“I think I can agree to that.”
Ten minutes later, we were out on the open Montana road in one of Mr. Pike’s pickup trucks, heading west with the wind in our hair and the nightmare behind us.
Epilogue
Johanna
“Whoa,whoa!”
The horse neighed under me, chuffing and stomping its feet as we came to a stop at the far end of the ranch. I unsaddled, swinging my leg over the horse and jumping down, before leading him by the bridle to the fence post and trying him up.
“Good boy.” I nuzzled his nose.
I hadn’t been much of a rider before, despite my farm upbringing, but Colt and Roman had fixed that real quick.
“I think you’re a natural.”
I turned, smiling at the two of them — boots, tight jeans, plaid shirts undone a button or two more than they should be, cowboy hats on their heads. I liked my cowboys looking like cowboys.
A lot.
“At?”
“At riding.”
I blushed. “Oh?”
“Thehorse,” Roman said with a glint in his eyes. “Dirty girl.”
I bit my lip.
They led me through the gate in the fence out to the where the first flags had already been stuck in the ground to mark the future excavation.
For our house.
Jake Stoneham, their “Gramps,” had been nice enough to put us up in his guest house since we’d left Jeb Pike’s ranch, but it was time for our own space. Colt and Roman had bought a few hundred acres next to their grandfather’s land from some older neighbors who were happy to sell to boys they’d known growing up. And Jake himself had given them another few hundred of his own as a welcome home present.
Now, we were building our own life.
And our own family.
I touched my hand to my belly and smiled. It was early — veryveryearly. In fact we hadn't told anyone yet — as if we had anyone to tell besides Jake, really.
You see, it’d taken one look when I rolled back into my aunt and uncle’s farm to see that theyknew. One look said they knewexactlywhat was happening when I’d left with the men that day to go “work for Mr. Pike.”
And that’s all I’d needed.
It’d hurt, a lot, but I’d marched right past them, hugged my little cousins and told them I promised to write, and then I’d walked back to the truck with Roman and Colt and driven away.
That was the last time I’d seen my aunt and uncle, but Ihadkept up as pen pals with my cousins.
That family had sold me out, but this one? Well, this one we were just starting, and I couldn’t wait.
“Kitchen,” Colt pointed to one corner of the marked up grass.
“Porch,” Roman nodded to the lines of orange spray paint on the ground.
He placed me in front of him, and I smiled as I looked out over the rolling hills. The view was going to beincrediblein this place.