John leaned on the wall as Anna sat in the chair next to Talbot's bed. The same bed where he waited as a nurse checked over his bruised and bloodied body. But he still wore his jacket from earlier and despite the scrapes and cuts over his face and obviously tender limbs, he appeared relatively unharmed.

She finished, nodding at Anna and John, and left them alone in their circle of the A&E. Anna tapped her fingers against the chair as Talbot winced in his movements to grab for his jacket. "I do hope you're going to explain why the police are convinced you killed Green."

"I didn't kill the little shit."

"Then why do they think you did?"

Talbot sighed, grimacing as he managed to get his arm into one of the sleeves of his jacket. "Because I ran the idiot off the road."

"What?" John pushed off the road and Talbot turned to him to nod.

"I'm not proud of it. But when I left earlier, to meet with the representatives I discussed, I saw his car." Talbot shrugged and then paused, wincing. "I decided to get on his tail, just to irk him a bit."

"Why?" Anna made a face of disgust that almost immediately fell when Talbot looked at her.

"Because of what that shithead did to you." Talbot shook his head. "I let it go too long. I should've slashed the bugger's tires months ago and I didn't."

"I don't need anyone defending me, Henry."

"It wasn't about defending you. Or avenging you. Or anything…" Talbot stopped himself, taking a breath. "It was about letting him not get away with being a horrible person. So I drove up on his fender. I kept it there even when he sped up. And… Well he doesn't know how to drive his car well, just loud, and he served off the road. Clipped the front of mine and because it's top heavy…"

Talbot managed another shrug before finally giving into a groan. "You can guess the rest. Mine rolled and I got bumped around and his… Well his too-expensive car flipped and crashed. I don't know what happened after that."

"Were you unconscious?" John stood beside Anna, folding his arms over his chest for something to do with his hands.

"I think so." Talbot pointed to a spot at the back of his head. "I've got a goose egg here and I'm concussed so I might've been. The next thing I remember was the flashing lights and someone using a penlight in my eyes."

John winced, "Bugger."

"It is what it is." Talbot looked at Anna, "But I swear to you, as much as I hated the shit, I'd never kill him. I don't hate anyone enough to kill them and I'm not going to prison for anyone."

"Even when you could?" Anna's voice was quiet and John stilled at the tone there. "I know what a shot you are Henry. You could've hit him from that distance."

"Even if I wasn't concussed and unconscious?" Talbot shook his head, "I don't shoot frightened prey. I'm sure if the bugger got himself out of his car he was running away, shitting himself the whole time. Or pissing himself to shit, doesn't matter one way or the other."

"Who could've shot him?"

Talbot snorted, "Around here? Almost everyone's got a gun and a good eye. If they're not shooting at wolves and larger predator animals trying to get at livestock then they're part of the hunts to keep the elk populations down. The question isn't really about the 'who' but about the 'why'."

"Making the three of us prime suspects." Anna traced her finger in the air around them. "We're the one who would've wanted whatever injunction or court order Barrow was flapping around the Gillingham place to be stopped. We'd want the name on that suit to suddenly be a non-issue."

"Excluding other more personal reasons, you mean?" John risked but Anna only nodded sullenly. "What about all the other women who hated Green? Could they've killed him?"

"Possible but unlikely. The road was empty and to drive all the way out there…" Talbot pointed at the back of his head again. "No matter how shook this noggin was, I would've remembered another car on the road."

"Which rules us out." Anna leaned back in her chair, "Thank goodness. I couldn't imagine having to try and defend why I didn't kill someone."

"Wait…" John frowned, "Was Green shot?"

Talbot nodded, "I thought you knew."

"All I knew was that there was a car accident and you were accused." John looked at Anna, "Why didn't you tell me the rest of it?"

"I'm sorry, I thought you were aware." Anna shrugged, "It's why Henry's a suspect. He was close and he's an incredible shot. Still holds the record in the province, if I'm not mistaken."

