Not mine. They belong to Janet. Amanda is mine.
This is it. We have reached the epilogue, for the time being I am going to deem the story done. I may very well visit this story again with a sequel. I do have some other stories I am working on but waited to start posting them until this story was marked complete. I hate to read a story and get to the end and realize it was abandoned. I refuse to let mine be that way.

Epilogue: Told from Lester's POV: One year later

We went back to Hawaii for mine and Sweetheart's first anniversary. Even though it had only been a few months since we were in Hawaii. We needed to christen our new place. She was excited that the beach house was ours. Mitch agreed to sell me his half.

In a week Ranger and I are going on the assignment they wanted us for months ago, we will be gone a month. It took the government a while to correct the few key strokes Hector made.

Plans are already in place for Beautiful to stay at our house. Stephanie has decided she loves it at our place with the horses and other animals. She says she won't feel like she is in some prison, unfortunately that is how she feels at Rangeman. Plus, Amanda does not mind Woody, Hal and Manny hanging out, therefore Steph does not feel so caged.

Sweetheart has joked about building Beautiful an armored car to keep it from blowing up. She has lost two cars since returning from their honeymoon. Knowing her plans are in the works, she loves Steph and wants to see her be safe too.

I have finally started to adjust to farm life. Amanda and I spend a lot of time together on the farm. She has taken this city boy and made him a country boy and I would not trade it for the world. I never realized there was so much to taking care of livestock, horses and poultry. Then a totally different story for taking care of a huge garden. There is a satisfaction that comes from opening a jar of corn or green beans in January and know it came from your garden and not from who knows where.

Amanda and I have talked very little about adoption. What we have discussed is maybe an older child perhaps seven to twelve years old. Right now adoption is on hold, there are too many places I want to take her before we make that big of a life changing decision. She told me one time she has never traveled outside of the U.S., I want to take her like Brazil or Europe.

The marriage bug is in the air at Rangeman. There is a third couple getting married. Tank and Lula have decided after Ranger and I return from this mission, they are getting married. They asked Amanda and I if they could use the farm for the ceremony and reception. Of course, we are letting them. We built a gazebo by the fire pit a few months ago, they are going to use it. Outside of the Rangeman family, Tank only has his mother left. As far as I know Lula has no family. So it should not be a huge affair.

Amanda still does some drag racing, I go with her. She absolutely loves it, I do not care for it as much. Outside of the race team, Ranger and Stephanie usually attend with us. Rangeman has signed on as a sponsor, to see if it would be a money maker for Rangeman. We asked any new clients where they heard of us, eighty percent have said at the drag races. Wise decision on Ranger's part.

I would not be surprised to see Ranger start racing. He craves that king of adrenalin rush, without a doubt he is an adrenalin junkie. He has been asking Amanda a lot of questions about racing. She has told him he has the talent to drive, but the German cars do not cut it in this type environment. That will be the biggest hold up for him. Well that and the fact Stephanie would probably kill him. If he decides to race, Amanda's crew will build him a car, that is a no brainer.

Hal and Woody still drool over Amanda. I have to laugh, it is almost like she has two more pets. They are faithful to her, I will give them that. I do not have to worry about them putting the moves on her, they won't. She would also shut them down in a heartbeat. I also know if something happens to me on a mission or by some other means, she will be cared for. One of those two will marry her and where ever I end up heaven or hell, I would give my blessing. They would be getting a wonderful gift of her love.

Looking back over the last year, I realize how stupid and childish it was to try to break things off with her before I left for that mission and then when I asked for a divorce. Lucky for me, she is the brains of our marriage and I did not loose her to someone else. She also has the good qualities of being stubborn and bullheaded, again lucky for me she refused to give up.

We are each other's rock. I caused her a lot of unnecessary pain. Someday, I will forgive myself. She has already forgiven me. I will love her today, tomorrow and always, that much is certain, everything else is anybody's guess. She and I will go down the road of life together.

The end.