Rocky Mountain Angel

Chapter Twenty-Four

The scent of autumn in the air warned winter approached, but for one more week Indian summer had burst out bringing glorious hot days and sultry starlit nights. A light breeze danced over the tall grasses to set them swaying, the river beyond them gurgling and rushing forward like usual.

Allison tipped the container and let the ashes trickle out.

Elle clutched the fingers of her other hand hard, Paul’s hand rested on her shoulder. Sorrow lay like a blanket over them all, only the pain wasn’t unbearable.

Sending her mom off on a day that screamed happiness seemed appropriate.

A few steps behind them the horses shuffled their feet. Gabe stood patiently holding the reins as he waited for the family to finish saying goodbye.

They’d been saying it all summer long.

“I miss her, but I’m…” Elle shook her head sadly as she turned. “I’m glad she’s not suffering. That she’s happy and at peace, and there’s nothing that can hurt her anymore.”

“I love that we were all there when she went.” Allison snuck her fingers free so she could wipe the tears from her eyes. “Smiling—just like always.”

Paul didn’t speak at first. Cleared his throat and stared over the land. “I understand better now why Mom did it. She wanted to be strong for us, didn’t she?”

“She was strong. To the end.” Elle caught them both in a tight hug before stepping back and blowing her nose into a hankie. “I’ve got to go. I love you guys.”

“Mind if I walk with you?” Paul asked.

Elle shook her head.

“I’ll come by the house in the morning,” Allison said, “Right after breakfast.”

Paul leaned over and kissed her cheek, “See you at the restaurant in the afternoon.” He tipped his head toward Gabe. “Take care of her.”

“I will,” Gabe promised.

Her brother and sister walked slowly back toward the trail that led to where they’d parked. Allison watched them until they disappeared into the trees.

It hurt terribly to have Maisey gone, but her family—they were still there for each other. Their family hadn’t disappeared when their mom died.

She tucked the small box back into Patches’s saddlebag and turned to find Gabe at her side, his love-filled eyes staring down.

“You were the best daughter she could have ever hoped for.”

Allison rested her cheek against his chest and gazed over the land. He rubbed her back, his strength and power right there for her to cling to if she needed. But what she appreciated even more was how he let her go when she straightened. How he accepted her tight hug.

He didn’t just try to save her, he let her save him as well.

“Ready to ride for a while?” Gabe passed her the reins.

Allison swung into the saddle and nodded. “You never did point out the section of land you switched with the Whiskey Creek Colemans. Can we get there from here?”

He laughed. “Gabe’s Folly? Sure, I can show you that.”

“Oh no, did the crew name it already?”

“Hell, yeah.” He pointed toward a shallow ford in the river, and she tugged the reins to direct Patches that way. “You knew it would happen. Not sure if it was one of the Whiskey Creek girls, but probably not. Karen wouldn’t care, since it doesn’t affect her precious horses. Tamara’s still too busy getting into everyone’s business in other ways. I figure it was someone on the Moonshine side.”

Allison was quiet for a minute as a whisper of guilt rose. “I never did tell you something.”

Gabe took her offered fingers and squeezed them before the horses stepped too far apart, breaking their handhold. “A secret? Hmm, those aren’t allowed, right?”

“Right.” Ever since they’d turned this fake marriage into a real one. “Way back when I first contacted you, it was Tamara who’d snitched about Mom being sick.”

He chuckled. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“What?” That was good, yet surprising. “All this time you knew? How?”

“You told me.”

The splash of the water sounded rhythmically as the horses paced forward. Allison searched her memory for a time or place that she’d shared that bit of info. “I…was sure I hadn’t.”

“Oh, darling, first day out you were spouting all kinds of things. Sleep-deprived, you don’t do so good. You’ll never get a job as a secret agent.” He grinned at her. “Don’t worry, I know how to keep my mouth shut.”

“A little too well.” She took it in. His love, his acceptance. Gave it back. “I think you need to open your mouth more often.”

“Hmm, now that’s an invitation I’m happy to take you up on.”

He reached for her and she laughingly pulled Patches out of reach. “No. No sex on a horse.”

“We’ve had sex everywhere else,” he pointed out.

True. “You’ve very inventive, I’ll give you that. Now hush and show me this land you foolishly traded for.”

He sighed. “Four more years until things are completely switched over. We’ll just keep our heads above water until then, if no more disasters go south.”

Which partly meant Ben. He’d stopped fighting the changes, and he’d stopped taunting Gabe, but he’d grown even colder in some ways.

Allison avoided him as much as possible.

They rode in silence, both deep in their own thoughts as the land passed under the horses’ steady stride.

She knew finances were going to be tight. She also knew if it really came down to it, the money her mom had given her would be the first thing they’d use. The funds were hers to spend as she pleased. Not even Gabe, especially not Gabe, would deny her the right to use them however she chose.

Allison stared across at her husband—Lord, the word still made a chill zip along her spine—and admired him all over again. From his boots on up to his firmly positioned hat, he was hundred-percent Canadian free-range cowboy.

And hers. Heart of gold and all.

Gabe shook his head. “I like your smile.”

He slipped off Hurricane, tethering him to a nearby bush. Allison dismounted as well, securing Patches before stepping forward to accept Gabe’s outreached hand.

