More gray in his beard.
Same blue-gray eyes.
The Older Sister handed him the canteen.
He drank.
Then said:
“You know, first time I saw you, I thought you were going to shoot me.”
“You were trespassing.”
“We established that cattle were responsible.”
“You were inside the fence.”
“So were the cattle.”
She smiled.
The Cowboy handed back the canteen.
“You looked beautiful when angry.”
“Still do?”
He considered far too long.
The Older Sister hit his shoulder.
He laughed.
“More.”
She shook her head.
Then leaned against the rail beside him.
The ranch stretched golden beneath afternoon light.
Their house stood beyond the pasture.
The Younger Sister’s wagon approached along the road for a visit.
The well windlass turned slowly.
The fence held.
The Cowboy looked toward his wife.
“You ever wonder what would’ve happened if that storm hadn’t broken this?”
The Older Sister touched the rail.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it did.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one that matters.”
He smiled.
She continued.
“You would’ve ridden east.”
“Maybe.”
“I would’ve kept pretending I could do everything.”
“Definitely.”
“The well would’ve failed.”
“Probably.”
“Your landowner friend might’ve gotten the ranch.”
“He was never my friend.”
“You know what I mean.”
The Cowboy nodded.
The Older Sister looked toward him.
“So no.”
“I don’t wonder.”
“I got the life that happened.”
“I like this one.”
The Cowboy’s eyes softened.
“Even me?”
She waited.
He groaned.
“Cruel woman.”
She smiled.
“Gladly.”
Then she kissed him beside the same fence where she once warned him not to touch her.
The Younger Sister’s wagon rolled closer.
She shouted:
“Still doing that where everyone can see?”
The Older Sister pulled away.
The Cowboy shouted back:
“Drive slower next time!”
The Younger Sister laughed.
The Older Sister shook her head.
“Family.”
The Cowboy put one arm around her waist.
“Expensive.”
“Noisy.”
“Worth it.”
She looked toward him.
“Belonging costs.”
He remembered.
The first dinner.
The sentence he had said years earlier.
He nodded.
“Yes.”
The Older Sister smiled.
“So does leaving.”
The Cowboy looked over the ranch.
“Then I picked the cheaper option.”
She elbowed him.
He laughed.
The sun lowered.
Wind moved through dry grass.
The fence line stretched toward the horizon.
Straight.
Strong.
Repaired more than once.
Never perfect.
Still holding.
Just like everything that mattered.