himself smile.
I dig out my phone. “Great idea, Owie.”
Cameron puts his arm around Owen’s shoulders and they pose as I click away.
Owen then sits on his little fold-up chair and watches the fire, his legs swinging with glee as he smiles from ear to ear.
Cam watches him silently and I can see him thinking. His eyes flicker to me, and he smiles softly.
I think he just had an ‘aha’ moment as he watches how proud his son is of making a fire. He comes and takes a seat next to me on his camp chair, puts his hand on my thigh, and kisses my lips. “I do love you.”
I smile against him. “What’s not to love?”
“Give me your phone, Mom.” Owen demands. “Let me take a photo of you two.”
Cam and I smile as Owen snaps away.
We toast marshmallows and play I Spy, and we make toast with jam, too. I don’t think I’ve ever had a nicer night. Cam and I have drunk a bottle of red and I’m sitting with my legs draped over his while he and Owen play rock, paper, scissors. To be honest, this is the most relaxed that I’ve been in such a very long time. No internet, no television, no distractions. The only sound that can be heard is the sporadic crackling of the fire. I look across the paddock and up at the old house, and I wonder if Gloria is up in Heaven watching us.
I bet she’s smiling.
She told me I would find my Mr. Darcy and I did. I’m marrying him and he’s here on the very same farm, maybe at the very same place, where she sat with her Mr. Darcy.
I look back over to watch my two boys laugh freely, and I become emotional, tearing up.
For the first time in so long I feel as if everything has clicked into place.
My son, my job, my future husband, and this house… I feel like it was all meant to be, and maybe it’s the red wine talking, but at this moment I could happily live here on this farm without one cent to my name.
I have everything that I could ever want right here.
The fire’s dying down. It’s late. We’ve been sitting around it for hours. “Come on. Bedtime, mister,” Cam tells Owen.
We stand and make our way into the barn to change into our pajamas, and I close the door. Owen dives onto his airbed and Cameron stands at the end of the bed with his hands on his hips as he studies our surroundings. “Is this even fucking safe?” he whispers under his breath.
“Oh, yeah,” Owen calls out excitedly. “This bed is sick!”
I giggle as I climb onto the airbed and get into my sleeping bag while Cameron walks the perimeter of the barn with the light on his phone turned on.
“What are you doing?” I call.
“Looking for rats. I don’t particularly want my ear chewed off in the middle of the night. They’re most welcome to yours, though. You could do with some otoplasty.”
I laugh and lie back onto the bed. I glance over, and Owen is already sound asleep. He’s worn out from carrying all those rocks today. After ten minutes of investigating, Cameron slides into his sleeping bag next to me and sits up to shine his light around once more.
“Will you relax?” I sigh sleepily.
“Fucking Amityville Horror. Here we go,” he murmurs. “Who fucking knows what lives in this barn?”
“We do now,” I whisper.
He exhales deeply. “You’re lucky I love you, Bloss.” He lies down. “I wouldn’t do this shit for anyone else.”
I smile broadly with my eyes closed. “I know.”
“So, I was thinking that we just start by taking everything outside,” I announce.
Cameron frowns as he looks at me. His hands are on his hips, encased in his leather working gloves, and he has his new steel-toed boots on that I bought him in secret over the week.
Owen is playing with his trucks on the front veranda.
“What do you mean?” He frowns as he looks at all the plasterboard everywhere on the ground. “What… all this?’ He gestures to the pile of rubble.
“Yes.” I pick up a piece and carry it outside to put it out on the grass to the side of the house.
I walk back inside to see Cameron’s confused face. “What? You think that we’re going to strip this house ourselves?”
“Uh-huh.” I pick up another piece of plasterboard and disappear back outside before I come back in.
“Ashley, this job