Epilogue

Colt stood at the front of the church and tugged at his collar, feeling as if the arrowhead bolo tie he was wearing was bound and determined to choke him to death. Why was he so nervous? People got married everyday.

Just not to Jessie Steele.

Doc put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “You’re shaking like a leaf, “he whispered.

Colt turned just enough to talk to him. “You would be too, if you were in my situation.”

“You’re getting married. It’s the least you could do to smile,” Doc told him.

Colt plastered on the widest smile he could produce. “I’m nervous as a cat, Dawson. I’m beginning to think we should have eloped.”

Dawson looked around. “Keep your voice down. Anyone overhears you and Myra’ll be running around like a head with her chicken cut off. Er… a chicken… never mind I think your bride’s nearly here.”

The piano began playing the bridal processional and Colt stiffened. This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

The doors opened and there she was. Colt couldn’t breathe. The world faded around him except for Jessie and he fought for the air enough to fill his lungs.

His hand clamped over his mouth. I can’t cry, or then she’ll cry. I can’t cry. I can’t cry. Yeah, I’m gonna cry.

Moisture built up in his eyes as she took those first few steps on her father’s arm, her smile stretching across her face. He blinked several times and composed himself.

Words couldn’t describe how she looked at that moment. Colt hadn’t traveled a lot, but he could say that Jessie had to be the most beautiful woman on earth. What in the world did he do to deserve her? He had to have mugged some rich Southern plantation owner for her. There was no way that this woman would logically fall in love with him. That cream-colored dress looked stunning on her. The front part of her hair was pulled up and the other half lay in curls around her shoulders. What stunned him the most was the smile she wore. It would be the death of him.

And those devastating eyes. How they had the power to make him kiss the very ground she walked on at that moment.

Doc squeezed his shoulder again before putting his hand down. Colt was struck to the spot. He forgot what he was doing this this little church, who the people around him were, and for a moment, he even forgot how to breathe.

By the time she reached the front of the porch, he was silently gasping for air. He was pretty sure that he had broken out in a sweat, but he didn’t even care at the moment.

It was time to make Jessie Steele his.

The vows came and went, and all Colt remembered was that he said them right. He should have probably paid attention to what he was vowing to do, but he couldn’t think straight. It wasn’t until the preacher said those final words that he snapped back into reality. Yet he was still just as nervous.

“I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Kidd. Colt, you can go on and kiss your bride now,” the preacher said.

Whoops and hollers echoed throughout the room as Colt bent his head to give his wife the first kiss he had ever given anyone. She claimed that she had never kissed anyone either, not even Adam, but man, was she good at it.

Cheers filled the air as they pulled apart and Jessie smiled up at him for the first time as his wife. How he loved her with all of his heart.

*****

Jessie sat between Colt and Bliss at the reception, helping herself to a tiny piece of cake and a cup of punch. It wouldn’t do for her to be putting on more weight before they were even on their honeymoon.

“Is that all you’re gonna eat?” Colt asked her.

Jessie nodded.

“Not hungry?”

She shook her head, her arm habitually moving to conceal to stomach. Even in the corset she could barely breathe in, she felt fat. However, her arm was stopped by Colt’s hand connecting with hers. He laced his fingers through hers and shook his head, leaning close to whisper in her ear.

“That stops today,” he whispered.

Jessie looked down at her stomach and sighed. Maybe she wasn’t as big as she thought. Just maybe.

Maybe Colt didn’t mind how she looked. He loved her just as much either way, and of that she was certain.

*****

The sun sank low in the sky, ready to place the world under a blanket of darkness yet lingering just above the rippling ocean to send flecks of light over the water. Clouds stretched lazily across the sky, contrasting against the hues of blue, pink, and purple that lay beyond them. A few twinkling stars came from their hiding place and shone with merriment. The roar of the waves crashing onto the sand and the cries of seagulls drifted on the ocean breeze as it washed over the brand new couple standing there in awe of the scene.

Colt stood and watched Jessie look out over the ocean in pure amazement. At that moment, time stood still. There was no other person in the world besides Jessie. The sun painted her face with a gentle glow, while the breeze whipped her hair around her face. He could watch her there for the rest of his life and never know the difference between day and night.

“It’s beautiful,” her mouth muttered.

He couldn’t hear her voice over the sound of the ocean, but he didn’t need to hear a single word. He had memorized every lilt of her sweet voice, every word that she had ever said to him was branded in his mind. She glanced over at him and a mischievous smile came over her face. She took off running, her bare feet making imprints in the perfect sand. She ran until her feet splashed into the water. The waves rippled around her. The loose strands of her coppery hair captured the sun and held it captive. She laughed as a wave crashed into her, the melodic sound breaking through the cry of the waves.

She’s mine

. He thought in awe. That’s my wife.

She waved at him to join her. “You just gonna stand there?”

Colt rolled his pant legs halfway up his calves and ran out to her, his feet splashing in the cold water.

“It’s even more beautiful than I imagined out here,” Jessie said once he reached her.

He could say much the same about her.

