Above Rubies (Rockland Ranch) (42 page)

Epilogue

             
Ten weeks later, one year to the day from when he'd baptized her, Rossen watched Kit and Mimi Rockland walking across the lawn of the Salt Lake Temple, the spring flowers around them a riot of blooms.  Their white dresses showed off their dark hair to perfection against the brilliant emerald of the grass and the gray stone behind them.  He was just thinking how lucky he was to have two girls worth far above rubies, when Mimi turned to try to walk toward him with toddling steps as she called out happily, "Dah-eeee!"

The End

             
About the author

             
Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up in Utah with 6 sisters, 4 brothers and any number of pets.  (It was never boring!)  She got a bachelor’s degree, had a career and traveled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being the mother of four magnificent and sometimes challenging children.  She loves shellfish, the out of doors, the youth and hearing her children laugh.  She and her fine husband, their family, and their sometimes very large pets, now live in a mountain valley in northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.

             
To learn more about Jaclyn, visit
www.jaclynmhawkes.com
.  

She also considered this book as “moving way to fast in their physical relationship”.  At first, I laughed and said, “Mom, they never even kiss until the very last page.  C’mon.  How is that fast?”  It didn’t matter.  Because of the unusual circumstances, Rossen, who to me was the most saintly guy on the planet, was
a bit of a player to my mother. 

I still kind of chuckle at her, but the bottom line is, I guess we all have our own morality yard sticks.  With that in mind,
to anyone I’ve offended, please forgive me, because after all, this is a romance.  Stuff like kissing happens occasionally in romances.  And while it isn’t the main story, I happen to think kissing is one of the most vital activities of earth life, and I don’t intend to stop writing about it, or enjoying it, anytime soon. Sorry, Mom.

Plus, I’m willing to bet that even my dear
, sweet mother has been kissed once or twice.  At least that’s my dad’s story.  Yeah, they’ve been busted a couple of times.  And she does have eleven kids—that’s a bit incriminating, I’d think!  Don’t you?  Bless her heart. 

Anyway, j
ust don’t tell her how much kissing is in the third book!  Of course, we all know that Sean is the rebel of the family, so what can we expect?  (But then, so was my dad and my mother seemed to like him a little.  This is him, so you’ll understand why.)

Sean Rockland definitely turns out to be the most perfectly, dreamily romantic of the family so far.  I love the dancing in the night wind in the woods scene!  And in all honesty, I like the kissing parts.  Call it a character flaw if you will. 

Teasing aside, I hope you e
njoy Sean and Lexie in
Once Enchanted.
  They are fun!  They’re just hard headed enough to make you laugh before you sigh at the end.  They have been one of my favorite books to write, Jaclyn   

Peace River
Rockland Ranch Series #1 excerpt

Woodland Hills, California

              Her running horse could be heard long before she appeared out of the mist.  In the half light of dawn and the wisps of fog drifting off the river behind the track there was first the cadenced hoof beats and then the horse’s rhythmic, even breathing.  Finally, like an obsidian ghost appearing through a veil, the great black horse materialized and raced ahead, his gait so smooth he seemed to barely touch the earth with each massive stride. 

She rode as if she was
part of him, their motion fluid, his black mane streaming past her face in the wind to whip against her jockey helmet.  He appeared and blew past in a matter of seconds, then disappeared again into the mist where the track curved into the distance.  For a moment there was again his breathing and hoof beats, until these too faded into the half light, and it was as if the sleek ebony spirit flying down the track had never been.

Flagstaff, Arizona

             
The sweet sad strains of ‘
This is Where the Cowboy Rides Away’
came on over the PA system as the lights started to come back on in the grandstands.  Slade Marsh and Rossen Rockland listened from behind the bucking chutes where they were packing the last of Slade’s bull riding gear.  The rodeo was over and the last of the fireworks had faded from the night sky leaving only the sulfurous smell and the mess the local youth groups would clean up first thing Monday morning.

             
It was the last night of this rodeo, and for both of them, it had been a profitable weekend.  Together they’d taken first place in the team roping, and Slade had also been in the money bulldoggin’ and riding bulls.  It had been a good rodeo, but now Slade was tired.

             
He zipped the duffle bag closed and stood up, stretching tired muscles.  There was dust on his jeans from where he’d landed in the arena dirt after his ride, and his black cowboy hat would never be the same after being stepped on by a nineteen hundred pound Brahma bull.  At least the bull had only gotten the hat.  He’d been aiming for Slade. 

