Epilogue Cash
10 years later…
“Grandpa Earl, read us another one. Please!”
Our oldest boy, Joseph, bounces up and down on his spot on the floor, begging for another story. I walk over and wrap my arms around Clare, who’s in the kitchen covering up the cake she made today. There’s only a little bit left, and I have a feeling she’ll be sneaking that tonight after the kids go to bed.
“Alright. One more. And this time I mean it.”
Clare laughs and shakes her head. “Those kids are going to get at least five more stories out of him before he really gives up.”
“They’ve got him wrapped around his finger and they know it.” I kiss the place on her neck just below her ear and squeeze her body closer to mine.
She’s gotten more curves over the years, and I’ve loved seeing her blossom into a full-figured woman. She’s given me five babies, and with each one, she’s looked more beautiful than the last. She had some complications with our youngest, Lily, so we decided it was time to stop. We were blessed with three boys and two girls, so we’ve got a houseful.
I ended up buying the Johnson ranch, and Brandon still runs it. He turned it into a sheep farm, and it does almost as well as the cattle I’ve got here. I don’t have as big of a crew here anymore, what with that side of the business doing so well. I’ve still got about six guys on staff here, including Earl, who has become the grandpa to our little tribe.
The kids love him, and he’s always felt like family, so it just felt natural when we started calling him Grandpa. The old guy likes it just as much according to the smile permanently plastered on his face.
“Come on the porch with me and sit awhile, Mrs. McCallister,” I say against her skin.
Clare shivers under my touch and looks over to where the kids are. They’re all sitting cross-legged on the floor, hanging on every word of the book. She nods and I take her hand, pulling her out the side door and onto the swing with me.
She hums a soft song as I hold her, kissing her forehead and watching the sun go down. We have a simple life here, but it’s the most perfect one I could ever imagine. Clare makes everything easy, and our lives just flow. It’s as if wave after wave of love keeps moving around us, and it’s all her doing.
Clare is the glue that holds me together and the rhythm that makes this place run. She’s the one the boys run to when they scrape their knees and the ones the girls follow around pretending to be just like her. Everything she touches falls in love with her, so I make sure to keep her touches just for me. Even after all these years, I’m still a jealous bastard when it comes to sharing her attention. Thankfully, she understands this and ignores me when I’m being unreasonable.
She’s the other half of my soul and has given me a life I could only have dreamed of years before this. And as I hold her to me and our kids come out one by one to sit on our laps, I just smile and think about how damn lucky I am that she chose me.
The End