“Hey....hey! Devyn, wake up!” I poked Devyn in the stomach a little harder the second time as well as yelled a little bit louder. We had been back at the ranch for a few weeks now and had decided to go out to the little lake, along with Valerie a ‘guy friend’ and a few of the ranch hands.

Now that Val had given up her dream of having Devyn as her boyfriend I think she finally realized there were other guys out there waiting to be noticed. One such guy was the ‘friend’ she had over a few days this week. Of course she had more friends over for her birthday party but the guy stayed a little longer while everyone else had gone back to their own homes.

I don’t think Declan was pleased to know that his second daughter was about to begin dating, he always seemed a little tense and uneasy around Finn...well that was until Finn did a whole day of work without expecting pay. I think it was payment enough that he got to spend time around Valerie without anyone being suspicious.

“Why are you poking me?” Devyn’s voice suddenly pulled me out of my thoughts, I found myself on my back and at the mercy of his fingers as he tickled me mercilessly. Unable to do anything but laugh and attempt to roll out of his reach, Devyn continued on with the torture.

“Ow, stop! Stop!” The fact that I was still in my bikini meant I couldn’t take much of Devyn’s torture, though thank god he stopped when I told him to or things might have gotten messy.

“Sorry, too much?” He asked, leaning down to kiss me. I lay there, staring up at him as he pulled away thinking that I had struck pure gold when I had agreed to date Devyn. Sure I had assumed he was like all other guys, but he was far from it and I regret ever thinking those thoughts about him.

“Just a little, anyway! I was poking you because you fell to sleep again and it’s getting late. I think Val and Finn are packing up, so is Sonia.” Devyn glanced around, realized that everyone was almost done and stood, pulling me up with him. Even though I was quite recovered from all injuries Devyn still insisted on packing all of our equipment up and carrying it back to his pick-up.

It was so typical of him but I had learned not to argue because he was always happier when he was doing something for me. “He really is a great guy, isn’t he?” Sonia asked, sighing as she fell into step with me. We both watched Devyn struggle back up to the truck while dropping a few small things along the way.

“He is, but sometimes his bullheadedness can be annoying. You okay? You seem a bit down?” It was amusing and not at the same time, since leaving the ranch Peter had called me more times than I cared to count. If ever Declan or Trisha answered the phone he would ask for me and then try to get information out of me about Sonia while making me promise that I wouldn’t tell her.

“I don’t know, I just feel like the odd wheel most of the time. I mean Val is head over heels for that guy that’s always around, you and Devyn are totally cute but also a couple and then there’s me. Out on the left wing by myself.” I always tried to make a point of talking to Sonia, of making her feel like part of the group and all that. But I guess sometimes to be part of a group you needed to be left alone most of the time, if that made any sense?

I didn’t tell Sonia about the phone calls with Peter, though I was so tempted to. It would probably put a huge smile on her face and cheer her up in an instant. If Peter called later on that night then I was going to confront him about this, either he gained a bit more courage and asked to speak with Sonia or I was putting Sonia on a plane to New York so she could ‘get out’ of Montana for a while.

We made it back to the ranch in one piece, unpacked and headed off in our own directions to shower, clean and get reading for dinner. I stopped in my tracks though as soon as I walked through the front door, there were a set of shoes sitting there that didn’t belong.

A few weeks ago those same set of shoes had been sitting there while their owner had been learning all about ranch life and attempting to fit in. I dropped my bags at the door and ran into the family room, when I saw Peter standing there in his crisp suit I nearly screamed because I knew why he was here and couldn’t have been more excited and happy!

“Peter! Does Sonia know you’re here?” I asked, rushing to him for a hug. Peter laughed as he drew me in for a hug, kissing the top of my head as I hugged the life right out of him.

“Hello to you too Leah. Nope, it’s a surprise so don’t go yelling it from the front deck okay? Do you think she’ll go away for a week with me?” I pulled away, laughing as I swatted Peter playfully. He really had no idea how much Sonia actually liked him, which reminded me of Devyn and myself.

