Chapter Forty-Four

Seven weeks later

At the very moment that Joe and Charity reached the top of the slope, a shaft of golden sunlight broke through the clouds that had hung low over the land they’d been driving through since leaving the last small town they’d stopped at – a town so young in age that the pine wood used to build the shops, houses and boardwalks was still yellow with newness.

Motionless, they sat on the wagon and gazed down on the lush green grass that stretched from the east to the west, and rolled back from the foot of the slope to the blue-hazed mountains that lay to the north, their snow-capped peaks agleam in the sun. A river meandered through the heart of the valley, bordered by solitary cottonwoods and willows, their leaves shimmering bronze in the shifting rays of the sun.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Charity breathed. ‘It’s everything the man in town said it was, and more. And look!’ She raised her hand and traced with her finger the outline of the mountain peaks, her dragon and phoenix bangles jingling loudly. Then her arm fell to her side and she turned to Joe. ‘Did you see that?’ she cried in excitement.

‘Not really,’ he said with a grin. ‘What was I meant to see?’

‘The peaks are shaped like the pagodas in the paintin’s on the walls of the tong. Don’t laugh, Joe, but I feel as if we were meant to find this place.’

He shook his head. ‘I’m not laughin’, Charity; I feel that way, too. This is gonna be our land,’ he said, his voice trembling with emotion, and he looked back ahead of him. ‘It’s got everythin’ we need. The town’s only half an hour’s ride away, and the river will always be fed with water from the mountains, so even if the water level drops in the summer, it won’t dry out. Those cottonwoods tell us that – they like to keep their feet wet. And there are trees enough to give us wood and shade, and as for the grass – well, you couldn’t want better-looking grass than that. This is ranchin’ land. This is the sort of place I used to dream of havin’.’

‘And the man in the office said it’s not yet been staked, so it could be ours.’

‘It sure could.’ He inhaled deeply. ‘You can smell the freshness of the air, and you can’t hear a thing except the sound of the wind and the birds. But the best thing of all,’ he said turning to her, his eyes shining with love, ‘it’s where the two of us can live together. My life would never be complete if you weren’t part of it, Charity.’

She trailed her hand across his back and leaned her head against his shoulder. ‘And all I’ll ever want is to be with you, Joe, mornin’, noon and night. I love you.’

He swung round, took her face in his hands and brought his lips down on hers in a kiss that was both hard and tender. Then he jumped from the wagon, took a few steps down the slope and stopped. Charity climbed down from the wagon after him, and went and stood at his side.

‘So,’ he said, putting his arm around her shoulders and looking down at her with eyes that were ablaze with love. ‘Shall we definitely do it? Shall we make this land our home?’

Her gaze travelled across the valley as she slid her arm around his waist. She slipped her free hand into the pocket of her skirt, wrapped her fingers around the small wooden tiger painted in gold with black stripes, and clutched it tightly. ‘Oh, yes, Joe.’

A smile of deep happiness spread across his face.

‘And I say yes, too,’ he said quietly, tightening his arm around her shoulder.

The words hung in the air.

Their hearts beating fast, they looked at each other, and together they turned to face the grass-covered valley that was to be their home. Then raising their eyes, they gazed up above the mountains to the Wyoming sky, a sky that was vast and blue and empty, and waiting for them to fill it with their lives.

* The End *

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