Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch (Gold Valley #13)(111)

And he wanted to do the most unmanly thing he could think of and break down in tears. He hadn’t cried when a bullet had ripped through his flesh, but these words from Tala made a man want to break down.

“I love you too, baby. I really do.”

“We knew from the beginning that we were never going to get perfect, Clayton. Because we never thought we’d have love either, but now we have a chance so let’s take it. That’s the real gift. That’s the real miracle. Not perfect. Love.”

And he would love to say this wasn’t how he imagined this moment. How he imagined someone professing their love for him. While he was in a prison cell. But the fact was, he had never imagined anyone loving him. Had never thought, ever, in a million years that he would ever have that. And it made this moment feel perfect. Whatever else lay in front of them. There was this. And in so many ways, behind bars, his life was better than he had ever imagined it could be.

And then his lawyer did appear, behind Tala. “Well, Mr. Everett, I think we have some very good news.”



* * *



IN THE END, Clayton didn’t serve any jail time. His brother was found and arrested quickly, and he testified against him. Which ended up bringing down an entire ring of dangerous people who had thrived for far too long. And Tala couldn’t be prouder of him.

They took the money and they bought a ranch near Four Corners, because she decided that it was the place she wanted to be.

And Clayton wanted to support her, in whatever it was she wanted.

So Ms. Nelson became Mrs. Everett, one day down at the lake at Sullivan’s Point, which was absolutely the best place to have a wedding in her opinion.

She called her mother to tell her she was getting married. She had been frosty, but not as hateful as Tala had anticipated. She hadn’t offered to come to the wedding or anything quite like that, but she wondered if maybe someday they would be able to build a bridge out of her mother’s tolerance, and Tala’s own security in her life.

At least, she hoped so.

But if not... She had plenty of family.

She had Clayton, who she loved more than anything, and she had the friendship of Nelly, the previous teacher’s daughter and the current town librarian, which was something that had blossomed when Tala found more security in herself. Was able to relax and take some time to enjoy life, rather than being afraid that everything in it was a simple distraction.

What she had begun to learn was that relationships weren’t a distraction. Weren’t a danger.

They were, in fact, everything that life was made of.

They had the wedding reception at Four Corners also, and there was a big bonfire, with dancing and laughing, and she had never felt so complete, so loved in all of her life.

She was taking a break from dancing with her new husband when she heard the sheriff’s sister Elsie Garrett talking to one of the Sullivan sisters. “Sawyer got one of his hookups pregnant. And she doesn’t want the baby. So, he’s set on being a single dad.”

“No,” Fia Sullivan, oldest of the Sullivan sisters, responded with round eyes. .

“Yes. God’s honest truth.”

Well, if there was one thing that seemed to be true about Four Corners, it was that things never stayed the same for long. There were always new people. And apparently, there was about to be one more.

Of course, all that talk of babies brought her back to what she suspected about herself.

But she didn’t figure the wedding reception was the place to be thinking about that.

So she waited. Waited until a couple of days after the wedding, when she and Clayton were settled in their house. “What do you think about children now?”

He looked at her. “That seems out of the blue.”

“Not really. I mean, now you’re not on the run, you’re not in danger from your brother or the police, you don’t have a bullet hole in you, you have a wife...”

“I guess all that’s true. I never really thought about it in that context. It scares me. Because I don’t really know how to be a father.”

“You don’t really know how to be a husband either, but here we are.”

“True. Yeah. I think I’d like that. With you. Only with you.”

“I figured.”

“Well, we could start trying,” he said, looking at her keenly.

“Oh, I think it might be too late for that,” she said. “In fact, I think you might be a father by next Christmas.”

His jaw dropped. “You think?”

He immediately asked her to confirm it, and he took a quick trip to the store, returning ten minutes later with a small item. It was positive. And when he finished showing her just how happy he was, they lay together in their bed, and he held her close. “I’m so thankful that I got shot. And lost. Really, I’m just thankful for my rock bottom. Because when I climbed back out, you were there. And that was everything I needed.”

“You are everything I needed.” She touched his face, ran her finger along that scar on his lip. None of the bad things that had happened had taken him from her. And she was grateful for that. No, his strength, who he was, his integrity... It all brought them this life. She would always be grateful for that.

“For an outlaw, you’re a pretty good guy.”

“Only for you, Tala Everett. Only for you.”