“You’re so clueless, aren’t you? She’s been moping around the ranch the last few days, so much so that I was tempted to stick her on a plane in the next few days and send her your way.” The look that suddenly crossed Peters face made me laugh, almost hysterically as I pulled away from him and sat myself down on the sofa.

“Seriously? I had no idea, I had hoped...but that’s it. Do you think I should go and see her now? Or wait and surprise her at dinner? Also, Trisha said she would need your help when you got in, one of the mares is giving birth or something.” Jumping up from the sofa I went and gave Peter a quick kiss on the cheek, he sure had his priorities sorted out if the foal was the second thing he told me.

“Go see her now! If I know Sonia she won’t like being surprised in front of everyone and this way, if she cries she won’t be too embarrassed about it all.” I left Peter then, he yelled something after me but I was already too far away to hear him and too focused on going to the horse barn to see which horse was giving birth. In all honesty I didn’t even know that one of the mares had been pregnant, I didn’t even know how to tell.

I found Trisha, Declan and the kids out in the last barn, “Hey Leah, come and watch. It’s so exciting; the head is just coming out now.” I inched closer to where Trisha had motioned, everyone was quiet so I didn’t say a word as I looked over the railing into Butter-Bean’s stall.

“I thought Butter-Bean was a boy. Ew, what is that stuff?” Trisha and Declan both laughed at what I said, Justin and Juliette both giggled like I was stupid. I was used to it now though, but seriously? Was that what babies looked like when they first came out? It was gross!

“Butter-Bean is female and all that stuff is the placenta, have you never seen one?” I shook my head at the question, trying to keep from gagging at the sight of it. Just from my reaction the placenta being around the baby horse I knew that being a doctor or vet was totally out of question for my career choices.

We watched for a good hour before the little horse was finally pushed out, it lay there for a little while. Butter-Bean turned around and began licking it; I made noises which were followed by giggles from the kids.

“So, what are you going to name her?” Trisha asked, putting her arm around my shoulder. It took a moment for me to realize what she had asked and I turned to look at her like she’d just given me a golden key to the world. The look on my face must have been hilarious because she began laughing quietly; Declan came over and squeezed himself between the both of us.

“So? I hope you don’t take too long to name her, you still haven’t given Andy and Puck new names.” I smiled, remembering how gross I had originally thought those two puppies had been when we were at the vets. Now whenever I thought about the both of them they made me laugh, I had been through a lot with those two as well and was glad that Declan had insisted on my taking them home.

“I don’t want to change their names; Puck and Andy are perfect for them both. Do I have to give the little horse a name like Butter-Beans? Are there rules for horse naming here?” Both Trisha and Declan began laughing, Trisha shaking her head as she covered her mouth with a hand.

“You can name her whatever you want....just don’t make it too weird, okay?” I laughed; Declan had no idea how weird Butter-Bean, Periwinkle or Happy Jack sounded?

“Wait, why do I get to name her? Isn’t she going to be trained and sold anyway?” My heart kind of did a triple beat when I saw the look that passed between Declan and Trisha and nearly did a little happy dance when they both looked at me with wide smiles.

“We want you to have the foal, we’ll help teach you to train her but all the other kids have been through this process of learning and we want you to as well. It’s only fair.” Even though I hadn’t shown much affection towards Trisha I outright hugged, almost as hard as I had hugged Peter inside.

“Thank you so much, oh I have to go and tell Devyn....I can come back later, right?” I asked, Declan was already pushing me towards the door as I spoke. Not needing to be given a second hint I dashed out the door, straight into Devyn.

My momentum knocked us both flat on the ground, luckily for me Devyn was my landing pad. He let out a noise when I landed on top of him, I came up smiling widely but he looked a little stunned and surprised.

“Holy crab cakes cowgirl, where’s the wildfire?” I laughed happily as I leaned over Devyn, he seemed quite happy to lie on the ground.

“Trisha and Devyn said I could keep Butter-Bean’s baby! I can even name it and train it too, isn’t that exciting? I’m so going to name it something cool like...Captain Awesome or Dashing Devyn or! Oh my god, what about The Munroe?” I stopped, not because I had run out of name ideas but because Devyn had begun laughing hysterically beneath me, the shaking of his stomach distracting me from my train of thought.

