City Boy

Jake moved closer to Neal as the older man struggled to stem the bleeding from his head. He had a decent wound a few inches above his eyebrow, a suitable punishment for what he just did to Paul.

Speaking of the owner, he was helped into the milk room by his daughter. He had his own mark on his head from the milking machine, but was otherwise no worse for wear. The three of them stopped over Neal's crumbled body.

"Great thinkin' there, Jake," said Paul with pride before he turned to look at Neal. "End of the line, Neal. You're done for."

Neal could only manage a soft growl while he cradled the wound on his head.

*****

About twenty minutes later, the sheriff arrived to take Neal into custody, but not before the gash on his head was bandaged up. The sun was already rising as Neal was placed in the back of the police cruiser, which meant that Rory and Tate had a front row view of the older farmhand's new predicament.

"What in the world?" said Tate with an open mouth and wearing another hole-filled Black Sabbath shirt. "What are they doing to Neal?"

"Neal just put in his notice," said Paul. "He won't be back here for some time."

"Damn, Paul," said Tate, obviously missing the implied meaning. "Your bad luck just keeps gettin' worse!"

Jake chuckled to himself as Paul directed the new arrivals to finish the milking and then he came to a full stop next to Jake and his daughter.

"What a morning," said Paul finally. "I have to admit, when you first told me about Neal, I didn't want to believe it. I can't imagine what made him want to do this."

"Greed can be a powerful motivator," said Jake. "I'm just surprised he managed to keep it under wraps for this long."

"And to think, I was going to give him the farm one day." Paul shook his head.

"At least Mike Cooper doesn't get it," added Carly.

"True," agreed Jake. "But it does leave one thing open."

"What's that?" asked Paul.

"We have Neal on video, so we can prove that he set the fire, but we have nothing to link him back to Cooper," said Jake.

Before anyone else could respond, they all heard the rumbling down the road. Mike Cooper's F-250 pulled into their driveway as the police cruiser was leaving, coming to a stop not far from the three of them. As usual, his window came down quickly.

"Is everything all right here, Paul? I saw the sirens on my way in this morning," said Mike with a smug smile. It was obvious from his expression that he knew more than he let on.

"Everything is just fine now, Cooper," said Paul with a matching grin. "The police just took your man Neal into custody."

"My man Neal?" Mike started to pale. "You mean your man?"

"Oh, no, I know what I said," said Paul as his anger started to build. "You wanted this farm so badly that you turned Neal against me. I hope you paid the man for his efforts."

Sweat started to build on Mike's brow. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, you're going to," added Jake. "I imagine with all of our evidence, you'll be getting a knock on your day later today."

"What evidence?" said Mike, his pleasantry all but melted away. "You've got nothing on me. What Neal did, he did on his own."

"I'm sure you might be able to convince a jury that," said Paul with a nod. "That is, until they look at Neal's phone records. Isn't that right, Carly?"

"Right indeed, Dad," said Carly finally, while waving her phone around in front of Mike's face.

For once, Mike Cooper was speechless. His mouth kept falling open to protest but no words ever came out. Anger flashed in his eyes, followed shortly after by defeat. His window went up in a blur, and he was out of the driveway without another word.

"Oh, that felt too damn good," said Paul finally, a grin spreading on his face. "I've wanted to tell off that son of a bitch for so long."

"I imagine he might not be around for a while," said Jake, patting Paul on the back.

"We can only hope," said Carly as she worked her way into Jake's arms. He wrapped his around her, and together, the couple had their first really overt, public moment in front of her father.

"So this thing right here. This is real?" asked Paul as he gestured between them. "There are feelings here?"

Carly looked up at Jake before turning back to her father with a wide-set grin. "Yes, Dad, this is real. I don't want to speak for Jake, but it's really serious."

"Very serious," agreed Jake. "I love her."

Carly made an excited noise and squeezed him tighter. "And I love him."

Paul gave them a melancholy smile. "It warms my heart to see what the two of you have managed to find in each other." He then nudged Jake in the stomach. "Especially for a city boy!"

Carly turned to Jake and started to laugh. He took her back into his arms and hugged her tight, before they ended up locked together with their lips.

"We did it," said Carly a moment later. "We caught Neal. Stopped Mike Cooper. Things are only looking up from here."

Jake responded by kissing her again. Yet when he pulled away, it appeared that someone else wasn't nearly as happy as they were.

Paul was still a short distance away, his back turned to them. He looked back at his farm, and the next time he turned his head, it became obvious there were tears in his eyes.

"I still feel bad for him though," said Jake quietly, gesturing to the older man.

"Dad, what's wrong? Are you okay?" asked Carly, sneaking away to embrace her father.

"I'll be all right," said Paul. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about what we were able to do today, but I just can't help but be upset. Neal worked for me for so long. He was supposed to take over this farm. Now what am I going to do?"

Jake wasn't sure exactly what to say. To see Paul's long-held plan so suddenly disintegrate was disheartening. The older man so clearly was ready to retire, and now he had no successor. It was enough to break anyone's heart.

It took Jake a moment or two to realize that Carly was looking at him. Soon enough, her hand wormed into his, and the look that she gave him contained a single, important question.

It was a question he felt he was destined to answer. One that he couldn't help but agree to. In that moment, everything that had happened in the last few months finally made sense.

This was his future. Carly was his future. And now it was time to step up.

"Dad, Jake and I have an idea," said Carly. "An idea that might finally let you retire."

*****EPILOGUE *****

10 Years Later

"Hey, Sadie. Why don't you come over and see your grandfather?"

Paul patted his knees, quickly scooping up the five year old girl and depositing her right on his lap. It was late in the afternoon, and the pair were now seated against the picnic bench outside the house.