             
They stopped to untie their horses from the outer rail and headed back across the rodeo grounds toward the trailer that was home to them on this rodeo circuit.  Leather reins in hand, they paused when they realized a street dance was starting up in the area directly ahead of them.  Giant speakers that had been set up on the lawn chose that moment to emit a series of crackling static and then throbbing country music.  Their horses were veterans of enough rodeos that all they did was twitch an ear and wait to see what the two cowboys would ask them to do.

             
“We’re old, Rossen,”  Slade stated it matter-of-factly.  Rossen simply turned to look at him with one eyebrow quirked as Slade went on, “We are.  Just look at us. Saturday night, good music, beautiful girls under the stars.  And what are we doing?  Trying to figure out a way to get past this crowd without being seen, so we can go home, put on some liniment and go to bed.  It‘s true.  We’re old.”

             
Rossen grinned.  “You may be old at twenty-seven but I’m still only a whippersnapper at twenty-six.  I’m in my prime.”

             
Slade had to work not to limp.  “My backside hurts.  Actually, most everything I own hurts.  I gotta quit riding bulls.”

             
“Better your backside than your head.”  Rossen laughed and added, “Backsides are optional, heads aren’t.  Although Jesse probably wouldn’t agree.  You’re right.  You’d better quit riding bulls.” 

             
Slade groaned and said, “Jesse.  Now you can see why we’re avoiding the dance.  It’ll be a meat market.  Let’s try going through the south parking lot and cutting through the warm-up arena.”

             
As they trudged across the lot, Rossen said, “Someday, Marsh, we’re gonna meet some girls we actually look forward to being with.”

             
“I just hope we’re not too old to enjoy them.”

             
Rossen chuckled.  “Hey, we enjoy girls.  Sometimes they make us laugh.”

             
Slade answered in a voice devoid of energy.  “Sometimes they just make us tired.”

             
“Sheesh, you’re negative.  I have half a mind to drag you back to that dance just to perk you up.”  They skirted a row of cars waiting to exit the parking lot, their horse’s feet clip-clopping on the pavement.

             
Shaking his head, Slade said, “Can’t dance tonight, I smell like a cow pie.”

             
Rossen let out a laugh.  “I gotta teach you to be more selective on your landings.” 

             
“How ‘bout if you just teach me to stay on until I can jump down nice and easy?”

             
“How ’bout if I just teach you to stay off the bucking stock?”

             
They reached their trailer next to the row of stalls where they kept their horses, then tied them up to start stripping their saddles and bridles.  After brushing them down and getting them settled for the night, the men headed back to the big six horse trailer with living quarters. 

             
Rossen went in to see about scrounging up a late dinner while Slade loaded their gear into the tack storage, then settled his tall frame on the trailer step to take off his spurs.  Rossen’s head appeared inside the screen door.  “Nuked pizza okay?”

             
Slade sighed.  “After I learn to dismount bulls, I’m gonna learn to cook.”

Journey of Honor
(excerpt
)

He pulled up and got off his horse and was just about to speak
, when he heard the sound of a cocking gun.  The wagon flap moved and the barrel of a pistol appeared, followed by Giselle's head.  When she realized who it was, she dropped the muzzle of the gun and took a deep breath, then whispered with her accent.  "Oh, Mr. Grayson, you frightened me.  I thought you were Henry Filson.  What are you doing?"

That's exactly what he was asking himself just about now.  "Uhm, you're not going to believe this, but I've come to see if you would consent to marrying me."  He put up a hand.  "It's just to be able to get you away in the morning, and we'll have it annulled when we get to your valley.  It's either that, or stay here and deal with Filson and a trial, and waste more time getting started west."

She looked totally confused for a minute, and then said, "Just a moment."  Her head disappeared back inside the wagon cover and he could hear her whispering quietly to someone.  Then a bare foot and lower leg appeared through the flaps.  He realized she was getting out. 

He went forward to help her down and she turned to look at him with big eyes in the darkness.  She was wearing a nightgown covered with a long robe and her hair was loose and hanging around her shoulders.  She was even prettier than when she'd been all dolled up
, and he questioned again to himself what in the world he was doing, while he waited there to see if she was going to laugh or cuss him.