"You're not."

"Then we'll just compare the bullets or whatever they always do on crime shows." John turned between Anna and Talbot but neither of them looked impressed. "What else could I possibly have missed already?"

"It was my gun."

"You said there wasn't anyone else on the road."

"There wasn't." Talbot insisted but paused, wincing again as he moved. "And I couldn't have fired my gun anyway. It's a high-powered rifle. It'd have the range and the aim but with my chest and shoulders feeling about like tender meat, I couldn't have picked it up and fired it."

"You haven't even managed to get fully back into your jacket." John noted and leaned over to help. "Would the police around here be dumb enough to think you could've fired that gun after what happened to you?"

"Depends on how much they hate people from the Rez."

"The…" John looked at Anna.

"The Reservation." Anna let out a sigh before frowning. "Wasn't… Wasn't Barrow in the same car with him?"

"They drove there separately." Talbot slid off the bed and checked his pace around the area of his bed. "I recognized both of their cars."

"But they left at the same time. Stands to reason he would've been on the road at the same time as Green, right?" Anna pushed herself out of her chair. "I think we need to find the officer in charge of this case."

John and Anna left Talbot to keep pacing himself around the bed and finally located the officer signing forms at the nurse's station. The moment he pushed the clipboard back toward the nurse managing the desk Anna spoke. "We think you're looking for the wrong man in all this."

"In all what?" The man frowned, his dark eyes narrowing. "Who are you?"

"I'm John Bates and this is Anna Smith." John pointed to himself and then Anna. "We're here about the car accident. The one where Alex Green was killed."

"Alex Green wasn't killed in an accident unless someone was hunting the wrong time of year." That man straightened, "That man was killed with a high-powdered rifle. The same one we found in the boot of Henry Talbot's car."

"But Henry couldn't have fired that gun. He was too banged up in the crash. He's got bruises all over his body and can barely put on a jacket." Anna paused, breathing for the first time in her phrase. "And he says he was unconscious."

"The paramedics first on the scene reported that he did sustain a concussion but our preliminary test for the car says that he couldn't have been knocked out. His airbags never even engaged."

John bit at his lip, "What about the knot on the back of his head."

"The what?"

"Officer…" John maneuvered a moment, "Blake, Henry Talbot's got a goose egg on the back of his head. He's concussed and bad bruised. Is it even likely he could focus to fire that rifle, from that distance, and fire it even if he could hold it?"

The officer sighed, "Look, we've not arrested him. He's just a suspect because of the proximity and the fact it's his bloody gun." He threw his hands into the air, "Why am I even telling you this? It's none of your business."

"Because," John stepped forward, stopping Officer Blake from leaving. "We might have another suspect for you."

"You weren't even there."

"But another car had to've been because it's a lonely stretch of road and he left the construction site at the old Gillingham spread at the same time as Green." John glanced toward Anna and she nodded. "Thomas Barrow."

"Thomas Barrow's Mr. Green's solicitor." Officer Blake folded his arms over his chest, bunching his padded jacket near his shoulders. "What's he got to gain from killing his boss?"

"You mean the boss causing him all the legal trouble and getting in the way generally?" John waited but only a flicker passed over Officer Blake's eyes. "It's not as far-fetched as it seems."

"Maybe not but there's a question of your bias in all this." Officer Blake pointed between John and Anna. "You're both at odds with Mr. Green and his solicitor for… various reasons. Not to mention you're both friends with Mr. Talbot. The idea of Mr. Barrow being guilty isn't exactly being given without prejudice."

"Still doesn't mean we don't have a point." Anna bit at her lip. "Would it be to much trouble to look into it?"

Officer Blake sighed and then nodded, "I'd not be doing my due diligence if I didn't. And we've still not finished processing the scene itself so I can't say for sure. As of right now, Mr. Talbot's still our prime suspect."

"Understood." Anna nodded, deflating a little.

"Doesn't mean it'll stay that way." Officer Blake shrugged, "Who knows."