"Hi, Papa," she said excitedly while throwing her arms around him.

"How was your first day of kindergarten?"

"So good! My teacher is really nice," said Sadie before making a sour face. "But the other boys can be so rude!"

Paul started to chuckle. His granddaughter had quite the vocabulary on her already, and she had recently been labeling anyone who didn't pay her enough attention as being rude. It was all kinds of adorable, and part of the reason why he made sure to spend time with his family every day.

"Did you miss your brother?" asked Paul. "I bet he missed not spending all day with you."

"No way, Papa, I don't think Logan even knew I was gone."

"I bet he did, and I bet he missed you," said Paul with a chuckle.

Sadie turned away from him. "What do you think, Mama? Do you think Logan missed me?"

Carly started to laugh. "He definitely did. He was looking for you all day." She gestured to the toddler, who was now trying to run through the grass not far away.

Sadie wasn't long for being in her grandfather's lap. She bounded off a moment later, and soon started to chase her brother around the front yard.

Paul could only laugh as he watched, but after a few moments, he turned to look at his daughter. "Say, where is that husband of yours?"

Carly pointed to the sound of an incoming tractor. "It looks like he's coming right now."

Sure enough, Jake came into view a moment later, waving his hand to his father-in-law, his wife, and his children. As he parked the tractor in the barn, he allowed himself a moment to ponder his life over the last ten years. How much of it had changed? And how much of it was still the same?

Still the same was Carly, who hadn't changed at all for the ten years of their relationship. They were stronger than ever, and still just as much in love as they were from the very beginning. They were married three years after he rejoined the farm, and Sadie was born two years after that. When they had a boy two years ago, there was really only one option for his name, and Carly's brother was finally honored with his own namesake.

They'd taken over the main farmhouse as well, and that was the source behind the biggest change of all. That change was that the Nichols Farm was now the Nichols-Wittier Farm, with the introduction of Jake as a full partner with Paul not long after Neal went to jail. This partnership allowed a good portion of the day-to-day work to fall back on Jake, who was able to take on the burden, while Paul was able to pull back. After a year of the partnership, Paul turned his portion over to Carly, and the two ran the farm together ever since.

It was largely without any accidents too. Ever since Neal left, the rate of accidents just about dried up. Even Rory seemed to get his act together, that is, until he quit the farm unceremoniously one day and left town. No one seemed to know where he went, but it required them to hire another two hands just to replace Rory and Neal. The two newcomers had enough experience to make a difference, and they proved to be worthy additions to the farm.

Most notably, Tate was able to stay on, and his smart mouth continued to provide a source of entertainment for all of them throughout the day. Even more promising was that Mike Cooper never again set foot on the property. Jake supposed that even just the threat of legal action against him was enough to keep him away. It didn't stop him from getting in his own form of trouble a few years back, and he was hauled off to jail for almost a decade's worth of unpaid taxes. Paul was the first one to call that poetic justice, and Jake was inclined to agree. With the removal of Neal and Mike Cooper, and the disappearance of Rory, the farm settled into long years of prosperity.

That's not to say there wasn't lean years. The first two years after Jake arrived were still largely unprofitable, especially cleaning up the majority of Neal's bad intentions. It wasn't until year three that they were finally able to turn a hefty profit, and suddenly the dream of hanging onto the farm was secure for the time being.

"There you are, City Boy," said Paul with a grin as Jake approached his family. Even after all these years, that nickname never quite died. Paul and Tate were the two biggest offenders, but Jake could honestly say that he found it quite amusing after all this time.

"There's my family," said Jake while taking his daughter and son in each arm. He leaned in to kiss Carly, her blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair just as beautiful as they were ten years ago. "How was kindergarten, sweetheart?"

"Really fun, Daddy," said Sadie with a precocious smile. "This school thing ain't so bad!"

"Isn't so bad, sweetie," corrected Carly. "You've picked up some bad speech habits here on the farm that we have to work hard to correct."

Sadie made a face, but not before she soon wiggled out of his arms. Logan followed directly after, and soon they were chasing their grandfather around the front yard.

Carly came into his arms a moment later, squeezing him tight.

"It's our family," said Jake with a grin, as he gestured toward the three of them.

"It sure is," she replied. "Any regrets?"

Jake shook his head. "Not one. I never expected my life to turn out this way, but I can't tell you how happy I am that it did."

Carly smiled and nuzzled into the space beside his neck. She started to kiss at his jaw until he pulled away to look at her. "What are you doing? Did you miss me that much throughout the day?"

She nodded slowly. "I sure did. I thought tonight maybe we'd leave the kids with their grandparents, and you and I get to have some adult time together?"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Is this going to be a kissin' date?"

Carly laughed softly. "Every date with you is a kissin' date."

"What about something a little after that? Maybe something further than kissin'?"

She gave him a coy look. "I don't know about that. The damage is already done after all." She grabbed his hand and rested it on her stomach.

Jake gave her a confused look for a moment as her smile continued to grow. It wasn't until a few seconds later that it dawned on him. "Really? You mean it?"

Carly nodded excitedly. "I hope you're ready for baby number three."

Jake pulled her in tight and kissed her tenderly. "I couldn't be happier. You, our children, and this farm is the best part of my life."

"Mine too," she said after another kiss. "I love you, Jake."

"I love you too."

Carly slipped out of his arms and began to move toward the house. When she was about ten steps away, she turned and gave him another coy look.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

She grinned. "I know an old sundress that my husband really likes. I was going to go put it on. Care to join me?"

Jake chuckled and soon took off in a sprint after her.