Chapter Sixteen
“Gunny, I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear you’re going to get the feeling back in your hands.” T-Rex stood at the railing of the wide wraparound porch at Stone Oak Ranch, staring out at the Beartooth Mountains and the bright yellow sun shining down on them. Life couldn’t get better.
“You and me both. I’m working on the legs next. I want to be up and running by the time my son turns four and starts training for football.” Sounds interrupted Gunny, and a moment later he said, “I have to go. My wife has a chore for me to do. You know the saying, Happy Wife, Happy Life. I’ll touch bases with you later this week to see how the dates are going. Treat her like a princess and you’ll win her heart.”
T-Rex ended the call on the cordless phone.
“I’ll take that.” Liv Dawson held out her hand for the phone and handed him a bottle of beer. “Are you about ready for a steak?”
“You bet.” He walked down the steps to the grill where Hawkeye was flipping steaks. “Need a hand?”
“No. I’ve got this. I’ve already been assigned grill duty for when I retire from active duty. Liv is hopeless in the kitchen.”
Liv handed Hawkeye a beer in exchange for a kiss. “I’m going to starve while you’re gone.”
“Six months. I put in my paperwork last night online. I’ll be out of the army in six months.”
“Then the real work begins. Are you sure you don’t want me to sell this place and we both retire to a condo on the beach in Florida?” Liv slipped her arm around Hawkeye and leaned into him.
“Darlin’, I love ranching. It’s where I want to be.”
“Glad to hear it.” She stood on her toes to press a kiss to his lips. “Because there’s a lot of work to be done and not nearly enough people to do it.”
“CJ Running Bear is working out great. He’s turned out to be an excellent ranch hand.”
T-Rex glanced over to the teen sitting on the porch next to Lolly McClain, Charlie’s six-year-old daughter. The young man had taken on a lot of responsibility and was helping his mother and siblings get back on their feet after losing his stepfather. “He’s a good kid with a great work ethic. What if he wants to go to college or join the military?”
“We won’t hold him back,” Liv said.
Hawkeye nodded. “He deserves to follow his own dreams. But until then, he’s agreed to help out on the ranch.”
T-Rex went in search of Sierra. He’d last seen her helping Charlie McClain in the kitchen cutting up onions, lettuce and tomatoes for those who preferred hamburgers to steaks.
He found Charlie, but not Sierra. And Charlie was in Ghost’s arms, kissing him.
T-Rex grinned. “You two need a room?”
Ghost broke the kiss and took a swing at T-Rex’s shoulder. “We have a room, in a house we found online back at my duty station. Charlie and Lolly are moving in with me until I can make an honest woman out of her.”
Charlie held up her hand, sporting a diamond ring on her left finger. “We’re engaged,” she said.
“That’s wonderful!” Grace Saunders exclaimed and climbed the steps up to the porch to see the ring. “You three will make a great family.”
T-Rex pounded Ghost on the back. The SEAL was obviously in love with Charlie. “And you’re not staying in Grizzly Pass?”
Ghost shook his head. “I have a few more years before I can retire. Then we might consider returning to Wyoming.”
“Until then, I can take my work anywhere there’s internet.” Charlie wrapped her arms around Ghost’s middle. “Wherever Ghost goes, I’ll follow.”
Ghost kissed the tip of her nose. “Except when I deploy.”
She laughed. “True. But Lolly and I will be waiting for you to come home.”
T-Rex turned to Grace, the naturalist who studied the wolves of Yellowstone National Park. “What about you and Caveman? Are you leaving Wyoming to follow Caveman wherever the Delta Force takes him?”
Grace shook her head and smiled toward Caveman. “I can’t give up my work. There’s so much more to learn from the wolves we’ve reintroduced to the ecosystem here.”
Caveman joined her and draped an arm over her shoulders. “I’m three months shy of my reenlistment. I’ve decided to leave the military. But I have a job waiting for me when I get back to Wyoming.”
“He’s coming to work for me,” Kevin Garner called out from the horseshoe pit where he was playing against his wife, Kathleen.
Everyone seemed to have figured out where they were going. He couldn’t be happier for the team he’d come to care about.
T-Rex looked around and finally spotted Sierra. She was coming toward him with a cookie in her hand. “Miss me?”
“You bet.” He kissed her lips and then took a bite of the cookie. “You know, when I retire, I wouldn’t mind coming back to Grizzly Pass. The place grows on you.”
“I’m glad you think so.” She leaned against him, fitting perfectly in the crook of his arm.
Together they stood at the porch railing, watching the sun set on the mountain.
T-Rex couldn’t believe how lucky he was. He’d found the perfect mate in Sierra, and he didn’t want what they had together to ever end.
Sierra was amazing. She’d taught him so much. T-Rex finally understood that love was something you had to grab when you could for as long as you could. No regrets.
* * * * *
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