"We'd like to, when you've got any news."

Officer Blake just sighed, "If I need anything from either of you, please be available. Otherwise, allow us to do our jobs."

John and Anna watched him leave the hospital before returning to the bed where Talbot continued checking his pace. With his back turned, John finally noticed the lump on the back of Talbot's head and put his hand on Anna's shoulder. "I think someone knocked him unconscious."

"What?" Talbot and Anna's voices rang in unison, with Talbot's cutting out to moan as his swift movements sent the room into vertigo.

"Officer Blake said that their preliminary findings ruled it almost impossible for you to have knocked yourself out in the car because your airbags didn't deploy."

"Okay." Talbot pointed to his chest, "I've still got an imprint of my steering wheel here and my shifter on my side."

"But no reason for you to have a knot like that on the back of your head. That's a sucker punch. Someone came up behind you and cold clocked you."

"Before stealing my gun and pipping the ace at five hundred feet?" Talbot put a tentative hand to the back of his head. "Not impossible but not likely, remember, I didn't see another car."

"Not in front of you, but what about behind?" John suggested, shrugging at the incredulity coming from both Anna and Talbot. "Come on, does no on think it's possible that you were setup?"

"Absolutely but this is borderline ridiculous."

"Maybe but not impossible."

Anna crossed her arms over her chest before shrugging, "It's possible. If Henry was focused on the front then someone came up behind them… Again, maybe. But Henry's right," She pointed at Talbot. "The question isn't 'who' but 'why'."

"And my explanation to Officer Blake about Barrow wasn't enough to convince you?"

"It's about more than inconvenience." Anna paused, "But money always makes a rather impressive motive."

"Like the money someone inherits if they take it from a dead man." John stopped, "Or the money they swindle from a deal to sell a piece of land with oil shale underneath it."

"But Green already sold the Gillingham land."

"Because he wanted it and Greener Pastures." John tapped his temple, "I seem to recall an ex-solicitor of mine who happened to push rather hard for the sale of Greener Pastures just a year ago."

"Your spineless cephalopod of a solicitor?" Anna puffed her cheeks before blowing out air, "It's possible but I don't really think-"

"He would've dealt directly with Barrow, he's got motive against me for ignoring his advice and sacking him, and he's a crack shot."

"What?" Anna raised an eyebrow. "If I remember the picture I saw of that man I doubt he'd hold a pistol, much less rifle."

"He's still a good shot."

"Not with my gun." Talbot interjected, "It's not your average hunting rifle."

"But Barrow could manage with it." Anna pointed a finger at Talbot, "He's an excellent shot. His father worked for the Fishing and Game Commission. He was always just behind you in those competitions."

John clapped his hands together, wincing when the other two jumped, "Sorry, I got a bit overexcited."

"And we've already jumped the gun." Talbot put out a hand, "We're making assumptions that we've got no basis for."

"But it could be enough to get them to stop looking at you."

As it turned out, it was.

Even given the distance to a proper crime lab, the local police in town ruled another set of tire tracks followed those left in the wake of the accident and matched them to the car Barrow drove. A partial print of his was found on Talbot's gun and once they pulled him in for questioning he admitted everything. Right down to the outing of his accomplice in it all, George Murray.

Murray, who was caught at the airport before he could take his flight back to Dublin, was too late to cut a deal for himself and took the rap for conspiracy to commit murder, fraud, and conspiracy to commit theft. Barrow took the murder charge as well as the fraud charges. But their trial was only attended by Talbot, who sat in the gallery specifically to watch his name cleared in the eyes of the officers convinced of his guilt.

It kept the community in a tizzy for a stretch, added to it the complications of the charges still leveled against Green that now stood in a gray legal area at this death and the incarceration of his solicitor. But when Anna and John finally heard about it, at the end of their intermittent holiday, Anna grew quiet. They did not speak as they unloaded John's car and went about putting everything away. In fact, they did not speak until John found Anna in the redecorated study, sorting through paperwork without any real focus.

