Mandy looked at Meg, “Don’t they have any announcement to make yet?”
“Not that I know…” Meg shrugged her shoulders. Craig glanced over and saw them all staring. He and Janie carried the laughing little girls over to their parents.
“What’s up?” said Craig while handing off Lucy and Livy to Colt.
“Anything you’d care to tell us, guys?” asked Meg.
Janie looked at Craig who shrugged, and then back to Meg. She shook her head and handed Emily to Jesse and Sofia to Carter.
“Not yet, Meggie. Give us a bit more time.” They all laughed.
Mandy cleared her throat and looked at Colt.
“In that case, we do have an announcement.” Colt continued.
“Mandy and I are expecting again, due in six months.”
Lily and Sandy heard that and everyone gathered around to congratulate them. Lots of shoulder pats and hands shaken… A few cheek busses between the women.
“We need to congratulate Craig as well. He took second in the state archery tournament and put Naples on the map!”
“How about a toast, son?” said Jeanne.
“You bet…” Sandy began. “To our archery champ, Craig, and our new parents-to-be-again, Mandy and Colt, and Jesse and Audrey. Congratulations to you all!” They held up glasses and drank.
“Sandy, don’t forget Janie’s interview with the Secret Service,” mentioned Lily.
“That’s okay, Mom,” said Janie. “I haven’t been offered the job yet.”
“No, Lily’s right. Let’s also toast to my incredible daughter who is both lovely and smart, and may be working for the government soon.”
“To Janie…” Everyone held up their glasses and toasted her. Craig leaned over to kiss her.
“And remember, everybody. Say great things about me when you’re interviewed. That should be happening pretty soon.” Craig refilled her glass and she took a sip.
“So we have to be nice, sis?” Jesse asked.
“Unless you want me hanging around the Sheriff’s Office in Naples forever. I suggest you suck it up, brother…” Jesse gulped, while people laughed.
“How long will the background check take, Janie?” asked Sandy.
“… I was told between two and three months. They will be talking to friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, etc. So it’ll depend on the number of people interviewed.”
The big announcement left unsaid was about their engagement. Were they or weren’t they getting married? And what was the big holdup if they weren’t? For once, the big noisy, nosy Johnson family held their collective tongues and didn’t push them. Seeing them happy together was a gift they all shared…
The children were all getting grumpy and sleepy, so their parents picked them up and started for home. Jeanne and Sam said farewell and left for their home. Meg and Carter were staying at the ranch house for the roundup, so Carter took Sofia off to bed as Meg helped her mother. With Janie’s help, soon all the platters of food were inside. Sandy and Craig managed the shut down and cleanup of the outside area. After a while and with Meg and Lily working in the kitchen, Janie slipped out to find Craig. When her dad walked into the house, Janie took Craig’s hand.
“… Fancy a walk?” She grinned at him, which tugged at his heart. They started walking by the corrals in the moonlight, when he stopped. “What?”
Craig didn’t say a word, but reached over to her ponytail and took the elastic out. Her hair fell softly around her face that he caressed. He kissed her soft lips and then took her hand. Heading for the barn, she laughed.
Glancing outside, Lily saw them go in. “That barn has seen more action, Meg.” She laughed at her mother’s comment.
“Yep… If those walls could talk…”
Inside the barn, Janie started to say something, but Craig shushed her.
“Before you begin to guess anything, sweetheart… It’s my turn to say something first.” He reached inside his jeans pocket to pull out the diamond engagement ring. Craig held it out to her.
“You mean to tell me that you’ve had that in your pocket all night long?”
He smiled. “Yup.”
They looked into each other’s faces for a long minute. Janie saw the Carter face that she knew would always be there for her. Drowning in her eyes, Craig cleared his throat and found his voice.
“Janie Johnson, would you do me the honor of marrying me just as soon as humanly possible? You know I’ve loved you your whole life so far… I want to love you for the rest of it too…” He put the ring on her engagement finger.
Tears sprang to her eyes. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Craig Ferguson.” She collected herself and glanced around. “So this is the romantic place where you wanted to propose?” She laughed and Craig took her in his arms.
“Any place is romantic with you, sweetheart, except maybe for the parking lot at the federal building,” he whispered in her ear. He kissed her with the horses moving in the background, hay drifting through the air around them and starlight coming in the cracks of the barn walls. She pulled back to look at him.
“When I was a little girl, I didn’t think that love would be for me. I thought it would stifle me.”
“ And now…”
“And now I think love will help me grow. It’s only going to be better with us together, and I can’t even imagine my future without you.”
“Let’s go home, sweetheart. I want to continue this discussion in our bed.” She laughed and he took her hand. Walking out of the barn, she stopped and looked up at the night sky. She pointed…
“What is it?” He looked up in the direction she was pointing.
“It’s Venus, the Goddess of Love.” A slow smile crept on her face. “I didn’t understand what she was about when I was young…”
Craig smiled back at her. “You probably have a pretty good idea now, don’t you?” She put her hand on his face.
