A Second Chance

"I'd rather not do either. If it's OK with you and Aunt Sally, I want to stay at the ranch. It's the closest thing I've had to home since losing Amy. It has everything I've ever wanted: you and Aunt Sally, Eowyn, the hands as real friends, meaningful work, no politics or gamesmanship, and a setting that makes getting up each morning worthwhile."

"There's a reason I'm asking. Sally and I are considering taking one last long trip to revisit our favorite places before we can't anymore. We plan to be gone at least six months. I want you to run the ranch while we're gone."

"I'm flattered that you'd trust me with this."

"There's another thing you need to think about. You say the ranch provides you with everything you've ever wanted. But you're missing the most important thing from the list you just gave me. You don't have a Sally in your life. That's more important than any of the things you mentioned."

"Amy was my Sally. There won't be another."

"You're too young to give up on relationships."

"Where would I find one? None of the women I know from D.C. is going to be interested in moving to Wyoming and becoming a rancher's wife. Nor is there a large pool of candidates here for me to pick from. I haven't met a woman I'd consider dating since moving out here. Plus, I'll never have another love like Amy. She was one in a million."

"You've barely left the ranch, except to go into town to run errands."

"True."

"Plus, you're ignoring the woman who's living under the same roof you are and raising your daughter."

"Mia? She's ten years younger than I am. Why would she be interested in me?"

"Good grief, Tommy. Are you really that stupid? And are you blind, deaf and dumb? That girl worships the ground you walk on. She talked of nothing but the time she spent with you in Cheyenne for a week after she got back to the ranch. She loves your daughter with a devotion that your parents never showed to you. She's turned down every offer to go out from every man who's asked because she's waiting for you. When Sally asked her why she kept saying no, she told her 'Because he's worth waiting for.'"

Uncle Billy continued. "Did you know that Sally is my second wife?"

"No. No one ever mentioned that you were married before. What happened?"

"I met Maria my freshman year of high school. Her parents were Mexican immigrants. They'd come here initially as farm laborers, but by the time I met her, her dad owned his own farm. She was beautiful, as only a young woman can be. I fell instantly in love with her. We had to sneak around, because neither her father nor mine approved. Back when this happened, dating across racial or ethnic lines was still heavily discouraged. But we were in love and we persisted. After we graduated, I got my draft notice. We decided not to wait. We snuck off and got married in Houston. Our parents pitched a fit, but there wasn't anything they could do at that point because Maria got pregnant on our brief honeymoon. When I left for basic training, Maria was three months along. I got sent to Vietnam and she had the baby while I was gone. She named him Tomas, after her father. We called him Tommy."

"I never got to see my son, except in photographs. Two months after he was born, Maria, Tommy and her parents were coming back from a trip to town when a drunk driver crossed over the line and ran into them head-on. All four of them were killed instantly. I'd been out on a long patrol and came back to find a note on my bunk instructing me to go see the chaplain. By the time I got the word that my wife and son were dead, they'd already been buried. I didn't even get to go to the funeral."

"I thought my life was over. When I came back from Vietnam and was discharged, I went off to college to study oil and gas. Your grandfather was already working in the oil fields. I thought we might do some wildcatting once I got my degree. While I was there, one of my fraternity brothers asked me for a favor. His little sister was looking for a date to her sorority's homecoming dance. He asked me to take her. It was Sally. She was pretty and personable, but I was still mourning Maria and Tommy and I wasn't looking for another relationship. We got to be friends. I found out years later that she turned down forty-seven different boys who asked her out after she met me before I finally realized we could be more than just friends. When I asked her why, do you know what she said?"

"Not a clue."

"She told me the same thing Mia told Sally about you. 'Because you were worth waiting for.'"

"That girl loves you like Sally loved me. You're a damned fool if you don't make her your wife." And with that, he left me to think about what he'd said for the rest of the drive to Cheyenne.

