Greyson

Years Later

Sometimes, I wake up and think it was all a dream. That Penny was never mine, and the four children we have together are just figments of my imagination. 

They’re the worst moments, and are quickly banished when a tiny limb gets thrown across my body. 

Sleeping with a toddler is no joke. 

“Today’s the day,” Penny says, stretching her arms and elongating her gorgeous body. Even after having four children, she’s still the most beautiful woman in every room, and I make sure to tell her that every chance I get. 

It’s hard to believe how much we’ve been through, and how much life we still have left to live. That we still have dreams that haven’t yet been realized, paths left to explore. 

We roll out of bed and go through the motions of the morning. She feeds the kids while I tend to the pets. It’s not an exciting morning, and that’s okay, because when you have four kids, you learn to cherish the silent times between chaos. 

“I’ll get the ponies loaded.”

I scratch my head. “Isn’t that Ryder’s thing?” 

“He’s working the petting zoo,” Penny says. “How many do you think we’ll need?”

“Three.”

Years ago, Perish Prosper started suffering the effects of the new online shopping craze. Stores would go days without sales, and many were looking to close. 

While it didn’t affect the ranch, we knew we had to do something to save Perish, so we called a town meeting to discuss the situation and decided to make our small town a tourist destination. 

We started with branding, making everything look quaint but up to date. Then we encouraged the shops to focus on the quality of what they had to offer, and post several times a day on social media. 

We turned some of our land into areas for camping and RVs, and once that was settled, we started throwing festivals multiple times a year, drawing families not just from neighboring cities, but the entire state, as well as others. 

Travelers come here excited to take pictures with the people they follow from Perish Prosper, and when they post their pics online, it gets us even more attention. 

In other words, business is booming, and there’s no sign of slowing down. 

Charlotte helps get her siblings: Tami, William, and Kent, into the truck.

We really couldn’t have asked for a better big sister. 

We drive into Perish and bring our younger kids to the childcare center, where they’ll be watched with their cousins and the other children from town. Charlotte goes to Karmen’s shop to help her, because she’s taken a liking to fashion.

“With as big as these are getting, we might need to call in more vendors,” Penny says as she looks down the street at the town folk setting up their booths. 

“There’s been a lot of talk about adding something big. An immersion experience, like how some kids go away to space camp.”

Penny arches a brow. “Ranch camp?”

“Cowboy camp.” 

Penny giggles. “William would like that.”

“William lives it.”

“Yeah, but he’ll enjoy being a part of it. Showing others how it’s done.”

I nod. “That’s true.”

We set up the ponies just as the ranch hands arrive to take over. 

Instead of taking Penny home to rest, I veer toward the field I used to go to with my brothers, the one I took her to shoot the potato gun.

It’s been years since we’ve gone back, but I’ve been wanting to, and since we’re always busy, sometimes you just need to do it. 

“You know we have a lot to get done, don’t you?” Penny says. 

“We do, but I will always make time for you.”

I set up a picnic lunch like the one we had all those years ago, though this time, we get to enjoy a bottle of wine with our meal. 

“Do you ever wonder what life would have been like if you hadn’t been so drunk at that party?” Penny asks me. 

“Unbearable,” I tell her. “But I have a feeling we would have come together eventually.”

“I’d like to think that we would have, but sometimes I feel afraid that…I don’t know…”

“That it’s all a dream?” I ask her. 

“Yeah.”

“Sometimes I wake up and worry about that exact same thing, but it’s not, and it never will be. This is our reality, Penny. You, me, four kids, and a great enormous family that would do anything for each other.”

She smiles and lets out a long sigh. “Thank you for that. You’ve been there for me, and even my siblings, when you didn’t have to be.”

“Your kin are mine, as mine are yours.”

“Did you hear the news about Eddy Rae?” she says with a giggle.

“Do I want to?”

“She married an old man very quickly after meeting him, without a prenup. She thought she scored big, thinking he was an oil tycoon, but come to find out, he worked for the oil tycoon and is deep in debt.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“She’s a pretty girl, so she could have married well and been happy. But she took a shot with whom she thought was a big fish and got nothing for it.”

After we finish eating, we shoot off a few potatoes before lying on the picnic blanket. 

“We need more days like this,” I tell her.

She curls into my nook, nuzzling her face against my neck. “Yeah, we do.”

As the wind rolls across the fields, we fall asleep in each other’s arms to the sound of the calling birds, the chirping crickets, and the beating of our hearts. 

And we do so without fear because we know we love each other, and that no obstacle can stand in the way of what we have. 

Because this isn’t just a moment. It’s a lifetime.

The End

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