It was days like this that Claire loved more than anything. A crisp chill to the air, the scent of burning leaves somewhere in the distance, and a warm cup of tea in her hand. The grass under her was soft, and she could hear her cows braying from the barn. Work was finished, she'd met Manna and the other wives in the square for a round of gossip, and Poppy, her daughter, was sleeping peacefully in her crib.
Yes, it had been a good day.
She laid back and closed her eyes, a smile on her face as she thought back on the 5 years she had been in Mineral Town. Starting out with an overgrown field, a box full of hand-me-down tools, and a lot of moxy, she'd built up her run-down farm into something to be envied. She'd made a lot of good friends, and found the love of her life. Things just couldn't be any better.
"Claire, baby?" Cliff asked, stepping out of the house. "Are you out here?"
She peeked one eye open and waved a hand at her husband from where she lay in the grass. She closed her eye again as he came up next to her and sat down.
"What're you thinking about?" He asked. He knew her so very, very well. They'd been married for over a year now, and they dated for 3 years before that.
"Just...things, I guess. How far I've come since I got here." She replied, stretching out in the grass.
"You've done a lot." He agreed, humming softly. "You've done well for yourself. I remember the first time I saw you. I remember thinking you were too scrawny to be a rancher." He laughed softly. "Can't say that now." He squeezed her bicep, firm and strong beneath his hand from years of hard labor.
"You haven't done too bad, yourself." She reminded him. "When I got here you were just another drifter, sure you were going to have to move on to the next town as soon as your money ran out. Now Duke's talking about leaving you the Winery."
"That's all thanks to you, babe. You're the one who got me the job." He lay down beside her, clasping her hand in his. They were both rough and calloused from their jobs. Claire liked to think it was a metaphor for their equal partnership in their marriage. Cliff had never once treated her like she couldn't pull her own weight. She liked that about him.
"Remember that first wine harvest?" She asked, smiling. "When you tripped over that root and sent a whole barrel of grapes flying right at Duke?" She laughed.
Cliff joined in her laughter, squeezing her hand. "Or when you almost fell out of the barrel when you were squishing the grapes down with your feet? That was a nice save, by the way. I don't know if I ever told you that. Very graceful, A+." He snickered. She'd barely managed to hang on to the barrel, hanging half out of it while she flailed for her balance.
"Thanks." She remarked sardonically, cutting her eyes at him.
"If you hadn't asked me to help you out, I would have had to leave." He remarked contemplatively.
"I couldn't let you." She smiled softly, bringing their entwined hands up to kiss the back of his. "I already knew by then that I liked you. I couldn't just let you leave. And besides, you were the only one in town not doing anything that day." She smirked. "The least you could have done was help out." She teased.
"Oh hush, you." He laughed, throwing a stray leaf at her. "I'm glad you asked me. I couldn't have asked for things to turn out better."
Claire rolled over on her side and curled around her husband, laying her head on his chest. "I'm glad I asked you, too." She murmured into his shirt. "You have no idea how unhappy I was in the city. A dead-end job that I hated with a demanding asshole of a boss, cooped up in a tiny apartment. I hated it so, so much. Every day I could feel this crushing weight on my chest wearing me down. I felt like I didn't matter, like nothing I did mattered." She sighed, squeezing him tight.
"And now?" He asked, even though he knew the answer.
"I'm happy. Ridiculously happy. Astronomically happy." She smiled against his chest. "I have a prosperous farm, a beautiful baby girl, and the best husband in the universe. I'm so happy I could die."
"Please don't. Your beautiful daughter and amazing husband need you." He laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"I could never leave you two. No offense, babe, but I don't think you could run the farm until Poppy was old enough to take over and work at the winery at the same time." She teased.
"You're probably right. I can make wine, but fuck if I know how to birth a cow or how often a cucumber needs to be watered." He chuckled. "You're amazing. The best farmer I know."
"Better than your sister?" She teased.
"Chelsea's good, but she's no Claire." He answered back.
"I'm glad you two found each other again. Who knew that all this time she was running a ranch in the Sunshine Islands? Small world." Claire chuckled. "If I hadn't basically forced you to take a vacation, we never would have found her."
"Yeah. I can't believe she's married." He shook his head, still in disbelief.
"Denny's a good guy. He treats her well, I can tell. They really love eachother." Claire remarked, looking up at the sky as it started to turn red and gold with the Autumn sunset.
"Yeah, I'm glad they found each other, too. And Jonah is really cute." He added.
"I can't wait until he and Poppy are a bit older. I bet they'll be thick as thieves. I should call my cousin Rachel. We were really close as kids, but I haven't seen her in years." She hummed. She and Rachel had always talked about owning a farm. She wondered if her cousin had ever followed their dream like she had.
They sat in comfortable silence, tangled together, watching the sun set over their home. They stayed out well past the time night fell over the farm, enjoying each other's company. Silently, both thanked their lucky stars, looking forward to a lifetime doing the exact same thing.