“What are you laughing at? It’s not funny, I was being serious.” Almost as soon as I began pouting Devyn stopped his laughing, but a loud, startled laugh from the house caught my attention and a smile was again on my face when I spotted Peter and Sonia coming our way.

“What did you do to Devyn?” Sonia asked as they came nearer, by now Devyn was resting on his forearms though I refused to let him up until he helped me think of a name.

“I wasn’t watching where I was going and knocked him straight over? Did you hear though? Trisha and Declan are letting me keep Butter-Bean’s baby! And I get to name her, isn’t that cool? What do you guys think of Captain Awesome?” Almost as soon as the name came out Peter began laughing, Sonia looked torn between wanting to laugh and not wanting to offend me.

“Ugh, not you two as well.” I stood then, holding a hand out for Devyn even though I knew he wouldn’t take it.

When he stood he pulled me into his side, it was hard to be angry with anyone when you loved them all like they were family. “Come on Captain Awesome, let’s go look at the foal and come up with more name ideas.” Groaning at the new nickname I allowed myself to be guided back into the horse barn to where Butter-Bean and her new baby were.

“So, what colour is she?” Sonia asked me, I had no idea. She looked brown when she popped out but after working around horses for a few weeks I knew the term ‘brown’ just wouldn’t cut it.

“She looks like she could be buckskin or bay,” thankfully Trisha answered before I had to, I had no idea what colour buckskin or bay was...I didn’t even know what breed of horse the baby was or even what Butter-Bean was for that matter.

“Oh! I hope she is buckskin! I’ve always loved buckskin horses,” All I hoped was that she was healthy and that no one would laugh at whatever name I gave her, then again I think I laughed at almost every single horses name that was on the ranch! So my horse might be in good company after all.

“Well I don’t know about all of you but I’m going to go and think up a name for my new horse.” I declared to the small group that was gathered, I left after giving Devyn a kiss on the cheek. My mind wasn’t so much in turmoil about names as it was throwing a whole lot of suggestions at me at once.

No one followed me, thankfully. I found myself eventually back in my room, lying on my bed pondering a name for the brown little thing sitting out in the barn with its mom.

“Esther-Jane.” That was it that was the name I was going to give. It sounded sort of like Butter-Bean, at least in my mind it did. It wasn’t ridiculous, wasn’t too far-fetched and it was easy to remember. Feeling a little more triumphant now than I did an hour ago I marched downstairs, I would have gone out to the barn but everyone was gathered around the dining room table almost ready to eat.

“Oh there you are Leah, I was just going to come up and get you. Come up with a name yet?” I smiled widely when Val asked the question but kept quiet as I marched around to the head of the table. Everyone seemed to be waiting with baited breath, Adrian looked like he wanted to burst out laughing like always but I didn’t blurt it out like I would have before.

“I’ve decided to name her, Esther-Jane.” I said calmly before going around to my seat, for a few moments it was completely silent.

“That’s a nice name, not too shabby. Right everyone?” There were murmurs and nodding of heads but nothing like I was expecting. Did everyone want a weirder name? Whatever the case I could always count on Adrian to give his honest opinion.

“That is the worst name I’ve ever heard for a horse off this ranch. What happened to Captain Awesome? Or The Munroe? Those are so much better than Esther-Jane.” Everyone else seemed a little caught off guard by what Adrian said; I on the other hand began laughing! Even though I should have expected Adrian to say something like that, the fact that he supported my whacky name ideas amused me greatly.

“Name the horse whatever you want to Leah, you can’t do worse than Fat Tony.” The jibe was aimed at Trisha, which made me laugh a heck of a lot harder than I had been previously.

“Fine! Even though I like Esther-Jane and I think it is a nice name...I feel like it’s not in line with the rest of the horses names here on the ranch. So if everyone agrees, I want to name the new baby Little Wren.” Adrian looked pleased with the name, it wasn’t odd at all but it was just the right kind of different for me.

“Okay, now that we’ve got the name sorted out can we eat? I’m hungry.” Again this came from Adrian and again I started laughing. He was the honesty everyone needed once in a while and now that he had his drinking under control it made him even more honest.

