Page 36 of Chains and Vows

"But we're still here. And I've got a new family. Not just you and your ornery brothers, but Laz and his people too. He's got a kid. She's eight."

"You have a niece!" I don't know why this makes me so happy, but it does. "And look at that! The number of nieces we now have just doubled! This is fantastic!

Legion laughs. "Yeah. We lost a lot these past few years. But I think we're gonna come out ahead."

"I have to say, I was aghast when I realized that Colt took advantage of Destiny."

"Ah, well. It's Destiny. Maybe you don't know her as well as I do, but you know her well enough. She's a girl who does what she wants."

"True, she is stubborn in a way I am familiar with." I poke Legion's shoulder, so he knows I'm referring to him. "And seventeen is not a baby. Colt was wrong. I get it. But…" I smile at him. "I'm not gonna lie. I want him home. I want him to bring Destiny and Marigold home. Some of that is selfish. But all of it is real too."

"Did you talk to Colt?"

"Yes. He called today."

"And?"

"He's gotta talk to Destiny because she likes it there in Jackson."

"Of course, she does. She's dreamt about living in Jackson for as long as I can remember. She used to bring home those western magazines and cut out pictures and put them up on her wall. And she'd tell me, 'One day I'm gonna live there.'"

"And she does. But Jackson isn’t what people think. It's a place for…"

Legion grins. "Rich fucks?"

I point at him, boop him on the nose. "That. And not rich fucks like us, either. They're different there."

This makes Legion laugh. Probably because he doesn't consider himself a rich fuck.

"Rich fucks who aren't from there," I explain. "It matters, ya know."

He takes my hand, kisses my knuckles. "Oh, I know it. Fuckin' outsiders. Pretenders."

"People who never had to pull a calf out in a blizzard and bring it in the house to keep it alive," I say.

"People who don't live in the dust," he adds. "And don't understand what the wind tastes like. How that same wind is cold enough in the winter to freeze your eyes and that same dust is so dry in the summer you can choke on it."

"You make eastern Montana sound so romantic."

He laughs. "I like it here. I know I grew up on a small patch of rocky scrub, but I won't ever sell that land. Might never live on it again. But I'll never give it up."

"I like our land here too. It's paradise. And I think Colt, and Destiny, and Marigold will come home. And I think they will get married. And Mercy will come back too. And I will have two new sisters and two new nieces. And… a brother-in-law. If I'm lucky enough to ever get a proposal."

His scoff is immediate. "Well, you know I'd marry you in a heartbeat. But the will…"

"Oh that pesky thing?" I wink. "You and Cash can deal with Marcus and whatever else is gettin' in our way." I pat his chest. "Ya'll let me handle the will."

Legion kisses me. Long and sweet. And in between those kisses he whispers, "Deal."

CHAPTER 9

There's a funny sort of space between a man's past and his present. It's more than a stack of events, one leading to another, to another until you get to the current state of your situation.

It's a definitive thing. Something real that you can hold on to. That you can turn over in your hand and look at closely. Study all the details.

It's known and it stretches from the moment you came out your mama's womb to this precise, discrete instant of time called 'the now'.

The space between a man's present and his future is a whole other animal, and I mean that literally. It's not just unknown, it's unknowable, and there's a difference there that most people never sit with long enough to feel.