"You're going to make me throw it back, aren't you?" she pouted, the little trout flopping on the end of her line.

Ferg gently picked it up, carefully unhooked its mouth and tossed it back in the river. "I didn't make up the rules. If I did, you could keep every single one of them." She didn't notice him unhook the lure and put it quickly in his pocket.

"I just worked so hard! For one measly little fish!"

He chuckled at her mock theatrics. "I know."

She sighed hugely and looked at the end of her line. "Hey! The lure is gone!"

"He must have swallowed it. It happens," Ferg acted as nonchalant as he could, but it was hard to do when his heart was pounding and his hands were sweaty . "Go over and get another one." He pretended to be busy himself with his own reel, but he watched her out of the corner of his eye.

She looked leery. "I dunno. I'm not as good as picking them out as you are. What if I do it wrong?"

"Oh, I think you'll be able to find one that suits you," he said smugly.

Giving him a funny look, she sat aside her own reel and sauntered towards the giant tackle box, flipping the lid open.

Inside were the regular assortment of lures, neatly and carefully arranged in each little compartment.

With one addition.

Ferg sat down his reel. Annie wasn't paying him a bit of attention now. She gawked as she carefully reached inside and pulled out the ring, the diamonds in the setting winking in the sunlight. She looked at it as if it were a strange specimen of insect.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wait . . . was this . . .

Nah, surely not . . .

Her eyes still not leaving the ring in her fingers, she called out, "Hey! I think . . .."

She hadn't realized he was now standing next to her, smiling hopefully.

And she realized her first reaction was right.

"Oh . . ."

He gently took the ring from her and studied it, then looked at her. "You know, I'm not good at this stuff. But this," he motioned around at the river bubbling brightly, the sun shining on the few patches of snow in a beautiful setting, "was where I first realized how special you were. To me. I thought it fitting," he slowly got down on one knee, which was hard to do considering he was wearing waders, "that I ask you to be my wife right here. Annie . . . will you marry me?"

She paused for only a moment before she laughed, the sound echoing off the nearby mountains. "Of course I'll marry you! Geez, did you even have to ask?"

"I . . . I sorta thought that's how this worked."

Still laughing, she got down on the ground next to him as he put the ring on her finger with a shaky hand, throwing her arms around him and kissing him soundly.

It was a long time before they returned to fishing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ferg glanced at the paperwork, idly shuffling through it with a sigh.

It was a hell of a pretty day to be stuck in the office. His eyes strayed to the window. Balmy 70s, blue skies, white puffy clouds, mountain breeze.

Annie always said in Wyoming there were only about five days like this all year, so you better enjoy them.

Instead, he had paperwork.

Tearing his gaze reluctantly from the pretty scene outside, he tried to focus on the tiny print. The older he got, the smaller the words became.

Vic told him to get some fucking glasses, or she'd take his badge.

He honestly wondered if she was kidding. As a fellow deputy, she was bad enough.

As sheriff, she was a force to be reckoned with.

The door opened, little feet pounding on the scarred wood. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"

Before he realized it, he had a lap full of squirming four-year old, throwing her little arms around his neck.

And that's all four-year olds ever did. Squirm. Not that he'd ever complain about it.

Ferg hugged his oldest daughter. "Hi there, squirt! What're you doing here?"

"Mama said you're going to take us to lunch!" Eyes bright and brown curls bouncing, she leaned back and smiled at him brightly, her arms still wrapped firmly around his neck. "She said we could have ice cream if we wanted!"

Ferg never could deny his oldest daughter anything from the moment he laid eyes on her. "Well, I guess we have to do what Mama said, don't we?"

"Mama actually said Emily could have ice cream if she ate all lunch without me having to pester her every three minutes," Annie sassed as she breezed through the door, arms full of two-year old. "But, we all know she has you wrapped around her little finger, so I don't even know why I bother."

Branch grinned from his perch at his own desk. "What are daughters for?"

"Oh, you're going to find out soon enough." The child in Annie's arms squirmed and she sat her down. "Fine, Gretchen, just don't get into anything."

Gretchen went straight to her father. Ferg picked her up and sat her on his other knee, kissing her on top of the head. From her perch, she shyly waved at Branch.

Branch couldn't help but smile at the little blonde child who was the spitting image of her mother. "Cady said this pregnancy thing is for the birds."