“Look and weep. She’s right there. We actually own both sides of the waterway now.”

Allison gazed over the section Gabe pointed out. Checked to the south. The north. The river wove its way along the western border, about the farthest thing from a straight line possible. “This piece?”

“Uncle George said he felt a little guilty for switching the north section with me. In exchange he got a parcel you could use a straight edge on—you could fall asleep in the tractor and the lay of the land would nearly steer you home.”

A little bit of hope brightened inside her. “So this piece that he gave you? He hasn’t planted it for a while?”

“No. Pain in the ass to do anything here, he said. He’s had the horses out for a few years at least. Karen would know more, she keeps all the records.”

Hope budded and grew, ready to bloom full out if given a chance. “Gabe, don’t go laying wagers or anything yet, but you might have struck gold, not foolishness, in your switch.”

He looked her over intently. “Explain.”

“What were you going to do with this bit of land?” she asked.

“Turn the cattle out. Let it lie fallow. I wasn’t sure yet.”

She smiled. “How about checking with Karen, and if it has been sitting for at least three years, you can get a jump on your plans. At least in terms of starting a few animals or maybe plant some alfalfa out here. You don’t mind a little extra work to cultivate, do you?”

Gabe’s jaw dropped, and a light came on in his eyes. She could see him calculating and reasoning through her suggestion. A shortcut, not everything they needed, but it would certainly help.

He snatched her up and swung her in a circle. His laughter rang out, carried down the hill and over the land. They twirled until they tangled and fell. Gabe caught her on top of him, breaking her fall.

She twisted until she straddled him. His firm body stretched out under her, the fading green grasses a cushion under them both.

He caught her hands and twirled her ring lazily. “I love you.”

Her heart leapt. The words were becoming more familiar, but she never got tired of hearing them. She lifted his fingers to her lips and kissed them briefly in response before teasing him with a pout. “You know, there is one more secret I have. Well, it’s not a secret. Only you’ve never noticed.”

He raised a brow, dropping his hands to her thighs in a caress that promised she’d soon have something to think about other than organic regulations and pieces of land.

But not before she was ready. She pointed at his ring. “Take it off.”

Gabe sat up and pulled off his shirt. Allison slapped a hand over her mouth to stop her burst of laughter from escaping. “I didn’t mean your clothes.”

“If you’re not clear, woman, I’m going to take the interpretation I like best.”

Smiling, she traced the outline of the tattoo begun on his skin. He’d had the phoenix designed to burst from flames on his lower back, one wing stretching over his left shoulder, and the other wrapping around his ribs on the right.

Said he’d been inspired by her tattoos.

“Still think you should have had the wings burst over both your shoulders,” she teased.

“Don’t need to give you more reasons to call me angel, now do I?”

“I love how I can see a piece of this no matter which way you turn.” Her fingers moved slowly along the intricate design of the feathers, colour still needing to be added.

“Everything feels new. I feel reborn. You gave me that.”

“We gave to each other.” Allison kissed his chest and tugged on his ring. “Now take it off before I hurt you.”

He humoured her, pulling the ring free, the one she’d had prepared so quickly back before she even knew this marriage was going to be real. Gabe handed it to her.

She held the plain gold band carefully at an angle. “Look. What do you see? Inside.”

Gabe leaned closer, squinting slightly as he focused in. “Butterflies? You put butterflies on the inside of my wedding ring.”

She dipped her head. “I did. Because you deserved to break free as well.”

Her cheeks were flushed. Butterflies. What had she been thinking? The glorious phoenix marking his skin was far more appropriate than the delicate little creatures she’d picked out.

Gabe slipped his ring back on. “I think that’s pretty amazing. Thank you. Thank you for wanting that for me.”

She shrugged. “It’s only butterflies.”

He caught her chin in his hands and stared into her eyes. The tenderness she saw there, the love—it made her speechless.

He brushed their lips together for a second. Spoke against her mouth. “And they only live in places that are healthy, right? So I want to see whole flocks of butterflies over this land. Over our house. If I have to tattoo butterflies on me to prove it, then I will.”

He shushed her protests and stood them both, his shirt abandoned on the ground. Allison couldn’t figure out what he was doing until he twisted his back toward her and pointed. “Look. Look closely at the fire.”

She pressed her palm to his skin, framing the section. This was the only area fully coloured. Deep crimson and brilliant gold mingled together as they rose to form the feathers covering the bird’s chest. She’d admired the tattoo a hundred times since he came home to show her.

Now for the first time she spotted it. The tiny outlines of dozens of butterflies, their wings meshing into each other’s like some drawing by Escher. A thin line of them escaping from the fire and flying upward, hidden in the plumage of the phoenix’s breast.

When he turned, she trailed her fingers over his body, not wanting to let him go.

Gabe tilted his hat back slightly. Grinned.

“Rabble,” she said.

His grin twisted. “What?”

“A rabble. A group of butterflies is called a rabble. Or a swarm, or the really pretty name is a kaleidoscop—”

He covered her mouth with his hand. “I love you, Allison.”

When he slipped his fingers off she leapt, wrapping herself around him and clinging tight. “I love you too, Angel Boy. I’m so glad you’ve found your wings.”

“We can fly together.”