Cowboys and Ladies

This chapter contains adult content, though I have handled it with great care.

Chapter Twenty Two

The night air, smelling so fresh and clean, and the sound of the waves hitting against the beach and rocks, felt so good to Victoria as she sat on some of the huge boulders embedded in the sands of Monterrey Beach. It was the first stop she and Duke McColl were making while on their honeymoon. As she turned, and watching her new husband as he made his way towards her; he gone back to the beach house to get some drinks for both of them, her mind wandered back to the day her late husband Tom had hired Duke on as a ranch hand.

"Give him a chance, Torie." Tom laid his hands upon her shoulders. "I've talked to his former employer. The man only let him go due to his lack of funds, not because of McColl himself. I know he's got a few characteristics you don't care for, only he's a good man from what I hear. He'll grow on you; you'll see."

Victoria couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle and smile. She wondered what she would have thought had someone told her that the day would come that her husband, Tom, would be gone and that McColl would grow on her. Yes, grow on her to the point that, while others called him McColl and Mac, she would actually switch to calling him Duke. Victoria also wondered what she'd have thought if someone had told her she and their foreman would actually wind up falling in love and getting married. Of course, the more she thought on it, the more she knew she'd have told them to shut up for the mere fact she still had Tom and wasn't looking for anyone else.

"Penny for your thoughts," McColl sat down next to Victoria and handed her a drink.

"Just wondering why I didn't see what was right in front of my eyes all these years." Victoria answered as she smiled at her new husband and took a sip of her drink.

McColl finished off his own refreshment and then sat the glass down upon the boulder they were sitting on. He couldn't help but start chuckling. "Maybe it's a good thing neither one of us did. I mean, I don't think I'd ever talked any sense into Jarrod if it weren't for the fact that Georgia had already done a good share of that." He answered, as he slid one arm around her shoulders while taking her glass, which was now also empty, away from her and sat it down.

"Maybe so, she does have a way of getting Jarrod to listen when he's shut his ears to everyone else." Victoria said as McColl began caressing her cheek.

"That she does," McColl's answer was barely audible as he found his way to her neck while he pulled her to him. With no one around, the sun had set hours ago and anyone who had been out on the beach had long since disappeared, all he wanted was to show Victoria yet another side of life she had not seen in years. "But let's not worry about Jarrod, Georgia or anyone else for that matter. Well, not right now anyway."

Victoria felt her heart skip a beat as McCall pulled her even closer to him and let his hands wander to places he'd never dreamt of going when he'd first met her. "Duke…" Victoria managed to speak even as small gasp escaped her lips, "we're outside."

"It's almost ten thirty." McColl said as he slid off the boulder taking her with him, "We're surrounded by boulders; no one can see us." He whispered as he laid her down on the ground. "I've waited for this for a long time. What about you?" He asked as he covered her mouth and slid his tongue inside while his hands found their way inside her blouse and then continued their explorations.

"What is it about cowboys and ladies?" William's innocent question, the one Victoria had overheard him ask Silas shortly after William had been brought to the house rang in her ears as McColl began removing each and every one piece of clothing they had on, allowing her to do her own explorations as well. Needless to say, their actions continued to add fuel to the fire now raging inside of her, a fire she had thought for sure would never see the light of day after Tom had died. Any thought of trying to come up with an answer totally disappeared when Victoria found herself completely engulfed by the fire and crying out McColl's name just before the two of them began the process of becoming one…something that would be repeated more than once by the time their honeymoon was over and they were back on the ranch.

Epilogue

Victoria was simply beaming with happiness as she watched one member after another arriving at the home she now shared with Duke McColl, with the exception of Gene who'd had the opportunity of a life time and went to Europe to study under the famous Louis Pasteur for a year. The noise in the yard was more than welcome. The family was gathering together to welcome Jarrod and Georgia's second child, Thomas Nicholas Barkley into the world. For Victoria, the event was even more special as Audra and Adam Carl had returned to California after Grandmother Wheeler had passed away. "I couldn't stay away; I applied for the teaching job that became available there in Stockton, and they have hired me." Those words, written the month before, along with the fact that Hank Madden was now starting to see Audra as more than a friend, brought as much joy to Victoria as did her new grandson. Of course, Victoria was sure he never would have started looking Audra's way had her daughter not, somewhere along the line, found her spunk once more. Along with that, she had been thrilled to learn that Heath and Marie were not only parents to William, but expecting twins as well.

"Mother?" Nick walked up the steps leading to the home his mother now lived in. "Everything okay?" He had seen the faraway look in Victoria's eyes and read it wrong.

Victoria smiled as she watched her husband take Thomas from his father and then turned her attention to Nick. She couldn't help but smile as she could see Jenny Hollister talking to Audra and Hank standing roughly fifty yard behind her middle son. The very talented dressmaker had returned to Stockton after Nick, who had, with Eugene's help, finally realized what a gem he had let slip through his hands, had hopped a train and gone after her. The two were now seriously courting each other. "I've never been better." Victoria answered as a smile that reached from one end of California to the other spread over her face.