Loving Against the Grain (Into the West #2)

Epilogue

                                                                         October

“I have to say that, even though I’m so looking forward to our anniversary trip next week to Astoria, this has to be my most favorite place of all.” Emmie sighed, wondering if her heartbeat would ever return to normal.

“Mmm. The falls have always been a favorite of mine, too, darlin’, but I don’t think I’ll ever think of ‘em in quite the same way again.” Noah smiled up at the fall leaves fluttering above him in the afternoon breeze before he reached over and plopped his Stetson over his grinning face. He’d just finished making very thorough love to his wife of exactly one year, fulfilling his long-time fantasy of loving her outside at Horsetail Falls, the same place he’d taken her the day after their wedding a year ago. So much had happened in that one year!

A rustling beside him warned Noah that his wife was on the move, and sure enough, a second later she plopped her upper body on him, stacking her hands under her chin after knocking his hat off his face. Lord, but Emmie was beautiful, with hair mussed and face still flushed from their lovemaking, blouse open to the waist to reveal her generous curves, since he’d tossed her chemise somewhere behind them in his haste to get her naked.

“So, I guess this beats fishing then?” Emmie gave a witchy smile down into her husband’s besotted face, sapphire blue eyes tilting up with her wicked grin. She knew exactly how to capture Noah’s attention, whether he be working on the addition to their cabin, or making new toys for Rebecca, who could now sit up as well as roll over and over. Just a touch on his sleeve, or a slow, secret smile shot in his direction, had Noah setting down his saw or hammer and coming to her side. And Emmie beckoned him often.

They had come a long way since Noah’s horrific accident at the beginning of summer. True to her word, after the delivery of Noah’s first paycheck while he recovered, Emmie had written her glowing letter of how well The Pacific Lumber Company took care of its injured employees and sent it to The Chronicle. The article got buried at the back of the paper, but Emmaline had fulfilled her part of their deal, and Mr. Thistledown upheld his end. Noah’s pay receipts came promptly throughout his recuperation, and, added with Emmie’s pay from the cookhouse, the couple had quite a nest egg saved up for the following year, when The Company left St. Helens and moved northward. Noah’s dream of his own livery would become a reality.

He’d returned to work at the end of summer, a slight limp the only reminder of the accident that had knit the couple closer together. They’d weathered the pain and shock of those first few weeks, with friends and family there to help them through the dark time. And they’d discovered how deep their love flowed for one another in the process. A union born from mutual necessity had now become a true marriage, where each partner could lean on the other and know the strength of their love would hold them up.

“I’ve definitely got a prettier fish on the line, I gotta say. Must be the bait I use.” Noah’s grin now cracked wide at his wife’s shocked expression, and he took advantage of her stunned silence by easily switching their positions, placing himself on top of Emmaline. Propped on his elbows, Noah cupped Emmie’s face with his two large hands, thumbs smoothing over the apples of her cheeks. She closed her eyes involuntarily at the caress, and Noah bent to sip at her lips.

“Or maybe you’re baiting me,” he continued against her mouth, swallowing her sigh as his own.

“I love you, Noah,” Emmie breathed, feeling that familiar quickening throughout her body whenever her husband kissed or touched her.

“Not as much as I love you,” the wrangler countered, taking her mouth again with his, luxuriating in the feel of her lips under his, always willing, always ready. Noah sank into this kiss while his fingers delved into the hair at her temples, holding her face steady as he lost himself in the joy of kissing Emmaline Townsend Lawson.

“I love you too, Mrs. Lawson, and right now I think I’m ready to show you again just how much.” The weight of Noah’s body pressed deliciously against Emmie, and a sigh of pure delight escaped her lips even as one of his hands slid down her throat and into her open blouse, unerringly cupping one of her breasts. Emmie moaned.

“Twice in one afternoon, Mr. Lawson? How scandalous!”

As his hand kneaded and plucked to her unending delight, Emmie found herself arching upwards, enjoying the fact that her husband could indeed make love to her on into the night if she so desired. And, with what he was doing to her body right now, Emmie hoped it would continue right past nightfall!

“Scandalous is my middle name, Mrs. Lawson, if you keep flaunting this body of yours around me.” Noah lowered his mouth to one pertly tipped breast and suckled, smiling as his wife gasped.

Little Rebecca, sitting on the other end of the blanket and stacking wood alphabet blocks Noah had lovingly made and painted this past summer, chose that moment to babble happily as the breeze kicked up and tickled her downy hair. Noah cast a quick glance at his daughter, but immediately returned to his pastime, gliding his mouth and hands lazily along Emmie’s skin, enjoying her shivering, unrestrained reactions. He knew he would never get tired of making love to his wife; the passion he felt for her shook him to his core by its intensity. But now, after what they had gone through this past year, after seeing Emmie fight for his rights like a lioness protecting what was hers, the wrangler was content in the knowledge that he wasn’t alone in this dizzying emotion that enveloped him whenever he was around her. His wife loved him with a fierceness that humbled him.

As he slipped inside her once more, becoming one in body as well as in spirit, as he lost himself in that age-old expression of undying love, Noah realized that marrying Emmaline, with all its ups and downs along the way, had not only given her sanctuary, it had given him everything he’d sought in this life. By leaving Texas to escape his memories and his past, Noah had at last found the home, the love, the inner peace he hadn’t even realized he’d been searching for, with a woman who loved him exactly the way he was. Life didn’t get any better than that.

The End