Stephenie Meyers owns all rights to Twilight. This one is all mine.

Epilogue

"I think she's crowning. It's not going to be much longer. Where the hell is the damn doctor?" I was beginning to get frantic. She wasn't supposed to be due for another three weeks.

"I dunno, Daddy. What'll we do? She won't die, will she?" Elizabeth started biting her lip, a trait she took directly from her mother.

Grabbing her up, I took her outside for some fresh air. Her small arms wrapped around my neck so tight, I thought I might choke for a second.

"No, she's not going to die, honey. The doctor's going to make it here on time, and everything's going to be all right. We just have to be patient." I wished I believed that, but as much as I wanted to, I had to be realistic.

The moaning got louder from inside as we kept looking for some headlights to shine our way. So far, nothing was coming up the long driveway.

My pacing began to get frantic, and my curious daughter quickly took notice. "I think he's going to be here soon. I just know it."

My lips touched the top of her head, giving her a reassuring kiss. "You're right, Bethie. He will. Let's go back and check on her, shall we?"

We opened the door, listening as it squeaked on its hinges to another high pitched scream. Setting my little girl down, I knew time was running out, so I grabbed some supplies I had stocked in the cabinets. Rubber gloves, a big tub of water and a few towels later, I set myself down in front of her to take on the biggest task of my life. Well, one of the biggest tasks of my life. I have had a few others.

Blowing out a big sigh, I put on the gloves as fast as I could. If she was in this much pain, I guessed she and the baby might be in distress which is why I prayed the doctor was on his way. I didn't know if I could do this by myself. The other fear was having my daughter beside me to watch the whole thing.

"Listen, Bethie, why don't you stand watch by the door, and if you see a car coming up the drive, you can flag the doctor in, okay?"

"No, Daddy, I wanna stay. I can't just leave her. She needs me!"

"I need you to help me right now, and you standing over my shoulder isn't going to help. You might see some things that might make you sick. Remember last summer when you ate too many chicken nuggets at Wendy's?"

Her little eyebrows scrunched together, and her nose crinkled up. "You mean I'm gonna throw up all over the place again? I don't wanna do that!" Her tiny hands touched her tummy.

"Well then, go stand by the door, and tell Dr. McClain to run in here as soon as he arrives, okay?"

Elizabeth stomped her foot on the ground. "Ugh, okay!"

She was lying down in front of me, almost ready to give up. "C'mon baby! Don't you pass out on me now. We can do this!"

I reached my hands up inside her pelvis, feeling for the head. Much to my disappointment, all I felt were legs. My heart felt like it just dove down into my stomach. This was not good. I knew time was running out, so I did the only thing I could.

"Daddy! Daddy! I see lights coming!"

"That's great, honey. As soon as the doctor gets out, make sure he has his bag with him!"

With my hand still up in her, I tried to make sure the legs were in the birth canal and not hung up on the pubic bone. I didn't want to break anything unnecessarily. Suddenly, I felt it tilt and the head was in view. I massaged both sides of the face, maneuvering it into position just as old Doc McClain jogged up.

"Tony, what have we got going on here? You're not trying to birth this thing by yourself, are you?" Doc was gloving up, putting on this head contraption thing with a light just as I pulled my arms out.

"Well, what choice did I have? You took long enough to get here. Things were getting a little hectic. I couldn't take the high pitched screaming anymore, and the water broke two hours ago. It went right downhill after that."

The doctor was silent as he went to work. "She looks exhausted. How long has she been in labor?"

"It's been about fourteen hours now, I guess. We couldn't get any stupid cell reception out here, and it only started working a couple hours ago. I guess it's due to the earlier storm."

Ten minutes went by, and Doc was still working. I knew something wasn't right by the look on his face.

"Tony, make a couple of those towels wet for me. I'll still need a few dry ones too. It might be best if you go stand next to the door by Elizabeth. She shouldn't be watching any of this."