"I might not be in my place to ask this but…" John dragged the toe of his shoe across the floor. "Are you alright?"

"No." Anna turned in her chair toward him, her toes holding her in place to stop the chair spinning further. "I don't know what to feel about it all and that makes me anxious and tired and frustrated and upset all at the same time."

John took the other chair in the room, leaning his elbows on his knees to avoid sitting straight in the wooden chair. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I…" Anna sucked her cheeks in before giving an exhale. "Everyone tells you to trust that justice'll be served. That everything will come around like it's supposed to. That good will out. That the cream rises to the top. That all things'll be made right but… I don't feel like that's what happened."

"Because you didn't want him dead?"

"After it happened I did." Anna's fingers twisted in her lap and she refused to look at John. "I wanted to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze. I wanted to take a hammer to all the joints in his body. I wanted… I wanted to cause him so much pain that it would be impossible for him to not know what he did to me. What he made me feel."

"But you didn't."

"Henry said something, at hospital, that I knew was right. Even then."

"What?"

"He wasn't worth going to prison for." Anna let out a breath, "With all the rest of the women who came forward about him, what was my anger to theirs. Did I deserve to let him suffer while they didn't? And then… Then I thought about something the president of Rwanda said in an interview."

John raised his eyebrows, "What?"

"He said that, while it was the hardest thing to ask of a people who utterly destroyed and brutalized by their neighbors and former friends, he had to ask his people to forgive one another because justice couldn't solve all the problems."

"Bold of him."

"But he's not wrong." Anna leaned back in her chair, causing it to squeak a bit with the motion. "Justice isn't perfect. It's fair but not perfect. It's what happens when you've got a blind woman wielding a sword. Some people are going to get missed and some people are going to get hit by accident. It's the way of things."

"So you forgave Green?"

"Gods no." Anna shook her head, "I hope he burns in Hell."

They both managed a little laugh at that before quieting again so Anna could speak. "But I wasn't going to be the one to send him there. I was raised Christian and there's a principle there that God will take vengeance. He'll avenge all those wrongs and hurts that life inflicts and make it all right. And, for as Sunday School as it sounds, I have to believe that. For my own sanity if for nothing else."

"Then his death now…"

"It robbed me of the little justice I'd hoped to gain. It stole justice from those other women. And it led to two other people going to prison for a very long time so I guess all wasn't entirely lost."

"Guess not." John reached forward, taking her hands to kiss them. "You are…"

"Perfect?"

"Breathtaking, in every sense of the word." John shook his head, completely captivated by her. "You're the kindest, strongest, most selfless person I know. And not just because you've endured so much but because you never let it ruin you. You rose above it so don't tell me that cream doesn't rise to the top."

"Alright." Anna smiled at him, kissing his hands back before biting at her lip. "I've a suggestion I should've made a long time ago but that I'd like to make now, if you're amenable to it?"

"Dinner? Because I could-"

"No." Anna put her fingers over John's lips, "I want to take you to my bedroom, strip you naked, and finally have you on my bed."

John blinked at her, "Really?"

"Really. And," Anna reached behind her, pulling out a sheet of paper. "Here's the official paperwork for us to turn that cabin into our personal home. A place just for us, away from this."

"But this is your home."

"It has been and I wouldn't trade the time I spent here for anything but," Anna leaned back over the desk to sign the paper before holding it and the pen toward John. "I want us to move forward. That means we're going to need to move out of this place and make somewhere for ourselves."

"You're asking me to move in with you?"

"I am." Anna continued holding out the pen and the paper. "Unless you don't want to do that."

"Anna," John took the paper and pen from her, signing just as quickly before handing it back. "There's nothing I want more than to move forward with you."

"Then," Anna left the paper on the desk and took John's hand. "Take me to my bedroom John so I can ravish you."

