A slow, lopsided grin tugged at his lips as he shrugged. ‘It’s there… but I’m not letting it stop me.’
Adjusting his stockman’s hat, he gripped the reins and settled into the saddle like he’d never been out of it. It had been far too long since he’d been in the saddle, but it felt like coming home.
‘Come on, let’s show our horses their new digs. You don’t mind skipping our walk tonight?’ It was a habit they’d started to exercise his leg, when he could only hobble with one of the crutches, while holding onto Izzy. But even though he could walk better now, they’d both come to enjoy their sunset walks, before settling beside the fire pit to stare up at the night sky filled with stars.
‘Are you kidding me? This is a million times better.’ Izzy’s smile was as wide as when she got her first shipment of bees, or when she’d potted up her first jar of honey. ‘But didn’t Bree say it’s best to ride in the mornings?’
‘Sure, we can do that, too.’ And at this time of the day, when the dust sparked like fire from the burning ball of flame as it slowly sank behind the horizon, it shed a glorious golden red over their land to show how Dustfire got its name.
‘It’s beautiful.’
‘Yeah, I know.’ He wasn’t facing the land, too busy watching Izzy riding high in the saddle. ‘Nothing is as beautiful as you, my ever-enchanting Bee Queen.’ She was his everything. ‘Come on, let’s ride off into the sunset together.’
Her laugh was so clear and vibrant it echoed in the crisp outback air. ‘That is such a cliché.’
‘How many peopleactuallyget to do it, huh?’ He nudged Slim down the soft red dirt track that was lined with railed fences, as the sun lowered further behind the sloping hills of what he called paradise.
After all the heartbreak, the bad timing and missed opportunities, where the world got in the way of their wants, they finally had their home filled with the kind of love that set a foundation for something wonderful. They may have taken the long way around to make Dustfire their home, but it was theirs now, it was their present, and it was their future just waiting to let their dreams come true as a family.
It was a gift that kept on giving every single day.
Once, not that long ago, he’d strap himself to the back of a beast just to shake hands with Death, in the hope of making him feel alive again, as his excuse and escape from the drudgery of day-to-day living. But he didn’t need to do that, not anymore. He didn’t need to hear the rodeo crowds, or feel the heat of the stadium lights, or smell the barbeque or the sweat of man or beast. Not when he got to share his days and nights with Izzy, as they rode their stockhorses on their own property, Dustfire. Craig finally had that happy ending he’d always dreamed about, the one he’d planned with Izzy right from the beginning.
Well, almost.
‘Hey, my ever-sweet Bee Queen. I know we always said we’d have children one day, and with Bree being pregnant…’
THE END
For now…