After soaking a couple towels, I drudged over towards the door. My hands ran through my hair as I could still hear the moaning, but no little squeals yet.

This was nerve wracking as hell. Bethie and I paced back and forth until we finally heard it.

A high pitched squeal sounded as the doctor started slamming down his tools in the tub of water.

"I got him, Tony! A little help, please!"

I immediately ran over to assist the Doc. "Is he okay? Will he be able to walk because I had to adjust his legs to fit in the birth canal. I hope I didn't break anything. I don't know what I'd do if he'd never be able to walk."

About that time, Elizabeth runs in the room. "What did we have, Daddy? Is it a girl or a boy?"

"We have a little boy, Bethie!"

"What? It was supposed to be a girl. Mommy said so. I was gonna name her Bessie."

I patted her on the head. "Well, squirt, I don't think Bessie will be appropriate now. Maybe you and Mommy can decide on another name. By the way, where the heck is she?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo

"Ooh, right there, baby. That feels good. No, just a little further down. A little to the right . . . now up just a tad."

"Edward, I'm afraid I'm going to hurt you. Shouldn't I get off now?"

"No, it feels too good. And you're just the right size. Can you hit it a little higher?" I moved my arms apart a little more so Bella could get more room. As I moved, I heard little footsteps trudging down the hallway.

"Hey, Mommy . . . what are you doing to Daddy?"

Bella turned her head around, flipping her ponytail in the process. "Your daddy's sore from birthing a calf all night long, so I get the glorious chore of walking on his back."

"But you're going to hurt him. Daddy worked hard to bring Jesse into this world. You'd better be nice to him."

Bella and I both giggled at our daughter. She was only five years old, but she was a bright little thing. I spent as much time with her as I could – especially since I missed the first year of her life. Granted, jail wasn't as bad as some criminals have it. I got to see Bella every weekend and with my good behavior, we got a few conjugal visits. Those were a little difficult as her pregnancy progressed, but I had no complaints. She was horny as hell; especially with all those raging hormones soaring through her body. It probably helped that we got to spend so little time with each other too that we couldn't keep our hands off each other.

When she didn't show up for her regular visit one weekend, I knew something wasn't right. Come to find out, Esme called to let me know she had gone into labor that morning. It broke my heart to not be there for the birth of my baby, so I swore if the situation ever rose again, wild horses wouldn't keep me away. Or in this case, cows.

Cattle. Horses. Who would've thought I would end up at a dude ranch in Wyoming? I knew absolutely nothing about cattle or animals in general. However, once we were all put in the Witness Protection Program, this is where they decided to put us. We thought it was quite hysterical at first, with both Bella and me very unaccustomed to being out in the wilderness. Hell, I was from Florida surrounded by beaches all my life!

What we quickly found out was that we actually enjoyed being outdoors. It was quite a struggle at first learning how to round up cattle as a dude ranch wrangler. Bella fell in love with wrangling the horses for the kids, and Elizabeth has already learned to be an expert rider. She's already told us she wants to be an equestrian someday and be in the Olympics.

The Hideout Lodge was now our home here in Shell Valley, Wyoming. It was hard to believe, but we had settled into a small community at the foot of Big Horn Mountain. It was beautiful country out here. The atmosphere was a big cry from Miami. There definitely weren't dude ranches anywhere in that neck of the woods. With over 300,000 acres of riding terrain, the ranch offered fly fishing, mountain biking and hiking, trapshooting, overnight stays as well as the beautiful horses to ride.

Last night, there was a big festival to start off the local rodeo which most of the employees were attending. Because of that, I was the only one around to help birth the calf who decided to make an early appearance in this world. Cell phone coverage was not that great, so Bella had stayed back up at the main house to try and call the doc while Bethie and I stayed with the momma cow. After gathering up the cattle yesterday, helping out Bobby with the fly fishing tour, and the newborn calf, my back was beyond sore.

