"I've had a great day," Lisa proclaimed on their drive home. They'd stayed longer than originally planned, the dark skies now settling in on them. Neither was complaining about the time; it had been a good day, a good day as a family. The meeting with Travis had gone well. He could easily demolish and haul away the old cabin, the memories of the past. Jack was excited about it, even with that part of his life closing. He looked over at Lisa.

"Really great day. Glad we could get that walk in before the wind picked up, and the lunch you packed was perfect."

"I still have some of that pie if you are hungry," she told him. With the glance Jack gave her, even in the dimly lit truck, she laughed and unbuckled to get the pie out. "Coming up, Cowboy. Lucky for you, I packed extra forks." Lisa went about setting up the pie on the center console, and the two took turns grabbing bites of it. With that and their coffee, it was really the perfect evening to a perfect day. Jack loved that about Lisa, that she could be completely content eating pie in the truck as much as she was in an upscale restaurant in the south of France.

"Tell me you vision for this cabin now that we've talked to Travis a little," Jack said, while he chewed a bite of the pie. Lisa, finished scooping up her bite, considering the question.

"Well," she said tilting her head from side to side, "I have some ideas about the main living space and kitchen, but what do you want in the way of bedrooms?"

"Two," he told her, "no more, at least as for what I envision. I don't want this to be some mansion, but we'll be up here with John. I see a mirror of each other, bedroom and bathroom on each end of the place with the living and kitchen in the middle."

She looked over at him with a wide smile, "I had a similar idea. I just didn't know if that was too big."

He shook his head, "It will be good for John to have his own room, and if anyone else is ever with us, it just gives us that space."

"Okay," she nodded, "I picture floor to ceiling windows overlooking the river for the main living space. I see your log cabin look with dark beams and an open concept ceiling with the beams. I see a massive fireplace, maybe the kitchen on one side by a bedroom and the living space on the other by the other bedroom. Fireplace in the middle so both the kitchen and living space can enjoy it."

He glanced at her from where he had his one arm propped on the steering wheel and nodded, pursing his lips, "That sounds better than anything I could imagine."

"Really?" Lisa asked, excited. "I'm also seeing a modern stove. I'm not buying some second-hand one that you are convinced still works that should have gone to the stove graveyard 10 years ago."

He chuckled lightly, "I'm fine with that. I love the idea of the windows overlooking the river. I want the house to use the views it has. Suppose we should put a mud room or something off the back to have a place to sit down and get the waders and all off."

"Good point," Lisa nodded. "We could do a very rough sketch and let Travis do the rest, yes?"

He looked at her, "The sooner the better in my opinion. You heard him, if we can get this all going, he can get the plans done, get permits pulled, and we can start by the thaw late next spring. That would be ideal."

"Oh, that is exciting, Jack," she grinned. "I just want this to be what you want. This is your space, a space you want to share."

He was quiet as he seemed to reflect on things. He took another couple bites of pie, and both sipped at their coffee. The ride was quiet, John sleeping again was a huge plus. He'd been awake most of the day, but he hadn't been unpleasant.

"As far as his deposit," Jack brought up a subject he suspected might be touchy.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but I don't care," she started with a fire in her voice. "I don't want to argue about this, but I have the money for the house available. I just have to move money around. I really don't want to hear something about you can't take my money because as far as I'm concerned, the minute we got married, this became ours, all of it. I'm not going to argue about every expense for John; we take care of him with our money. Whether it comes from Heartland funds or my funds, it's our money. What else am I going to do with it? I want to spend it on our family. It does no good just sitting there. If we have a need, and the money is available, from whatever account, then it's paid."

Jack glanced at her, and she could hear a loud sigh as he considered what to say. Finally, he said, "Lise," and he paused again. "Okay."

"Wait, what?" Lisa turned, shocked this wasn't some major, nuclear disaster size fight. She'd prepped for that, knowing that Jack thought she spoiled everyone with her money, not that she flaunted it-hardly the case, but that she just spoiled everyone.

Jack chuckled in the dark, "Shocking, I know. I sat here thinking about your points. So, can I tell you something?"

"Anything," Lisa nodded to him. "You know that."

He sighed, "I hate always going back to the past, but it's hard when I have points there that factor into this. You are pretty amazing. What I wanted to say is that when Lyndy was on her musical circuit, making records and playing all over, she wanted to spend her money. She argued she made it, and the expectation back then was the husband provided. She didn't see her money as part of that, that whatever the ranch made was what we lived off of, and what she made was hers to spend. You've just sat here arguing the opposite, and," he paused and met her gaze in the dim light of the truck, "I love you very much for it. You want everyone else to benefit from your hard work. You want to provide for everyone else, and I love you for that. So, honestly, and it might surprise me to realize this, but you're right. What money is there is for our family, Heartland money or Fairfield money. It is a bit hard for this old cowboy to swallow, but I can't be mad at you or disagree with you when all you want to do is take care of those you love. I'm going to try and only protest when I feel something is over the top."

"Jack," she paused, "I don't know what to say."

"That might be a first," he smirked, and she smacked his arm for that, causing both of them to laugh.

She looked back at him and put her hands together like she was pleading with him, "Heated floors in the bathroom, please? Out there on that lake, it's going to be horrendously cold. We could barely stay in the current cabin in September, it's so cold."

He looked over and frowned, shaking his head, "Perhaps we need to define over the top."