Garrett looked down from atop the Caprock and surveyed their house and the horse barn below. Knowing the reunion between brothers that was taking place inside it put a grin on his face that was sure to be there for a while. Bringing Asadi and Faraz together had been a long time coming. And a special debt of gratitude went out to his CIA friends for making it happen.
After taking Lacey’s hand into his own, Garrett led her on a lazy stroll along the rim of the ridge. He looked out over the Kohl Ranch in all its glory. The ice-blue sky was the same color as his girlfriend’s beautiful eyes, and the thaw of the snow had washed over the land, cleansing it, and nurturing his winter wheat fields into swaying waves of lush Irish green.
Garrett had his eye on the forty-five Black Baldy stocker calves that were walking the fence line on the way to the water trough for a drink; he was thinking of where his cattle operation was currently and imagining all that he wanted it to be. Despite the many setbacks in growing that part of the business, his plans now were even bigger and bolder.
Since his sister had returned home and taken over most of the duties of running Savage Exploration, he had the time to get back to his true passion, which one hundred percent centered on the cows and the horses. Despite the wrongdoing by Absolue Energy, the EU still went a different way on LNG, thus killing the Trans-Palisade pipeline. Which meant the Kohl family was still in the energy business but they would never get close to a deal that lucrative again.
Nevertheless, Garrett had made enough money to pay off his debt and keep the ranch afloat, with a little left over to buy a new GMC. But life went on, at least for him, if not for Kai Stoddard. And because it did, he would not waste a single moment of it. Wealthy or not, he would live each day like the Croesus of the Texas High Plains. Because in many ways, he was.
Lacey turned to him and locked eyes, wearing a look of pure contentment. “This is our place, isn’t it? This is the spot.”
The comment took Garrett a little by surprise. It wasn’t that he didn’t love hearing her say the words. He just didn’t know exactly what she meant by them. He was fumbling for an answer when it dawned on him that they had walked that same stretch a year earlier, talking about where they’d want to build if they ever had the money.
“Yeah, this is it, all right.” Garrett could feel his face radiating her satisfaction in the moment. “If we never left again, and this is all I had, I could die a happy man. Can’t think of a single thing else I need when I’m right here with you.”
“Same for me.” Lacey let go of his hand, walked closer to the cliff’s edge, and looked out over the ranch. “It’s our little piece of Heaven.”
If there were words that could’ve moved him more Garrett didn’t know what they were. He’d been waiting for the right moment for far too long. There was always some issue, some obstacle, some reason he couldn’t take that next step. Maybe the stars hadn’t completely aligned in terms of financial security, but there was no question that he’d found the right partner.
“Lacey, I know awhile back I promised to build you a home up here. And I wanted nothing more than to do just that. But now, with the pipeline deal gone for good I just can’t—”
“No, what you promised me was a house. Not a home. A home is what we build together. And I don’t care if it’s a mansion or a tent. I just want a life with you forever.”
“That’s exactly what I want too, Lace. I want to marry you.” Garrett locked eyes and pulled her close. “We’ll build up here one day, I promise. Just might take longer than I’d hoped.”
“Of course, I’ll be your wife.” Lacey beamed in her reply. “But I want you to know something first. Something that will change everything. Course of our whole future.”
Garrett pulled back and studied her face to make sure that everything was alright. But it didn’t take long to figure out that whatever secret she was holding was a good one. In fact, she looked like she was bursting to tell him the news. “Well, what is it? Can’t leave me hanging.”
“You remember that meeting I had with Vicky a couple of months ago?”
“How can I forget? You and Bridger came back here grinning like a couple of fools. Thought y’all were cooking up a surprise birthday party for me at the Mescalero or something.”
“Actually, it was about the minerals beneath the ranch my family owned. Turns out the seismic looks promising. Vicky offered a deal. And Bridger brokered the terms for me.”
Garrett knew that the Kaisers had bought the surface to her father’s property years ago and had built a solid infrastructure on the place, to include pipelines and tank batteries. So, it was only natural that Vicky would want to lease the lower unexplored zones.
“Well, that’s great.” Garrett was overjoyed to hear the news but didn’t know exactly what she was trying to tell him. “But what does all this mean? How does that change our future?”
Lacey took his hand into hers again and smiled. “Means that you and me building a home together will take a lifetime. But building that house up here won’t take long at all.”