Bella wasn't too happy when I asked her to take off her shoes and walk on it for me because she thought she was going to hurt it worse. As light as she was, it felt great for her to pinch her toes in the tender areas as she gently put her feet down on the specific spots I targeted out for her.

"So, you changed the name from Bessie to Jesse, huh?" I let out a small groan as Bella hit a sore muscle.

"Yeah. It's as close as I could get to the one I liked." Elizabeth sat down on the floor next to me, her short legs crossing in front of her.

"Baby, can you grab the heating pad out of the guest bedroom closet for your father? He's going to need it when I'm done." She stepped down from my back, and I instantly felt the loss of connection.

Reaching over to her legs, I pulled down on her body, yanking her on top of me.

She let out a short scream before falling down on me. "What the hell, Edward!"

"Sssshhhh. Someone will hear you call me that. It's Tony, remember?"

Bella nuzzled her nose inside my neck, placing small kisses there which she knew drove me insane.

"Don't start something unless you plan on finishing it, Marie," I replied, tossing her over on her side making her squeal again.

It was official; we were now Tony and Marie. At least I was used to calling her Marie. The agency gave us our new names before we were admitted into the Witness Protection Program which were our middle names, or derivatives thereof, but none of our enemies knew that. The funny thing is even Elizabeth knew us by these names. We couldn't even let her know our real names; at least not yet. Bella and I decided we would tell her one day when she understood and wouldn't blab it to our new friends we've made here.

We laid there, tickling each other for a couple minutes until our jealous daughter skipped back into the room.

"Hey, you guys are playing without me. That's not fair!" Our little girl ran and jumped on top of us, continuing with our tickling ministrations until we made her cry uncle.

As we were laughing and having a good time, we heard a small knock at the bedroom door.

"May we come in?" It was a woman's voice, one that I was quite familiar with these days.

"Hey, Mom. Come on in!"

"Nana! How was the Gran Cannon?" Elizabeth still had a slight speech impediment which had concerned me when she started talking. Our pediatrician assured me it would pass in time. She was still quite young yet.

Esme picked her up, swinging her around in circles until the giggles finally died down. "The Grand Canyon" was fantastic, Lizzy! Did you miss us?"

"Yes silly. What's Papa doing? Did he come back with you?"

Esme sat down on the bed with Bethie in her lap. Poor girl got called so many nicknames it was pitiful. She was definitely going to have a complex when she got older. "Of course he did. Did you think I'd just leave him in the canyon somewhere?" Esme laughed while running her fingers through my daughter's hair. Sometimes it could get quite unruly.

Esme's new name was Brenda. She chose it herself because she said she always loved that name as a little girl. We just stuck with Nana as it was a hell of a lot easier to keep straight.

"I dunno. Did he get lost in the cannons?"

"It's canyon, honey. And no, Papa's not lost. He's checking on the new little calf I heard daddy helped deliver."

"It was so neat, Nana! Daddy had his hands all the way up in the cow's –"

"THAT'S enough, Elizabeth!" Bella slapped her hands over our daughter's mouth before whatever word was started to come out of it.

About that time, Charlie walked through the door, also known as Papa George. At least that's what little Bethie called him.

"How's my little granddaughter?" Charlie leaned down, holding out his arms as Elizabeth took off like a shot. She was definitely Grandpa's little girl.

"Papa! I missed you! Nana says you got lost in the cannon. Did you ride donkeys down there? Momma says people ride donkeys down little paths and stuff. Were there other animals there too? Was it hot? Did the donkeys get thirsty? We had a baby calf borned and Daddy helped deliver it. Did you see it? His name is Jesse. Did you bring me anything back?"

Charlie laughed as he scooped up my daughter. "Good lord, child! Let me get a word in edgewise!"