“Look around you,” Colt said.

Jessie looked out over the water, the light from the sun causing her to squint, but her smile rivaled its glory. She looked back at him and he took her hands in him.

“Take all this beauty around you and multiply it by ten thousand if you want to, but it’s still not as beautiful as you are to me,” he told her.

A delicate blush came over her cheeks at his words.

Nothing in the entire world could convince Colt that he didn’t love this woman with everything in him.

A lone tear began making its way down her cheek, and Colt began to panic.

What had he said?

Why was she crying?

As he was reviewing his words, she squeezed his hands.

“You, Colton Kidd, are the most precious person in the world to me,” she said, her smile pinned straight at him.

No other tears followed the loner that had slowed at her cheekbone, and Colt relaxed. He took his fingertip and gently dabbed the tear away.

“I love you,” he whispered, knowing she couldn’t hear him.

“You know I love you, too,” she whispered back.

Colt cupped her angelic face in his hands and kissed her forehead, lingering there a few seconds. He felt her arms surround his waist, her warm breath blowing against his neck just along his collar. He pulled back only slightly and bent his head while wrapping his arms around her.

There, only a breath away from her face, he saw heaven in her eyes. All of his dream and definitions of paradise wrapped up in those deep green irises.

She was the one to close the distance between them, but Colt wasted no time in showing her just how much he loved her. He kissed her with all the love and passion he had in his heart, praying that he never had to let go.

*****

Jessie hung up the last of her dresses and collapsed back onto the bed, heaving a sigh. Colt had gone back to work after a blissful but blur of a honeymoon and she had spent the day unpacking. She never knew that she owned so much junk. Thankfully, she had found a place for it all, but it had worn her out. Carby had tried to help, but Jessie hadn’t wanted to wear the poor woman out on their third day as family.

Heaving herself up off the bed and taking up the suitcase she had just emptied, she carried it to the front room and placed it in the coat closet with the rest of the suitcases.

“That’s the last one,” she told Carby.

“It’s about time. You better sit down and take a load off those feet of yours,” Carby cautioned.

Jessie sighed. Momma wouldn’t have to worry about her daughter not being taken care of with Carby around acting as if she was a china doll.

She sat at the table and Carby sat a cup of tea in front of her.

“Carby…” she began to protest.

Carby gave her a look. “You shut your mouth and drink that. I didn’t make it for you to complain about drinking it, you know.”

Jessie smiled and wrapped her hands around the warm cup. “I think I’ll take this out onto the porch and wait for Colt. He should be home anytime.”

Carby gave her a knowing smile. “That’s what I thought.”

Jessie stepped out onto the front porch and looked at the sunset in front of her. She smiled, anticipating many more days of watching the sun set while waiting for her love to come home to her. Sitting down in one of the rockers and taking a sip of tea, Jessie breathed a soft sigh and looked up at the sky.

God had blessed her in more ways than she could count. He had been so faithful in everything that she had gone through in her life. Even now his patience amazed her.

She heard hoof beats and set her tea down, not even caring that she was smiling like an idiot. She stepped off the porch just as he came into view.

Her husband.

It wasn’t until she saw him that she realized just how much she missed him.

He dismounted and she ran to him. He caught her in his arms and spun her around in a circle.

“I missed you so much,” she told him once he set her on the ground.

“I missed you, too,” he smiled, pressing a kiss on her cheek.

He led his horse to the small barn the cowboys had built him while they were gone as a wedding present, causing them to think that maybe this housing arrangement was more permanent than Sherman let on.

“How was Sherman today?” she asked, lacing her fingers through his as they walked to the barn.

“Eh, he was grumpy as usual,” Colt smiled.

“Normal day?”

“Horrible.” Colt grimaced.

Jessie’s eyebrows pulled close together. “What happened?”

Colt began stripping the leather from his horse and looked over the animal’s back at her. “I was missing somebody awful bad.”

Jessie smiled as he stabled his horse and shut the door. They walked out of the barn hand in hand, neither of them feeling the need to say a word. Before they reached the house, Colt pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled faintly, knowing this was where she belongs.

Before, she might have never thought that a love this deep was possible. But it seemed that this love was enough to redeem the emotions that they both had thought they had lost. Now, she could look up at Colt and truly believe that anything was possible. That there was evil in the world, but there was a whole lot more good in it when people took the time to love a little more, hate a little less, and believe.

The End.

*wails* How can it be over? I started it like 6 months ago!! By baby is all grown up! :,( Tell me what you guys think, tickle that star up there and give a cowboy his spurs! (told ya! It's a thing now!)

I just want to thank each and every one of you dear readers! You guys mean so very much to me all around! I don't know what I would do without you guys. You've kept me going when I wanted to stop. You were patient when I got the big WB. You even endured these author's notes! I can't thank you all enough! We're one bog family now, and I can't wait to write for you some more!

As we bid farewell to Arizona, don't you worry, because there's always another story right around the corner!

Ever wonder how Bliss and the gunfighter, Clint Slade, got together? Check out "Protection" :)

Thank you all again! Love you guys!