Annie put her hands on her back, working the kinks out of it. "Tell her it doesn't get any easier, no matter how many you have."

"Since you and Ferg are trying to double the population of Absaroka County, I bet you'd know the answer to that," Branch said, grinning. He reached over and put his cowboy hat on Gretchen's head as she laughed, peaking at him from underneath it.

"Really, Branch, I think she's a little young for you," Annie said, smiling.

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for a pretty face."

"What in hell is all this noise out here?" Vic yanked open the door to her office.

"Aunt Vic! Aunt Vic!" Both girls ran to her, and Vic pretended she didn't see them.

"Do you hear that? It sounds like . . . like . . . someone needs to be put in jail for disturbing the peace!" She managed to grab Gretchen, who squealed, as Emily danced around her.

"I'm not going to jail! I'm going to eat ice cream!" she said happily.

"Well, I'm just glad I don't have to clean you up afterwards. I've seen you eat ice cream, and it is not pretty!" Vic put Gretchen down, and she scampered back to her father.

"How's Walt?" Annie asked.

"Bored as hel-heck," Vic answered, trying to remember to watch her language. Hard for her to do. "I think he and Henry have gone fishing so much, there won't be any fish left!"

Annie laughed. "They even came by the house one day recently. I knew they were bored if they wanted to watch me wrestle kids all day long!"

Vic pointed at Annie's growing stomach. "Really? Haven't you two heard of birth control?" She glanced at Ferg. "Do you really want to live with four women for the rest of your life?"

Annie's smile was smug. "Actually, it'll just be three."

It took Ferg a moment to realize what she was saying. He sat back in his chair as Gretchen watched him solemnly, looking so much like her mother, it was uncanny. "You mean . . ."

Annie grinned. "I just came from the doctor's office. Clear as day on the ultrasound."

A son . . . he was going to have a son . . .

With a whoop, he scooped up Gretchen and went to his wife, kissing her soundly as Emily complained. "Yuck! Gross!"

Vic made a face. "I agree!"

Emily mimicked Vic's face.

"If you're not careful, your face will stick like that," Branch said solemnly.

Emily put her hand on her hip, also a classic Vic pose. "It will not!"

Annie winked at Ferg. "Emily, stop pestering Deputy Connally and get out the door, so we can get something to eat! I'm starving!"

Emily immediately ran out the door, ready for ice cream.

"You would be, eating for two all the time," Branch sassed.

Annie shot him a bird behind Gretchen's back as Vic snickered.

"Tell Walt and Cady I said hi," she said with a smile as she followed her daughter, Ferg with Gretchen in his arms right behind her.

He stood for a moment in the doorway, listening to the squeals of his older child as she ran down the old wooden staircase, Annie following carefully behind. She had told him that morning that the sundress she wore in honor of warmer weather just made her look fat.

He never thought she looked more radiant. But, he was always a sucker for a woman in a sundress and cowboy boots. It didn't hurt that he never thought she was more beautiful than when she was carrying his child.

Managing to catch Emily before she ran out the door, Annie realized he hadn't followed and glanced up at him standing at the top of the stairs, watching her with a smile on his face. "What?"

"I was just thinking . . . I first met you right here. Right in this spot." She smiled at the memory as he continued. "You had on a pair of the tightest jeans I'd ever seen and was wearing one of those red shirts Henry used to make all his girls wear. . ."

"And I was mad at Branch for making me change his tire," Annie's smile mirrored his own. "I remember."

Ferg made his way down the stairs to his wife. "And you were mad at me for thinking a woman couldn't work on cars."

"I wasn't mad at you," she huffed. "Just annoyed."

When he got to the bottom, he took her other hand in his and squeezed. She smiled at him as they headed out into the bright sunshine.

"I can't believe you still remember that," she said as they made their way to Dorothy's.

"I remember a lot of things," Ferg admitted.

She linked her arm with his as she held onto Emily's hand. "I hope they're not all bad."

He kissed the top of her head. His wife. The mother of his children. The woman he planned to spend the rest of his life with. "With you, it's never bad . . . just interesting."

She eyed him loftily. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should," he grinned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Now wasn't that fun? Thank you from the bottom of my little ol' heart for reading and reviewing!