I was still lying on the floor holding on to my wife. It was times like this I really cherished. I'll admit I was really apprehensive about this whole protection program, making my qualms quite known. However, seeing how excited my daughter was about the animals and how easy we all have settled into the ranch life, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I couldn't believe Charlie retired from the FBI, and Esme quit as well. I should've seen it coming. When I was doing my time in jail, mom would visit me and couldn't quit gushing about him. After my sentence was over, it was then that I found out they planned to join the program with us. By this time, Elizabeth was six months old, and they just couldn't bear to be separated from her. They had practically raised her with Bella as I wasn't there to help in the early months. Something I vowed wouldn't happen again if we decided on more children.

"Why don't you go downstairs and grab the gift bag by the dining room table? There might be something in there for you."

"Really? Thanks, Papa!" She took off downstairs looking for her prizes.

Charlie sighed as he plopped himself in the corner chair. He looked like he had something on his mind, and since I've worked closely with him these last few years, I could tell when something was troubling him.

Bella could as well because she beat me to the punch.

"What's up, Charlie?" She whispered, not wanting Elizabeth to hear her call him by his real name.

"What makes you think something is up?"

Bella rose up, sitting with her back toward me. "Cmon, Dad. This is me you're talking to. Not only am I your daughter, but I was an FBI agent once too, remember? What's going on?"

Charlie glanced over at Esme before he spoke up. She nodded slowly, giving them go ahead to speak with us.

"Well, we didn't exactly go on a vacation to the Grand Canyon, like we told you. We went to Quantico."

"Quantico? Why?" I chimed in this time, because I was shocked as hell.

"Well, rumor had it that some of your old buddies were coming out of the woodwork and starting up your previous business. They even went as far as to use a few of your contacts. Seems like we left a few untied strings."

"You're kidding. Did you find out which dickhead it is?" It had been four years since I'd left Florida. I certainly had no desire to go back there. "And why are they bringing you out of the witness protection program for interrogation?"

Charlie got up to shut the door. The look on his face spoke volumes. "Are you ready for this one? That dickhead, as you so eloquently put it, is a woman. Quite a pissed off woman at that."

Many names started running through my head. A woman? Who could that be?

Bella chimed in exclaiming, "Don't tell even tell me Tanya is actually alive!"

Esme edged in closer to join the conversation. "No, she's quite dead. It's Maria Franchetti. Ring a bell, Edward?"

Holy shit. The Franchetti's. Sonny's little sister and biggest supporter was coming to the surface. "Whoa. I can honestly say I never saw that one coming. She was only a teenager when I met her last; fresh out of high school. How could she possibly gain the experience and intel that quickly? She can't even be legal drinking age yet."

"She's actually twenty-three years old, Edward. Ever since her favorite brother, Sonny, was fished out of the lake that day, she's only had revenge on her mind. It seems she thought you might have something to do with her brother's death, and she wanted to exact revenge on you. She did know you entered the witness protection program somehow. I guess since you fell off the face of the earth after your sentence, she suspected as such. That girl is hell-bent on revenge, I can tell you that much." Charlie brushed his moustache with his fingers, smoothing it out.

"She knew exactly who to call too. Carlos, Mickey, Tommy . . . they all have been contacted by her and the Franchetti family. She's rounding up all your best people you surrounded yourself with in hopes they will be willing to set up shop with her." Esme sat on the corner of the bed looking us directly in the eyes.

"Edward, she's rounding up the troops for a reason. She knows it was James that killed her brother, however, in her psychotic mind, she totally blames you. According to her, her brother would never be dead if it wasn't for your feud with James and his gang. I'm not going to beat around the bush here. She wants you dead – meaning as dead as her brother is."

This sparked Bella to have a very concerned look on her face. "Well, what are you two doing about it? Is that what the meeting was all about? Why didn't you tell us about this before you left?"

Esme put her hands on Bella's. "Calm down, Bella. The FBI is doing all they can. They actually have an informant on the inside and are filled in on everything that's going down. Maria has no idea where you and Edward are located. We've made sure of that. She's a very determined young lady though, and since she's been gathering up Edward's old buddies, she is hoping to track you down no matter what. We're one step ahead of her though."

