Page 52 of Dead Man's Hand

“A couple of wild ones that Keira and I used to try to ride.” At the mention of Keira a shadow crossed his face for a moment. “Our kids will have horses. Apparently rodeoing is in my blood.”

“So I’ve heard. Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it,” she said. “But I’d love to have a horse of my own. Bella rides all the time. I know she’d teach me.”

He nodded. “I can see us here.”

“Me, too.” She felt her smile widen. “I love you, DJ. I have for a very long time. You do realize that my godfather will want to give me away.”

“Yes, your godfather. You sure he’s good with this, you and me?”

She nodded. “He gave me his blessing.” She didn’t mention what else he’d said as DJ leaned across the table to steal a quick kiss.

They both grinned. They’d found not only their way to each other, but to a family and a place to make a home and a life neither of them had ever expected.

They could do this. Together. Partners forever.

JUSTBEFOREMIDNIGHTon New Year’s Eve, Sheriff Willie Colt stood, raising his glass as he looked around the table. As the oldest of the Colt brothers and prodded by his wife Ellie, it was up to him to speak before they rang in the new year. Bella and Tommy had thrown quite the party as usual. The whole family was here, and it had grown considerably since last year.

“It’s been quite the year, wouldn’t you say?” Everyone laughed.

“What a couple years this has been,” Willie said as he looked around the huge table. “When James got hurt on his last bronc ride and came home, we all expected him to do what we usually did, heal up and go back. But instead he started digging into Dad’s last case, the one he’d never solved before his death. We couldn’t have known where that was going to lead.”

There were murmurs around the table. “James gave up rodeoing to reopen Dad’s private investigative business. It was the beginning of Colt Brothers Investigation. Tommy was lured back and then Davy. I was determined not to join this ragtag bunch,” he said, and laughed.

“Instead, I joined the sheriff’s department as a deputy to find out what had really happened to Dad that night when he was killed on the railroad tracks. I ended up finding something that I loved more than rodeo, law enforcement, and that led me to Seattle, and we all know how that ended.”

More laughter around the table.

“We got Ellie,” Bella said, and the other women all joined in with cheers. “Turned out to be a great deal.”

“It wasn’t like we ever expected you to fall in love, let alone get married,” James said.

“We figured you would be Lonesome’s old cranky bachelor,” Tommy said.

“He’s still cranky,” someone said.

Willie waited until the laughter died down. “The four of us are now married, some of us fathers. There’s been a few surprises along the way.” He looked in the direction of Ansley and DJ and smiled. “Happy surprises,” he added. He watched Ansley hug her brother and Sadie, tears in her eyes.

“We hadn’t wanted to believe Dad’s pickup being hit by the train was an accident. We now know it was. Also, we learned a lot about our mother, who was a mystery to us all.” He glanced down the table at Beth. “I know Dad loved our mother, Mary Jo, but I also know that she made his life very hard. He found true love the second time with Beth, Ansley and DJ’s mother. Sometimes we don’t get the happy endings we want, but in the end we’re so thankful for family. I wish Dad were here to see this. I like to think he’d be proud. I know I am at what you’ve all accomplished.”

He cleared his voice. “Now we’re about to start another year and I for one can’t wait to see what this amazing family has in store for it.” A cheer went up. He looked over at his wife. Ellie was glowing.

“Are you kidding me?” Bella cried. “Ellie?”

Her sister-in-law smiled and nodded. “There is a little Willie in the works.” That brought on more cheering along with groans from some of the brothers and remarks like, “Never thought you had it in you, bro.”

“It’s almost time,” someone called out, and everyone looked to the clock on the wall. They rose from the table as the countdown began. “Ten, nine, eight, seven...” The joy in the room rose as their voices joined to ring in the new year.

“Six, five, four, three, two... Happy New Year!”

Willie took Ellie in his arms and kissed her. All around him he watched his brothers and their wives and girlfriends kiss and hug. Noisemakers came out and confetti filled the air along with balloons. Bella never did anything halfway, he thought. This year she had a lot of help from the family since she had a new baby girl.

Willie laughed, hoping his father was watching all of this. This was the family he’d started. Willie hoped he’d be proud.

Epilogue

Ansley felt as if her feet weren’t touching the ground as she looked out past the American flag flapping in the backyard breeze to her husband standing with the Colt men by the barbecue grill. Her husband. She would never get tired of staying that.

“You have been smiling way too much for a woman about to turn thirty,” Bella said as she put her daughter down in the playpen in the shade. Daisy immediately began cooing and waving her arms at the bird mobile hanging over her head. Her twin boy cousins were in another playpen, also in the shade. Both were sacked out. Their older sister, Jamie, was playing in the kiddie pool not far from where the men were grilling lunch.

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