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Mesa still needs me for balance, but his strength is good enough that he can stand on his own for several minutes now before his leg gives out on him and he keeps working on it. His doctors think he'll probably be able to walk unassisted for short distances at some point, but he'll probably never completely be able to lose the cane.
That's okay with me, I got him a fancy, hand-carved one for Christmas and, frankly, I think he looks kinda sexy with it.
"What are you thinking about, Angel?" His voice is deep, whispered against my ear before the music gives way to the next dance.
"I was thinking I changed my mind." I give him a smirk.
"Well, it's too late now, baby. The license is all signed and witnessed and the preacher man took it to get recorded at the courthouse-- you're mine now."
"Not about marrying you."
There's a question in his eyes, waiting for me to explain.
"About waiting till after I start working."
The song ends. Guests cheer as the music gives way to a livelier beat-- we opted to skip all the other traditional dances, so guests begin to fill in around us but Mesa's eyes are burning hot on me.
His hand shoots out, fingers beckoning Terra to bring the cane back quickly. As soon as she does, Mesa catches me completely off guard.
Crouching into a squat, he wraps his good arm around the back of my thighs and tips me over his shoulder in-- appropriately enough-- a classic fireman's carry.
I giggle, swatting at his gorgeous ass as he hauls me out of our own wedding reception and down the hall of the ski lodge's resort hotel where we're holding the wedding.
We'd planned on waiting till after I'd been working for a while before we started trying to get pregnant, but once I was assured that it wouldn't be a problem if I was already pregnant when I started my new job this summer, I stopped taking my birth control.
I mean, it's only been a week, I doubt our efforts will be successful any time soon. But you can believe, we're going to try.
He doesn't put me down until he's carried me through the door to our suite and dropped me on the bed.
"And you said you wouldn't be able to carry me over the threshold," I tease as he begins unbuttoning my gown.
EPILOGUE 2
Eight Years Later
Mesa
Our oldest son, Heron, stands next to his baby brother and shows him how to hold the carrot for the goat with its head through the fence.
Glade's only two and a half and the goats are still a mystery, and a little bit scary, to the toddler but he worships his seven-year-old brother. I watch from a distance and try not to laugh at I watch our youngest hesitantly hold his hand out flat and snatch it away quickly as soon as the fluffy goat takes it from him.
"Good job, bro!" Heron holds his hand up and patiently waits for his brother's high five.
We didn't mean to have the boys five years apart, it's just the way it worked out.
Angel got pregnant with Heron almost immediately after she stopped her birth control but it was five more years before we got pregnant again.
Not for lack of trying.
"Morning, Angel."
I greet my wife with a kiss as she joins me on the back deck of the cabin where I'm keeping an eye on the boys.
Heron loves the goats. If we'd known how much he was going to love them, we'd have built the pen earlier and just gotten more than one.
Abu started a new tradition of giving goats to each of the great grandkids as they're born. I think it's just her way of getting rid of her own herd as her and Pops get too old to want to deal with them on their own anymore.
"He's going to want another kid next spring," I mention to Angel as we watch our oldest son putting out feed for the animals.