He trailed behind her up the stairs and turned to her room. A room that caught all the lights of the lowering sun on the red walls. A room where a large bed promised comfort and decadence as John shut the door to leave them in peace.

The window let in natural light and it cast them in a golden glow. One that left every inch of Anna's exposed skin shining. Shining so much that John had to reach forward to touch it and assure himself she was real.

She responded with her hands to his chest and going up on her tiptoes to kiss him. A kiss Anna used to propel them backward so her knees hit the bed and they tumbled onto it together. It bounced a little and John struggled to get them comfortable, which only led to giggles and laughter as they fought the duvet and the bed itself.

John grinned at Anna, brushing a bit of her hair back behind her ear as he finally positioned himself over her. "This isn't a waterbed, is it?"

"Do I look like I live in the eighties?"

"Just curious." John winked at her, "But I'm honestly a little disappointed."

"About?"

"This bed is, by far, the most comfortable one we've ever shared and you've been keeping it to yourself."

"How could I ever make this an event without a ridiculously impressive bed to match it?"

John stopped above her, shaking his head. "Anywhere with you is impressive and wonderful and all the other adjectives I'll never have time to list."

"Because we'd be here forever?"

"And because I just want to kiss you and stop wasting time talking."

"Then do it Mr. Bates."

John followed her orders to the letter.

Between them, moving slowly when they paused long enough to savor the moment and furiously when they found themselves struggling to contain the desire to share the moment, they left their clothes in a haphazard pile at the end of the bed and moved over it for a more comfortable position. One that had John running his tongue down the line from Anna's neck to her breasts before proceeding further. And when he brought his mouth to her clit, Anna left her voice ringing off the walls in time to the work of John's tongue.

Her legs trembled and quivered about him when he used his fingers to enter her, bringing the ends of her first climax to feed into a second that came with an equivalent screech. One that John savored as he licked over Anna in a perfunctory cleaning that he relished almost enough to risk a third go. But her fingers digging into his scalp stopped him and John rose above her.

"I was supposed to ravish you." Anna breathed.

"We can ravish each other." John maneuver again, lowering his lips to Anna's breasts as the rise and fall of her chest beckoned shamelessly for his attentions. "I'm not picky or complaining."

And Anna did not either when John's lips at her breasts and his fingers between her legs encouraged a third orgasm.

With her legs boneless beside him and the aching twitch of his erection beckoning to him, John positioned himself over Anna and waited until her hazy eyes could finally focus. "May I?"

"Please."

John slid forward easily, barely moving her leg over his hip to ensure he reached the ends of her. The tingling spasm of her vaginal muscles had John putting his forehead to the pillow beside Anna's head to stop himself immediately releasing. But the control shattered when Anna's teeth nipped at his ear and she whispered to him about how he felt inside her.

"If you don't move, then I'll have to move myself." She taunted as John flexed his hips to fit the angle she encouraged. "And you're making that a bit difficult."

"How so?" John nipped at her shoulder before kissing toward her neck, rolling his hips into hers to leave Anna gasping out. "You're the one who's still tight."

"It's not my fault that you're so well-endowed." Anna ground her hips into his, her nails digging into his back and side before grabbing at his ass. "And probably the most dexterous I've ever had."

"You're making it…" John fought for breath, "Keep going."

"Like how you keep trying to sink deeper or how you still taste a little bit like me?" Anna's fingers raked over his back before reestablishing her hold to bring him closer to her as her ankles locked just under his ass. "Or how your reach further inside me because-"

John stopped her then, kissing her hard and then moaning when Anna controlled the kiss with her tongue. He thrust frantically, seeking the right angles to leave Anna tightening around him until her cry broke their kiss. The resulting cling of her rippling muscles left him victim to a punishing piston of his hips that had him releasing before sagging on Anna.

She still held him close, running the tips of her fingers over his back and side until John turned then on the bed. They stay together as the afternoon turned to dusk and eventually separated for showers. When they both finished, John sitting on the edge of Anna's bed in a towel, he cleared his throat.