At this point, Bella stood up and paced the length of the room. "I don't give a shit if you and the FBI think you've got everything covered. It sounds like she's not going to give up until she finds us. What then? What about Elizabeth? We've got a family now, and this is completely unacceptable!"

Charlie rose up this time. "Calm down, Bells. Everything is going to be fine. As Esme said, we've got an informant who's always a step ahead of everything. It's a trusted source, and Maria believes they're legit. No one will harm Elizabeth. You know we would never let that happen."

Bella's hand ran threw her hair as she chewed on the thumbnail of her other hand. "I don't like this. I don't like it one bit. We've developed a life here. Elizabeth is starting school in the fall, and I don't want to uproot her now that we are anonymous and she's making friends."

I never realized until that moment how stress free our lives had been. If I thought bringing a new calf into this world was stressful, then I'd totally forgotten what it was like to run a multi - million dollar company, not to mention a big drug business. Man, the things I've taken for granted lately . . .

Standing, I walked over to Bella and put my arms around her, comforting as best I could knowing the new information that Charlie and Esme enlightened us with.

"It's okay, babe. Everything is going to be fine."

"The FBI would never have called in Charlie and Esme if everything was fine, Edward. I know how they operate. I'm not stupid. She's a serious threat that needs to be stopped." Bella looked over at Charlie.

Charlie returned a look that made me suddenly suspicious. "Oh, no. Don't even think about it. I won't allow it."

Esme's eyebrows shot up as I spoke. She was soon aware of what the two of them were planning as I was.

"Charlie?"

"Bella?"

Just then, the door busted open, and Elizabeth galloped into the room on a brand new stick pony, compliments of her grandparents.

"Look, Mommy! Nana and Papa got me a new horsey. Isn't he beautiful? Daddy, what should I name him?"

The four of us were quickly brought out of our haze and now listening intently to the little five - year - old who commanded the attention of the room.

"Bethie, he's handsome! I have an idea. Why don't you go down into the kitchen and get him some water. He's probably thirsty from all the travelling. While you're gone, we'll think of a name for him, okay?"

"Great idea, Daddy!" She skipped out of the room, and I quickly shut the door behind her.

"There's no way you're going back to Miami, Bella. You can just nip that thought in your head right now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The clock struck midnight, and our grandfather clock, which sat in the corner of our cabin, chimed its strong melody.

I was rocking Elizabeth while holding one hand over her exposed ear. Her head was lying against my chest as I cursed inwardly the loudness of that damned thing. Bella loved it though, so it wasn't going anywhere.

"How's she doing?" Esme walked quietly into the living room, wrapped in her fuzzy blue robe as I resumed rocking.

"Better. I think that nightmare really did a number on her," I whispered while stroking my daughter's hair, wrapping a small piece of it behind her ear.

Esme took a seat on the couch near me. "You know, that's the third one this week. She misses her mother."

I chuckled softly. "Oh, I'm well aware. I miss her too."

A few minutes of silence passed between us. Finally, I spoke up. "What's your take on this situation? I know Bella and Charlie are well-skilled and are highly trained agents, but is it normal not to call us for five days straight?"

Esme put her head back on the couch and stretched out her legs on the ottoman. She seemed to be in deep thought until she finally opened her mouth to speak. I was beginning to worry.

"Actually, they have called. I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily. They're fine, it's nothing like that. It's just that there's a small glitch, and now it's going to take them a little longer to wrap things up there."

"And when were you going to tell me this?" I felt my voice raise as well my blood pressure. "And how small is this glitch?"

Esme seemed to choose her thoughts carefully. "Tomorrow, probably. Bella swore me to secrecy to let you know things were fine, but I see the toll it's taking on our baby here. Edward, they might not be home for a few more weeks."

"What the hell? A few more weeks? What am I supposed to tell Elizabeth?" Just then, she stirred in my lap, mumbling her mother's name in her sleep. "Just what is going on in Florida exactly? I'm done with the guessing games!"