CHAPTER SIX

After Amy's death, I had made a concerted effort to keep Mrs. Wong in contact with Eowyn. Although she rejected my offer to have her move to the ranch, citing her need to care for Amy's grandfather, she did agree to visit for a week every couple of months. Uncle Billy facilitated this by finding reasons to send the company jet to San Francisco, bringing her to Wyoming as a passenger on the return trip.

Initially, there had been some tension between Mrs. Wong and Mia over how to care for Eowyn. That was not particularly surprising, given their radically different cultural backgrounds. At Aunt Sally's insistence, I'd stayed out of the situation, leaving the two of them to come to an accommodation on their own, which they had done. By the time Uncle Billy and I had the conversation on the drive to Cheyenne, Mia and Mrs. Wong had reached a truce which seemed to be holding.

Before I began exploring a relationship with Mia, I wanted to assure Mrs. Wong that whatever happened from that exploration, I meant no disrespect to Amy's memory. Nor was I going to forget what Amy had meant to me. I assured her that Eowyn would always be her grandchild and her access would remain unimpeded.

I raised the topic on her next visit. To my surprise, she had no objections and gave me her blessing. With Mrs. Wong's blessing in hand, I asked Mia out for the first time.

Our first date was to a local restaurant, followed by dancing at the American Legion Hall. Quite the difference from the swanky restaurants and federal monuments in D.C. Nevertheless, we had a ball. When I brought Mia home, she was bubbling. Aunt Sally was still up when we rolled in at midnight. She took one look at Mia and gave me a thumbs up signal. Mia gave me a kiss and went off to bed.

We went out locally several more times before I finally asked Mia to go away for a weekend. Aunt Sally would watch Eowyn with help from one of the teenagers from a neighboring ranch. It would be our first time sleeping together and I wanted it to be perfect. We drove to Denver, had dinner at the city's finest restaurant and then spent two nights in Denver's premier hotel. I'm afraid we didn't see much in the way of sights. We spent most of the time in bed. Mia proved to be a very responsive lover and demonstrated that she had some experience or had made a careful study of the subject. By checkout time on Sunday morning, we were both drained and the sheets on both beds in the room were a mess.

When we returned to the ranch, I asked Aunt Sally and Uncle Billy if they'd object to Mia's moving into my room on a permanent basis. They both laughed. "It's about time" was all they said.

Six months later, Mia and I rode out to the most scenic spot on the ranch. With the sun setting in the background, I got down on one knee and proposed. It will not surprise you that her answer was a resounding "Yes!"

Neither of us wanted a repeat of the extravaganza that had been Amy's and my wedding. We decided to get married on the ranch. The guests would be Mia's family, the ranch hands and their families, Mrs. Wong, a few very close friends from our earlier lives, and my father, mother and grandfather. Uncle Billy arranged transportation for the English contingent. We held off notifying my family until a week before the wedding, minimizing the chance that they'd attempt to highjack the nuptials. Mia's family stayed at the ranch for the two weeks we were on our honeymoon in Costa Rica. Sometime during that stay, Mia's oldest sister and our widowed ranch foreman apparently connected. They've been in regular touch since the wedding and there's a good chance that there will be two English accents on the ranch in the near future.

Shortly after the next roundup, Uncle Billy and Aunt Sally took off for their six-month trip. They headed west, going to Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, India, Egypt, and at last report were travelling around Europe. When they come home, they plan to stay for good.

My parents and grandfather have finally accepted that I'm never going to run the family corporation. My mother has hired a well-respected oil and gas executive as her number two. He'll succeed her when it comes time for her to retire.

Aunt Sally and Uncle Billy will have another great-niece or great-nephew when they get home. Mia just informed me that the little test stick had a plus sign. I'm ecstatic.

We've already begun planning to emulate Aunt Sally's and Uncle Billy's annual month-long vacation program. Having been given a second chance at living life, I'm not going to blow it this time. We're going to live and teach our children to do the same.