"I need to ask you something."

"What?" Anna stopped drying her hair, holding the towel in one hand as she looked at John. "What is it?"

"Will you take me camping? Like in a tent and everything?" Anna's eyebrows rose and John hurried to explain. "Just for one night. Up to the spot where my mother decided she liked the place."

"I guess." Anna joined him on the end of the bed. "I hate camping but I'll guess you've got something planned or you wouldn't have asked."

"I want to see the sunrise from there." John nudged her with his shoulder. "You told me it was beautiful."

"I did." Anna nodded, "To my never-ending shame."

"Because you hate mornings."

"Correction, I loathe mornings." Anna smiled at him, putting her hand over his. "But I think I can make an exception for this. But it won't be until after Talbot brings those surveyors here. I want to get business out of the way before I go camping. Make sure I'm not overanxious and uncomfortable."

"You could just say no."

"No," Anna shook her head, leaning over to kiss John as her fingers wove through his hair. "I couldn't and I wouldn't."

"Then we'll go once we've met the representatives."

Talbot had them round the next day. The study proved too cramped for the meeting so John, Anna, Pelham, and Talbot all took their places on one side of the long dining room table as the maps and scans and estimates filled the space between them and the representatives. They all shifted in their seats as Talbot provided the necessary introductions.

"This is Violet Crawley, owner of Grantham Mining, and her son Robert, his daughter Mary, and his son-in-law Tom Branson." Talbot took a breath, "Ms. Crawley… Mary Crawley is the advisor on the project and will be our liaison, if we decide to use Grantham Mining for our interests. Tom here is the expert and the surveyor. He's the one who provided most of the estimates you and Bertie've studied for the last few days Anna."

"And you think you can get at the shale without destroying what we've built here?" Anna leaned forward, John sitting back to watch her work. "You think you can make money on this without losing the environment we've got?"

"I think we can do more than that." Branson tapped some of the papers between them, "I think we could clear out the shale on your newer construction site so you can build there before he drill in sideways to get at the lode under Greener Pastures. It'll be safer that way, and more efficient."

Anna looked at John, "What do you think?"

"I think I'm willing to listen to their plans." John opened his hand to the group. "Please tell us how you'd do this."

The meeting lasted well into the afternoon, breaking only for the lunch Mrs. Patmore insisted they eat, and continued as if never paused. Most of the conversation passed between Talbot, Pelham, Branson, Anna, and Ms. Mary Crawley while John watched them debate. He listened carefully to their estimates, ideas, and finally interrupted another almost-argument between Talbot and Ms. Mary Crawley.

"I think we've gotten to the point where we're discussing the minutest of future possibilities as if we've already given over the offer." John looked to Anna, who nodded, before addressing the other side of the table. "As far as I'm concerned, I'd say you're hired and we'd like you to start as soon as you can."

"Finally some sense." Ms. Violet Crawley stood up, her hand gripping tightly to a cane. "I've been waiting for you all to realize where this was going for hours. And now I'm sore and we've already given a few hours of our consultation out for free so I do hope you'll all keep that in mind."

As they all departed, Talbot and Branson taking Bertie for a drink while Ms. Mary Crawley joined her father and grandmother in their car, John leaned on the porch railing and sighed. "That went well."

"I just hope Henry and Mary work out their issues."

"You mean the arguing?" John jerked a thumb back toward the dining room. "It was just professional debate as far as I could tell."

"Then you're not aware they've been sleeping together for a few months now?" Anna waited as John's eyebrows rose. "They're getting very serious and they don't want anyone else to know."

"And that's how they keep it a secret?"

"Remember that we tried to keep it a secret once." Anna checked the sky and then her watch. "If we hurry then I can fulfill on my promise."

"You'll go out and camp with me?"

"One night only." Anna raised a warning finger. "And we're taking the horses because I'm not tramping up there on foot."

"I'll get my things."