Esme played with the end of her robe tie, which led me to believe it was a complicated story.

"Just spit it out, Mom."

"Maria decided it was time to up the stakes in her little takeover. She infiltrated all the Florida territory, and is now headed west."

"West. How far west?"

"Colorado." Her eyes looked over at me, expecting the reaction she was going to get.

"Fuck! She's on her way here. She knows where we are and is headed straight for us!"

Obviously, I was a little too loud because this time Elizabeth woke up.

"Daddy, why are you swearing?"

I rubbed my hands over my daughter's head, trying to calm her down and back to sleep. "I'm sorry, baby. Daddy just got a little carried away. I'll put a quarter in the swear jar tomorrow. Now go back to sleep, okay?"

This seemed to settle her down a bit, and she laid her head back down over my shoulder.

The clock chimed on the half hour as I grunted after the annoying sound.

"Edward, this is precisely why Charlie and Bella are out there trying to head her off at the pass. They're waiting for her at the state border. Word has it she should be there any day."

"Cut the shit, Esme, and give it to me straight. Who's the mole?"

"Edward, you know I can't tell you that."

"Mom, that's ridiculous. Don't you think under the circumstances you can make an exception?"

"No, I don't. Now go put the little one to bed."

XXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx

Another week went by. Elizabeth's nightmares still occurred, but it got a little easier to calm her down at night. I only talked with Bella once for less than two minutes. There wasn't much she could tell me except she would be home by next weekend. I told her I wouldn't hold my breath.

She did talk to Bethie to try to reassure her she'd be home soon. I hoped to hell it worked because the nights were getting longer, and the more disrupted sleep I got, the more stressed out I became.

Around nine o'clock on Friday, I had settled into bed and turned on the television. It was early, but my legs ached from wrangling the cattle today, and I was glad for the distraction. It was good to keep my mind off the matters at hand. Flipping through the channels, I decided upon some silly reality show about a bunch of bachelors vying for the attention of one woman. I mean, this show has been on for how many years and only one couple has ever gotten married, so why do they keep taping this crap?

In the second hour of the show and after Emily declined the honeymoon suite, I thought I heard a strange noise. I turned off the TV along with the small lamp on my nightstand and quietly walked to the window. Standing at the corner windowsill, I barely pulled back the curtains to take a look. It wasn't uncommon to hear strange noises out here with all the cattle and horses, but the noise sounded like a scratching at the front of the house.

I bent down at the foot of the bed and grabbed my .38 special that was mounted in the holster on the inside footboard. Bella wasn't aware of it, as far as I knew, and I only kept it there in case of emergencies. Actually, I kept quite a few of these around the house in secretive places. Hell, she probably has found a few of them already.

Anyhow, with the gun in my hand and the safety off, I ventured down the stairs softly, staying as close to the wall as I could get. The sound was louder now, and it wasn't just scratching noises, but muffled voices as well.

Peering out of the corner of living room window this time, I peeked out and saw a person coming down the driveway. Two people were out on the wraparound porch, one lying down and the other one tending to them. Right away, I noticed Bella leaning over someone. Tucking my gun in the back of my pants, I ran out the front door.

"Bella! What's going on?"

"Oh, Edward! It's Rosalie! Can you help me lift her up? She's shot in the right shoulder. I can't lift her because I've twisted my ankle!"

"What the hell is Rosalie doing here? And why is she shot? Where's Charlie?"

I bent down and put one of my arms under Rose's legs and the other behind her back, carrying her up and into the house. She was half out of it and incoherent, making me think she lost quite a bit of blood.

Bella grabbed onto the railing, pulling herself up and hopping through the front doorway on her good foot. "I'll tell you everything. Right now, we need to call Doc McClain to get the bullet out of Rose."

"You want a vet to look at her? Why not call a real doctor?"

"No time, and I trust him. Just call him, please."

I laid Rose down on our couch and reached for the cell phone on the counter. I dialed up the doc who said he'd be here in ten minutes.

