A/N: This is the sixth in a series of stories inspired by Dustin Lynch's song, Cowboys and Angels. It takes place during Till Death Do Us Part, Part One.
Kid looked at the tiny gold ring in his hand. The glint of metal made him smile even though it hurt his already split lip. He looked up to see Lou looking over her shoulder at him and smile back. Tomorrow they would become husband and wife. It would be the end of one chapter of their lives and the beginning of a new one. It was a long road to get to this point in their lives. It was full of confusion, happiness and pain. There were times when Kid thought it was never going to happen. He was glad he was wrong. Lou was the most complicated woman Kid had ever met and he couldn't feel luckier that she was in his life.
Lou had a way of tying Kid in knots all through their courtship. Kid was the first rider to learn Lou's secret, but he was reluctant to pursue her. He was afraid he might slip and then she would be fired. He promised he wouldn't reveal her secret to anyone else. Sometimes it seemed like Lou thought he was too careful. He remembered when Jimmy fell in love with Sarah Downs. Lou was openly hostile about how slow and cautious Kid was about his feelings for her. She emphatically stated at the dinner table one night that no one ever died from a broken heart. After that Kid started being bolder, but Lou backed off. After Emma and Sam left, she and Kid started getting even closer. The day Lou walked in on him in the shower startled Kid. After that Lou stopped backing off. He was so knocked off kilter by it that he asked Jimmy for advice.
The deeper Kid fell in love with Lou, the tighter he held onto her. It was a mistake, but one made with good intentions. Lou got so fed up with his over-protectiveness she told him to stop bein' her mama and to stick to bein' her man. He needed to find the balance between not dying of a broken heart and not acting like Lou's mama. It was a bigger challenge than one would think. It ultimately led to them separating. Kid thought he should move on and fine a woman that was closer to the ones he knew in Virginia. It turns out, the women he thought of a proper and less complicated, weren't the kind of women he wanted. Lou was the one.
It was hard for Kid growing up when and where he did. Virginia was very different than Nebraska Territory. He was taught what was proper and he and Lou were acting anything but proper for a while. They did things only people who were married should be doing, but it felt so good for both of them. Kid didn't really take the time to understand that Lou wasn't ready to get married. He pushed things too far for her. Lou was right when she once said he was a long way from Virginia. She wasn't talking about matters of the heart when she said it, but that didn't make it any less true. He was a long way from Virginia.
Between what happened with Frank Pike and Elias Mills, Kid found the pace he was looking for with Lou. He really tried to give her space to figure out things, but he still managed to mess things up. Naturally, he worried about her and he tried not to crowd her, but sometimes her mood went from playful to secretive in no time flat. Kid would never forget when Lou's friend Charlotte came to visit. She changed in the blink of an eye and completely closed herself off to him. At one point he thought he completely blew it. Lou asked him to stay out of her business but the way she was acting scared him so much, he went and asked Charlotte what was wrong with Lou. The moment he realized he shouldn't have done that was the moment that Lou caught him. Thankfully, he learned from the experience before it was too late. He decided to let Lou come to him wanting to talk about what was bothering her. She did and he felt like they got closer that day.
Kid knew Lou had trouble trying to figure out how to leave the Pony Express life behind. He loved Lou and didn't want her to think she had to be something other than what she was. He didn't want Lou to suddenly be someone different the day after their wedding. He wanted the Lou who dressed like a boy and the one who dressed like a woman. Kid wanted the Lou who could ride and shoot her way out of trouble and the Lou who liked to dance at town socials. He wanted all of Lou because that was who he loved.
Kid looked back at the ring in his hand. He should get some sleep or if he couldn't sleep, some rest at least. Right before he proposed, he promised he would never ride out without her. That promise wouldn't be part of their ceremony, but it was the most important vow he would ever make to her. Everything he went through to realize that she was his partner in everything was worth it because he loved her more than anything in the world.
A/N: This one for some reason was really hard. I wrote it four times before I was happy with it. I hope you enjoyed it and I can't thank the ladies of the plus enough for their incredible support and love. You all give me so much confidence when I feel like a loser.