Danny and Elise Ch. 16 - The Finale

It suddenly dawned on her that her own husband could be considered middle-aged now. He would be 42 in a few months. His beard was more gray than black now and it was slowly working into the hair on his head, just like he had predicted. He was as handsome as ever, if not more so than when they had met.

"Hey, guys," Danny called, busy setting up one of the tents.

"Daddy!" the boys called back and ran over to him, almost toppling him over. It put a smile on Elise's face, how much their boys loved Danny. Although the baby was definitely a daddy's girl too, as she was currently bouncing wildly on Elise's back in her carrier, wanting to greet her daddy as well. A few buckle snaps and, setting Katie down carefully, off she ran to join her older brothers in the assault.

He was used to it, though he was never gone long on trips, but as usual, Danny couldn't help laughing as he gave them all hugs. He picked Katie up and walked over to the middle-aged couple, Parker and Stephen trailing behind.

"This is my family," he introduced them to the couple. "This is Parker and Stephen," he tapped each of them on the head. "This little lady is Katie," he tickled her, "and this is my beautiful wife, Elise."

"Hello," the couple greeted them politely.

"This is John and Martha Applegate. They're from the upper peninsula in Michigan."

"It's nice to meet you," Elise shook their hands. "How are you enjoying your trip so far? Is my husband behaving himself?" she joked.

"Oh, yes. He's been great," the man, John, answered.

"It's just beautiful up here," Martha added.

"I'm sure Danny probably already told you, but we're ex-pats ourselves. We were both born and raised in Indiana until we moved here."

"Not too far away from us then, in the grand scheme of things," John smiled.

"So what brings you guys up here?" Elise asked as Danny took a break and skipped stones with the kids on the edge of the lake.

"Oh, we've been talking about taking a trip like this for a while. We just didn't know where to begin. We knew we wanted to visit around Banff somewhere. That's how we came across your husband's website." Martha answered.

"He sure does make everything easy," John chimed in.

"He does his best," Elise smiled, thinking about all of the work he had put into starting his business. It had taken a few years for it to really take off, but now that even the locals knew he was legit, business was booming.

"Well I'm glad you guys are having a good time," she smiled. "Danny," she called over to him. "Want me to give you a hand setting up?"

"Sure! Be right there!" The boys continued playing next to the lake.

"Be careful, boys!" Elise called to them. Parker was a fairly strong swimmer, but, although the lake was shallow along the shore, she couldn't help but worry some about Stephen. He was just starting to get the hang of it, but couldn't really tread water yet.

Danny and Elise went about setting up tents, getting gear inside of them, etc, keeping an eye on Katie the whole time. She was content playing nearby for a while, but started wandering off towards the lake where her brothers were.

"Guess she's not going to let me help you much," Elise stood to retrieve her, not looking forward to the fit she knew she would throw.

"It's ok," Martha dumped an armful of sticks next to the fire pit. "I'll tell John to keep an eye on her. We have five grandkids of our own." The middle-aged woman hollered over to her husband, who had already joined the boys lakeside.

"So you camp too?" Martha asked Elise, who watched Katie cautiously for a moment before returning her attention back to arranging Martha's sticks perfectly in the fire pit.

"Oh yah. Kind of second-nature in this family," she laughed. "Not that I didn't enjoy camping before I met Danny," she smiled at him.

"So what do you do for a living, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Not at all," Elise snapped several thick sticks in half with ease. "I'm a travel writer. We camp at a lot of places we go, which is why I probably seem like I'm on auto-pilot right now," she poked fun at herself. It really had become second-nature. They'd been doing it for years.

"My goodness. You must be very good at your job. I don't know how anyone could afford to live up here," as soon as the words were out of her mouth, the woman covered it in embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry. That came out wrong. I didn't mean an-..."

"It's alright," Danny interrupted her. "I tell everyone she's my 'sugar mama'," he grinned broadly at Elise.

"Danny," she rolled her eyes.

"You know it's true. And she is good at her job. Don't let her modesty fool you," he winked in their general direction.

Martha shook her head.

"I'm sorry. It's just everything up here is so expensive and having three kids..." she started apologizing again.

"It's fine," Elise held up a hand and smiled. "We've heard it all. A lot of people think we're crazy, and they're probably right." She turned her attention to the kids. "Boys, why don't you and Mr.Applegate gather some more sticks before we go?"

"Ok!" Stephen grabbed the man's hand and Parker slowly walked with Katie hand-in-hand. They were always so eager to help on camping trips. It brought another smile to Elise's lips.

"They're great kids," Martha commented, trying to change the subject.

"Thank you. They really are."

"I think I'll go give them a hand," she smiled at Elise and wandered off to join the rest of the group. She was probably still embarrassed about her comments coming out wrong. Neither Elise or Danny cared, though. They had gotten all kinds of sideways glances and even some nasty comments over the years.

"What about stability for your kids?"

"Aren't there bears out here? Aren't you worried about your kids getting attacked?"

"How can you guys afford to live up here?", which was similar to what Martha had just said. They got that one a lot, insinuating neither of their odd jobs, even combined, could support a family of their size. They just let it roll off. She, Danny, and the kids lived in their own little world. It was no one else's business, anyways.

"You know I don't mind you making more money than me, right?" Danny asked quietly, squatting down next to her to help build the fire. It always seemed to take the longest.

"I know," she stopped, looking at him. She always could get lost in the deep brown of his eyes.

"And you know I don't care what anyone thinks, right?" she asked. Danny just smirked.

"What?" she giggled softly.

"You've come a long way from when we first met, you know?"

"Yes. I feel like going all me all the time," she smiled back at him. Danny leaned forward on his haunches and stole a kiss.

"I love you, Elise. More each day."

"I love you too, forever and always."