"Was that Charlie out there? What's he doing?"

I looked over at Bella, and for the first time, I could see her face in the light. She was covered in grass stains and dirt, making her look like she'd been living on the streets for awhile. It didn't matter to me because I still walked over to her and gave her a kiss.

"He's coming. He's talking on his phone to headquarters. How's Elizabeth?"

"She's fine. God, I missed you! I'm so glad you're home . . . and alive. It's been the worst few weeks of my life. What the hell happened?"

"I'll give you the Reader's Digest version. Maria made it to the Wyoming border like we thought she would. Charlie and I followed them until they made a pit stop for gas right outside of Cheyenne. Since it was the middle of the night, there weren't a lot of people around, thank goodness. A scuffle ensued, shots were fired, and here we are."

"And Rosalie? How does she fit into all this?" I walked into the kitchen at this point, looking for a wet washrag so Bella could wash up a bit. I also went over to the medicine cabinet for some peroxide and bandages.

"Well, Rose is our informant."

I stopped dead in my tracks. "She's your what?"

"I know you're going to be pissed at me, but hear me out. Believe it or not, she's with ICE."

"She's an Immigration agent?"

"I know, right? I couldn't believe it either. She was undercover the whole time too. Apparently, Charlie knew it because they've been in communication ever since I came on board at C&M. Not only had the Franchetti's been smuggling in drugs, it seems they've been smuggling in people too."

Headlights appeared in the long driveway alerting us to the doc's arrival. I grabbed a big bowl from the cabinet because I knew Doc was going to need it if he was to get that bullet out. God knows I've had a few removed from my body on occasion.

Rosalie began to moan, letting us know she was coming around. Bella went to get up from the chair until I pushed her back down.

"I'll take it from here, dear. I think you've had enough excitement for awhile. How's your ankle doing? Let me take a look at it."

"It'll be all right."

"Let me be the judge of that, please." I raised her pant leg up and noticed how swollen it was immediately. Black and blue marks had already started forming around it too.

"Holy cow! You really did a number on that. It could be broken."

"It's fine. I want to go and see our daughter. Can you take over from here? I need a hot bath and some hugs!"

I bent down and put my hand under her chin. "I missed you, babe. You don't even know how glad I am you're home."

"Oh, I believe I do. You know, I told Charlie this was my last mission, no matter what."

"You did? Would you swear to that under oath?" I grinned, feeling all warm inside just by hearing those words.

"You betcha. I realized that I have too much to live for, and my family comes first. You and Elizabeth were all I thought about the whole time. Besides, I have other plans with what I want to do in my spare time."

I ran my hands through her hair, pulling out a dead leaf. She looked atrocious but I didn't care one bit. She was beautiful, and I had missed the hell out of her.

"And what would that be? Making sweet love to your husband every day?"

Bella laughed despite the pain I knew she was in. "Well, I thought we could work on giving Elizabeth a little Bessie after all."

"You want to birth the next calf, is that it?"

Bella hit me on the shoulder playfully. "No, silly! I think it's time to give her that little sister she's been wanting. What do you think?"

I picked up my wife and spun her around, careful to not hurt her ankle. I kissed her roughly while tugging at her hair. When I came up for air, I whispered to her. "What if it's another Jesse? Do you think she'll want to give it back?"

"Probably. But I think she'll get used to him."

The doc knocked at the door, so I sat Bella down on the table. "We'll continue this conversation later in the bedroom."

She smiled and gave me a chaste kiss on the mouth. "I'm counting on it."

Bella managed to hobble upstairs while I let in the doc. He worked on Rose, and I assisted him in getting the bullet out.

In the past month and a half, I had birthed a calf and helped in a minor surgery. I had started to think I'd found my new career. It definitely would be a safer job than what we were used to and more noble.

Tomorrow was a new day. My wife was home, we were safe now, and we had just decided to expand our family.

And for the first time in my life, I couldn't wait to see what our future held.