I don’t think everyone really knew what to do so sat down and began dishing out food to various people on the table. Devyn and I chatted a little amongst ourselves while Sonia and Peter did the same, I noticed that Sonia had dolled herself up yet again and had no doubt that Peter could or would whisk her off to New York for a while.

Dinner passed with a bit of conversation here and there but mostly we chatted in pairs or small groups, I was nervously waiting and expecting Peter or Sonia to make their announcements but when nothing had come my hopes were fading away.

“Hey Devyn, can I speak to my sister alone for a bit? I promise I’ll bring her right back.” Peter interrupted mine and Devyn’s nightly ritual of sitting out on the porch swing chatting about nothing.

“Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow Leah.” Nodding my head I was a little torn, though I would see Devyn tomorrow I still wanted to spend time with him. But I also wanted to spend time with Peter as he was likely not going to be here long.

“So, I talked to Sonia earlier. It turns out she’s as crazy about me as I am about her and we’re going to give it a shot. Do you think we’ll work?” Who asks a seventeen year old that? I was not expecting that sort of questioning from Peter; considering he was older than me but also that he appeared so much more confident than he currently was at that moment.

Shrugging my shoulders I turned to him, “it’s going to do what it’s going to do Peter...you just need to figure out what that is.” I was quite proud of myself for that diplomatic answer and smiled, knowing that it was because of my time spent around Devyn that I had given that answer.

Peter laughed, nodding his head at what I had to say. “Of course it is, though I would have liked a definitive answer from you.” We sat out for a little while longer, just chatting about life in general. Occasionally Peter would attempt to get more answers out of me about Sonia and if the two of them would work out, but I didn’t give in and stuck to my ground.

Of course I would love if the both of them worked out but I think it was something for Peter to figure out on his own. Just like Devyn had done when my mom and brothers had shown up, it was because he stepped back that I realized Montana was where I wanted to live. Not because he had influenced me or begged me to stay...well that and I realized I was living a dream in California when all I wanted was reality.

The next morning though, everyone had their answer.

“I’m going to New York for the week.” Sonia had announced to everyone, the only person that seemed surprised was Peter. Like he hadn’t been expecting Sonia to do or say anything so quickly, but knowing Sonia she was probably ready to test out the deep waters quickly.

After everyone had said their congratulations and after everyone had eaten breakfast we all stood out on the front porch, helped and then watched as Peter and Sonia left the ranch. I don’t know, something seemed so right about the both of them being together but doubt and something close to dread too settled in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t want to voice it in case I jinxed their relationship but I really did hope everything worked out for the better.

“Can you believe it? Country girl Sonia heading off to New York for the week. Do you think she’ll come back? I mean, I don’t blame her if she doesn’t.” I turned to Valerie; I think she was as nervous as I was about all of this.

All I could do was shrug, “who knows Val? It could work out, it couldn’t. But I’m the same; I hope it works out for them too.” Val and I were the last two left on the porch, everyone else went about their morning rituals.

“You know what that means don’t you? Double work for you.” I groaned at the thought of more work, Valerie only laughed good naturedly as she put an arm around my shoulder.

“I’ll help you if you want? It’s no biggie, besides I think my dad is going to hire Finn as an extra hand.” Now that I laughed at. How convenient for Val that her current male crush might be working on the ranch with us?

Pulling Valerie into a hug I hoped she wasn’t grossed out or anything, my doubts vanished when she hugged me just as tightly and we laughed like sisters until Trisha came out and shooed us off to work.

“You know what Leah? I’m glad you came and I’m glad I’ve got a sister my age too, it’s great!” I seconded what Val had to say. Sure we had gotten off on the wrong foot, had treated each other like complete trash but it had worked out for the both of us in the end.

 ________________________________________

THE END!!!

How was that? I'm so stoked that this book is finished! So happy that it didn't bore any of you regular readers! And I'm glad almost everyone got a happy ending :D

Thank you everyone who has supported the book, commented and voted on it whenever they could! I really REALLY appreciated it all and love you all so much more!

Let me know what you think of the ending, please? Did I tie up all ends? I hope I did!