CHAPTER 21
Colt
I finish up for the day and make my way inside.
I open the fridge and realize the options are getting a lot slimmer, but I can only smile. If it wasn’t for Carol those big banker type fellas would have run me out of house and home within a year. I’m just fortunate to still have what I got, and aside from her, a simple life here was all I ever really wanted.
Bacon and eggs was mighty delicious for breakfast so there’s no reason it won’t be might fine for dinner. Somehow I worked right through lunch.
I hear a knock on the screen door and go to see who it is.
“Look what the cat drug in,” I say.
“Figured we still had a date for Chinese,” she says holding up a bag with what looks like some cartons of rice and sure smells like szechwan.
“I ain’t gonna argue with that.”
I open the door and welcome her inside. As much as I want to wrap her up right here and now and give her a big ol’ hug I know I need to take things slow.
I go to the kitchen and grab some bowls and silverware.
“Did you learn to eat with chopsticks while you were in the big city?”
“Kind of,” she says. “But I’m not in the big city anymore.”
“Bon appetite,” I say and we clink forks. She smiles.
“Not anymore meaning for the future or for a time?”
“Well that’s the crazy thing about me these days,” she says. She takes a bite. “The future and the present are one in the same.”
“How’s that?” I ask.
“Well, this excitement will all blow over in a couple days…if it hasn’t already. Once it does it’s back to normal.”
“Can it ever be back to normal?”
“Well, not exactly,” she says. “At least not for you and I.”
I nod. “I understand.”
“The reason being is…the ranch is paid off and now that it is I was hoping maybe we could live on it together.”
“You want to live here? With me?” I say. I put down my fork.
“Well, they gave me some reward money for whistleblowing…that’s what they called it, even though that’s just what I always thought the trains that came through did. Anyways, I walked the check over to the bank and paid off the mortgages. Yours and dad’s. And there’s still some left over to get started on whatever we want.”
“You paid off the ranch?” I ask.
“I did.”
“That ain’t right. That’s not for you to do.”
“If it wouldn’t have been for your contract in my bag none of this would have ever happened in the first place. And not only that I was hoping that it wouldn’t turn out that I was paying off your ranch, but maybe one day this could be our ranch.”
“Girl, you are amazing. Wait one second.”
I jump up from my seat and go into the bedroom.
I open my boot box and dig to the bottom, removing something very, very special. “It’s time, grandma,” I say.
I walk back into the living room, but it feels like I’m gliding.
“One day? How about today?”
Carol raises her hands to her face.
“I wasn’t really prepared for this, but it doesn’t matter. That and if you’re gonna live here with me I’m gonna make an honest woman outta ya.”
I give her a wink and get down on one knee.
“Carol. This is my grandma’s ring. She gave it to me years ago before she passed, but before she did I had to promise her I would only ever give it away once. Only when I knew I had met the one. Then and only then.”
I pause and watch as Carol is over the moon with joy. It feels so good to see that I’m making her this happy.
I take her right hand in mine.
“I’ve met the one.”
The tears are streaming down her face. I’m starting to wonder myself if someone’s peeling onions, but I can’t much blame the neighbors for that when the houses next door are miles apart out here. I manage to keep my eyes dry…barely.
“Will you marry me?”
She nods. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you and we’ll live here on the ranch where we both belong.”
I slide grandma’s ring onto her finger making it hers, and making her mine just before she falls into my arms.
“Just promise me one more thing,” I say into her ear.
“Anything,” she says.
“You said ‘we’ll live here.’ By we, promise me you mean the two of us and all the little bronc ridding buddies and my little pony ladies we can create in a lifetime.”
“You got yourself a deal, cowboy.”
“Good, because we’ve got a lot of land and that means we’re already prepared for a lot of kids.”
“I can’t wait,” I say. “I…can’t…wait.”