Within an hour they were on horseback with their accouterments for the night and the next morning strapped to their saddles. The route bore all the traces of spring runoff and the snow of just a few weeks earlier as they worked themselves higher up into the mountains to stop where John had left his mother's ashes. He took to unloading the horses and leaving them with long leads between two trees before helping Anna construct the tent as the fire crackled and flickered behind them.

They roasted a few easy things, sharing marshmallows that stuck to their fingers, and finally crawled into the tent to sleep. But even with the foam mats and padding, John felt every rock and root digging into his back. When he moved for the hundredth time, Anna slapped at him and ordered him to pick a position and suffer through it before she packed it all back up and forced them down the mountain. He dozed fitfully after that but did not move.

The barest hint of light woke him and John nudged Anna. She grumbled into her pillow before punching it away and heaving a sigh when John's whispers persisted about seeing the sunrise. "Fine."

They crawled from the tent, John building the fire back up to try and shake away the frosty chill as Anna checked the horses and their blankets, and chose a rock where they could watch the sun peek over the top of the mountains. As the beam of light rested on the valley, John turned to Anna and cleared his throat. "I had a reason for this."

"More than just that I suggested it last year and we've finally made it?"

"More than that." He dug into his pocket and held the velvet-encased box in his hand. "I want to give this to you. To offer it with my love and affection and my whole self but I don't want to offer you something you don't want. And I wouldn't want you in a position to feel like you'd break my heart if you said no."

Anna paused, biting at the inside of her cheek before meeting his eyes. "Are you afraid I'll say no?"

"I'm more afraid that I'll offer something you're not ready for yet and then… I don't know," John shrugged, "You'd feel like you'd have to say yes when you don't mean it yet."

"We're moving in together."

"That doesn't mean you're ready to accept my proposal for marriage." John opened the box, showing her the silver ring inscribed with Celtic knots. "Or this."

"That was your mother's."

"I know." John swallowed, "And I want you to wear it. Maybe not today or even a few months from now but, when you're ready, I'd like to see it on your finger. I'd like to add another ring to it when we're married. But I'm willing to-"

"Yes."

John blinked, "Yes?"

"Yes." Anna nodded, giving him a little smile. "It's the easiest question anyone's ever asked me."

"But you've…"

"Not told you that I love you yet?" Anna pointed toward the sunning valley below them. "I told you that there would be a time, when we're alone and the world is quiet, and it'd be just us with the universe so only nature would be our witness when I could tell you."

"And that's now?"

"That's now." Anna looked around them, "This is the place where big decisions are made, John. This is the place where we'll say our vows to one another one day. And the place where I'm going to tell you, unreservedly, that I love you."

"I love you too. So much."

"Then," Anna stuck out her left hand, "I'll accept that ring now."

John slid it onto her finger, kissing just above the knuckle where it rested before drawing back. "You've no idea how happy you've made me. How happy I'm going to spend the rest of my life making you."

"I trust you will." Anna looped her arms around his neck, "However, whatever, whenever."

"Forever." John corrected her, kissing at her nose. "I know the ground's not very comfortable but…"

"I absolutely want to have sex with you right now."

They managed to get back into the tent and John almost did not notice the ridges and roots digging into his back when Anna perched above him to run her tongue over his arousal. Or when he positioned her just right so he could bring her to climax with his tongue as she dug her fingers into his hair. Or when Anna finally straddled him and he rose up to hold her close as they rocked and gyrated together to their mutual orgasm. One they shared only with one another and the nature about them in the quiet of the morning.

Afterward, still coming down from their high, John ran his fingers over Anna's back as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I can't believe you thought I'd say anything but yes."

"Well," John shifted to better look at her. "I'm not always as confident as I pretend to be you know."

"I know." Anna leaned up to kiss him before wiggling the fingers of her left hand in front of his face. "I can't wait to be your wife."

"For good and proper." John smiled up at her, "As soon as you like."

"Forever's already off to a good start then."

"I'd say it is."