Home on the Ranch: Rodeo Legend
Page 19
There were more tears that night when Carson and Shane received their final buckles, not to mention the saddles the two would bring home. And a promise to Bella that she could be her maid of honor. And a promise from Carson that he would curtail his rodeo activities if that was what she wanted. But it wasn’t what she wanted. As Ava stood in the arena that night, rodeo fans screaming Carson’s and Shane’s names, she admitted she could never take that away from him. All she wanted and needed was for him to stand by her side for the rest of her life.
And that was exactly what he did.
Epilogue
There was a festive feeling in the air at Gillian Ranch.
“Wow, look.” Bella sat forward in her seat. “Carson put up birthday decorations.”
Ava guided the car to its familiar spot in front of the barn. It’d been three months since Carson had asked her to marry him. To this day she got a little misty-eyed when she spotted the ring on her finger. They were hip-deep in wedding preparations, which would take place on the land he’d just purchased from his dad. By next year they’d be married and living in their new house. It was funny, too, because she prided herself on being a feminist, yet when it came to living together, she insisted he stay with his brothers and cousin. She’d make him wait for other things, too, through the last month of their engagement. It’d make things all the more sweet on their wedding night.
“I’ll go get Snazzy tacked up.” Bella started to bolt from the SUV.
“Wait!” Ava had to grab her daughter by the arm of her pink shirt. “Bella, stop. You’re always dashing in there without me. Hold on.”
Her daughter’s eyes narrowed. Ava tried to keep her expression blank. She didn’t want her to know. Didn’t want her to guess the surprise.
“Mom, what’s going on?”
Dang her sharp-eyed kid. “Nothing.”
She slipped out of the SUV before Bella spotted the lie in her eyes. “Come on.” She held a hand out to her daughter.
Bella stared up at her strangely. She was ten today, and not a day went by that Ava didn’t think about Paul and all that he’d missed out on. Her first day of school. Her first time winning a blue ribbon. And now...
They walked into the barn.
A mass of people called, “Happy birthday!”
Her first horse stood in the aisle.
Bella stopped dead in her tracks. Snazzy’s head popped up in surprise, the mare dancing on the cross ties, although that might be because of the hokey birthday hat they’d somehow managed to attach to her halter.
“Oh, Mommy.” Her daughter’s words carried a tone of reverence. “You didn’t.” She covered her mouth with her hands, staring at the horse and the people in front of her, before meeting her gaze again. “Is she really mine?”
Carson came out from behind the horse. “She’s really yours.”
Bella started to cry. Ava started crying, too. Bella ran toward her horse and hugged her. Ava followed in her wake, meeting Carson’s eyes.
Paul would have been so proud of his grown-up girl with the big heart. He’d be proud of Ava, too, for finally having the courage to take that first step with Carson. He would have been proud of them all for the way they’d come together as a family.
“Well,” said Reese, holding out a bridle to Bella, “you going to ride your new horse?”
“You know I am.”
Everyone laughed and Maverick handed her a gift bag. “I think you might need these.” Inside was a bunch of brushes that Bella oohed and ahhed over. “Those are yours.”
“And this is from us,” said his aunt, motioning toward her husband, Bob. She held out a box of some sort.
“See it has your name on the side.” She pointed to the BELLA stenciled on it. “It’s for your brushes.”
“Happy birthday,” Reese said, handing her a new saddle pad. Someone else handed her boots for Snazzy’s front legs. Bella was soon surrounded by nearly every member of the Gillian family, each of them giving her a horse-related present.
Ava had to take a step back, observing it all.
They would never be alone again.
“I think we did it.” Carson pulled her up against him. “I don’t think she had any clue what was going on.”
“Oh, I think she might have caught on there at the end.” She stared up at him. “But it doesn’t matter.”
He smiled. “No. I guess it doesn’t. But you know she’s going to want to ride down the aisle on horseback.”
“Hmm,” she said. “A maid of honor on horseback. It has possibilities.”
She laughed. He smiled, and as he so often did, bent to kiss her, and she let him.
Life had never been sweeter. She honestly didn’t think anything could top it, but she was wrong.
Six months later when Carson slipped a wedding band on her finger, she topped it with ease. And when, the next year, they moved into their new house on the ranch and she gave birth to a baby boy, she topped that one, too. And so on and so on, right on down the road, because happiness was something that lasted forever after.
* * *
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ISBN-13: 9781488085987
Home on the Ranch: Rodeo Legend
Copyright © 2018 by Pamela Britton
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Pamela Britton, Home on the Ranch: Rodeo Legend