“Only because of you…” In the moonlight with Venus shining down, they smiled a while at each other, and then made their way to the house. Saying their goodnights, Craig and Janie walked out together into the cool, night air and into an exciting, new future.
EPILOGUE
Another Johnson wedding, with most of the town attending, took place nearly two months later. Once Lily discovered that Craig and Janie were officially engaged, the wedding preparations began in earnest and, as usual, snowballed. She thought it possible that this would be the last wedding of her children to occur, since Joey and Miles kept making messes of their relationships. Lily and Sandy wanted to do this one up big…
So a wedding planner had been hired, a local cowboy band was found, and all the food would be catered from a company in Lake Tahoe. A party company had come down from Reno to decorate the ranch house and surrounding areas, including back and front yards. In fact, Sandy wanted to decorate part of Naples as well.
Janie’s dress was purchased from the wedding shop in San Francisco, like Lily, Audrey, Mandy and Meg before her. Janie found a glamorous dress from a famous designer that she loved. She wasn’t usually a girly-girl, but decided to be one for her wedding. The white, floor length ball gown was of multiple, frothy layers of tulle, with a square neckline and beaded embellishments. She had worn a diamond brooch at her waist given to her by her grandparents. Craig’s parents had given her diamond earrings to wear. When she had walked down the aisle with her father, Craig could hardly believe the vision Sandy handed to him.
Diane, her maid of honor, bought her dress at the San Francisco wedding shop as well. Sandy had paid for her sheath dress of ivory chiffon, also floor length that was made by the same famous designer. Craig and his best man, Colt, with groomsman, Jesse, rented tuxedos in San Francisco too. They had chosen black tuxedoes with flat front trousers, black bow ties and crisp white shirts. Colt had kidded Craig about wearing a kilt, but he said he was saving that for a visit with his grandparents.
The reception after the lovely ceremony had been fun with some startling developments. Meg,
of course, had made the multi-layered wedding cake. Janie had specifically asked that no fish appear anywhere in her design.
Diane was there on John Marston’s arm. They looked happy enough to have an announcement in the near future themselves.
A bit of a shocker was that Deputy Ethan met Sharon Anderson at the bar and shared a drink together to the bride and groom. The last time Janie saw them, Ethan and Sharon were dancing slowly to a rather fast western song. And they were smiling. Hmmm…
Craig and Janie honeymooned in Edinburgh, Scotland, staying not far from his grandparents, Malcolm and Aileen. Aileen was absolutely thrilled that Craig had finally brought a woman home to meet them. The Ferguson clan in Edinburgh held a post-wedding reception and naturally Craig wore his kilt. All his Ferguson relatives were in kilts and Aileen gave Janie a Ferguson plaid shawl to wear.
Malcolm wanted them to observe a few Scottish customs at the reception, so he gave Janie a sixpence coin to place in her shoe. The clan danced a version of the Lang Reel, a traditional dance that began at Malcolm and Aileen’s house and continued until they arrived at the reception house. Once they arrived, Craig’s relatives stopped dancing, while the bride and groom were left to dance the last dance alone.
It was a fun and exhausting time with his grandparents. As they were packing to leave and continue their honeymoon elsewhere in Scotland, Janie received a telegram. She opened it…
“Who’s it from, Janie?” asked Craig. He saw that she was mesmerized by the telegram’s contents.
Janie continued reading and then read it over again. Finally, she looked up into Craig’s curious face.
“I’ve been offered a position with the U.S. Secret Service in the counterfeiting section. They want me based in the Reno field office for my three probationary years and then I could be transferred overseas after that. I’m to report to Georgia in a month for the fifteen week training period.”
She looked up into his smiling face with her heart in her mouth. Craig laughed and lifted her up to twirl her around.
“Congratulations, sweetheart! Your dream’s come true…” He reached his arms around her while she clung to him. She even became a little teary.
“Both dreams, honey, both dreams…”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeanne Harrell lives in Nevada with her husband. They are both long time Nevadans mired in the Old West spirit. Traveling to different places in the country, especially the western states, gives Jeanne ideas for her books.
FROM JEANNE
THANK YOU again for reading my work. I appreciate it more than you know. There’s not enough love out in the world, so these are my attempts at adding more. If you have any comments, please write on the blog page of my website – www.jeanneharrell.com. I would love to hear from you.
Jeanne Harrell’s next book is entitled The Darkest Hour. It continues the life and work of Janie Ferguson, formerly Janie Johnson.
Janie is newly married and a new U.S. Secret Service agent working in the counterfeiting section. It’s not easy juggling job demands with being a bride, so Janie’s work is cut out for her. Her training period with the Service ends abruptly as an international case lands in her team’s lap. They have to find counterfeiters before an international monetary crisis occurs. Unfortunately, her job crisis parallels a personal one.
Watch for The Darkest Hour – coming soon.
Being Emma Page 16
