twisting into knots, and he felt miserable. Now there wasn’t anything.
“Has she been bothering you since then?” he asked.
Marcus nodded.
“She keeps coming by whenever she thinks we’re not going to be home or we’re doing something, to try to get your location out of me.
In the end, I had to get the sheriff to give her a stern talking to.
Turner found out about it, and, as you can imagine, he was not pleased that his married daughter was trying to find her previous lover. ”
Travis nodded. Turner wouldn’t want to be humiliated, which was something that could happen easily with his highly-strung attitude. But he couldn’t help but feel amused that he was humiliated by his daughter behaving erratically.
“I’m doing the right thing, aren’t I?” Marcus peered at him. “I’m not stepping out of line? Because now you’re married and you’ve moved away from her…”
“You did the right thing, Marcus.” Travis tapped Marcus’s chest with his fist. “I don’t love Clara anymore. I think I loved the idea of her, but it’s long since faded away. I only love Anna now, and I wouldn’t risk our marriage for someone as flighty as Clara.”
His friend looked relieved, and he nodded.
“Good. From the short time I’ve seen Anna, I can tell she’s very good for you. She’s just what you need in your life.”
Travis watched Anna playing with the children on the grass, laughing as they piled on top of her. He could very well agree with that.
THE END