Page 51 of Dead Man's Hand

“It’s just because you don’t know us very well,” DJ had joked. “By next year, you’ll feel entirely different.”

Still, they’d shopped together. It had been fun. Even DJ had enjoyed it. Sadie could tell that he’d never had anyone to buy for, other than Keira, and they’d never celebrated holidays together.

They went to Bozeman, hitting all the shops, and then had lunch in a quaint place along Main Street.

This large, exuberant family was something so new for them both that they grew quiet after they ate. Sadie thought that it was all just starting to sink in. When DJ spoke, she knew he’d been thinking the same thing.

“Can we do this?” he asked, meeting her gaze.

She didn’t have to ask what he meant. The two of them, she felt, were solid together because they knew each other given everything they’d been through. “We can do anything we set our minds to.”

“Are you sure we aren’t too broken?” DJ asked.

Sadie chuckled. “Isn’t everyone in one way or another?”

He shook his head. “What worries me is that I really like them. I don’t want to let them down. Especially Ansley.”

“You won’t.” She reached across the table to take his hand. “We have the rest of our lives yet to live. Our pasts are...unique, but they have also made us stronger. We’re survivors. We can do this.”

He smiled then, squeezing her hand, and she let go. “I’ve never asked you what you wanted out of life.”

“To be like everyone else.” She said it quickly and shrugged. “Promise you won’t laugh?” He nodded solemnly and crossed his chest above his heart with his finger. “I want a family. I want what the Colt women have.”

“To be married to private eyes?”

She shook her head. “They have a sense of community I’ve never had. They’re all excited about their kids growing up together. Bella is convinced the kids will rule the school. I have no doubt hers will.” She laughed. “I want Montana.” She saw his surprised expression.

“I never thought you’d leave Florida.”

“I want to see spring here,” she said, glancing toward the restaurant window. Christmas decorations hung from the streetlights. Snow was piled up along the edge of the street. Everyone outside was bundled up against the cold. “I want to see the grass turn green, to feel the sun bring back life. I want to grow a garden and catch a fish out of the river.” Her voice broke. “I want an ordinary house with a swing set in my backyard and a couple of kids out there playing on it.”

He laughed. “You want a lot,” he joked. “Just a couple of kids?”

“I’d discuss more,” she said with a grin.

DJ turned serious. “You haven’t mentioned this husband of yours.”

She smiled. “I want him to be anything he wants. Lover, father, best friend. You want to raise cattle to go with that Stetson of yours, I’m all for it.”

His eyes seemed to light up. “My brothers want to make the Colt Ranch a true ranch. There’s plenty of land and they’ve offered me a section for our house. I have money to buy whatever we’ll need.”

“You know I have my own money, so we can pretty much do anything we want.” She met his gaze, her heart in her throat. Was it possible? Could they do this? “Wouldn’t you miss the grift?”

“Sounds like raising cattle might be enough of a gamble.”

“I’m serious. You love what you do.”

“I used to, but I’ve lost my taste for it. I’m like you. I look around Lonesome and I feel the need to put down roots. I want a swing set in my backyard. I want a couple of blond towheads out there who look just like you but are trying to see how much higher they can swing. You do realize that if you and I had kids they’d get some of my genes.”

She smiled. “Would that be so bad? I happen to love your jeans. Especially the way they fit you.”

He locked eyes with her. “We could do this, you and me. We could make a good life here in Montana. You’d have to learn to ride a horse.”

“You know how to ride? You never told me that.”

“I was raised on a ranch.”

“Charley had a horse?”

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