Epilogue
Brody rocked on the porch and looked out over the many generations of his family gathered around the house. His children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and even a few great greats, along with all of his nieces and nephews and their children... At least those that were still living.
He'd lost a lot in his life but he'd gained a lot more. Now at ninety six he was older than most everyone else he knew. Jacob had passed away a few years back and so had Ellie leaving behind two daughters, one son and countless grandchildren.
Susie and Ryder were still living outside of town and Ryder was the most energetic eighty-nine year old that anyone had ever known. They had had four sons of their own and Brody didn't know how Susie had survived raising them since they had all been just like Ryder.
Sally and Thomas had moved out of Texas and gone to Wyoming where they had raised their six children and now lived peacefully on the ranch that Thomas had inherited and kept going through droughts, land disputes and changing times.
Ty had passed away at a fairly young age. A bullet had taken his life in the line of duty but Liza had faired pretty well without him, though she had never remarried. She had managed to raise their three children on her own with her teaching income.
Nick and Aiden were still together as well and still very much in love. They'd been all the children's favorite uncles and Aiden still was. Even the newest generations seemed to love the old man who smiled and laughed all the time.
The doctor's had trouble figuring out how Brody and Nick had managed to live past the age of ninety but the two men just chuckled when asked. The answer was simple. When you promised someone they'd never be without you, you kept your promise the best you could.
Brody stretched out his thin arms and clenched his aching fingers into fists. His hands that at one point could handle a gun more quickly than any other man in the country, now had trouble buttoning a shirt. He was old and probably would have given up on living years ago if not for the promise he had made to his Elizabeth to never leave her alone.
But now even she was gone. She had gone silently in her sleep nearly two months ago. His angel had slipped away to heaven and left him all alone in this big empty house. Some of his grandchildren had tried to have him put into one of those new fancy nursing homes but Brody had laughed at that. The day a man couldn't take care of himself was the day it was time to put a well placed bullet in his head. His grandchildren had also tried to buy him a shiny new automobile like they all drove now. He had laughed at this as well.
The way Brody had it figured, he wasn't about to sit his ass on anything that ran off something that was known to burst into flames. He preferred a horse and always had. He'd never once rode in one of those automobiles and he never would... Unless these technology crazed folks he called family put him in one once he was dead and gone.
The family was all gathered here for the annual reunion. Most everyone lived in their own places with their own busy lives but once a year they got together here at the ranch. Brody was a forgotten shadow up here on the porch. The youngest children were scared of him, his scars and wrinkles made him look like a ghoul in their eyes and the older ones didn't want to be bothered with the old man who didn't talk much. They figured he couldn't possibly have anything interesting to say.
He hadn't said more than five words in a row to anyone since his Elizabeth had gone. He was nearing the end of his life and he welcomed it. He'd lived a full life. Sure he had done a lot of wrong over the years but he'd gotten a hell of a lot of things right as well. He'd raised three good kids, he'd fought for what he thought was right and given two men a chance to live the life they deserved even when others said it was wrong and he'd loved one woman with everything he had every single day that they'd had together. Their love had never faltered, never wavered and never faded. Brody figured that was the greatest gift a person could ever get in life.
Brody looked over at Thomas who was sitting beside him as he felt a sharp pain and fluttering in his chest, "I believe I'll go lie down a while," Brody said, "I'm feeling a bit off."
Thomas nodded, he too was too scary looking for the children with his scarred up face. "I'll tell anyone who asks."
Brody shook his head as he pushed himself up onto his old aching legs. He moved a lot slower these days. Wounds from the past seemed to plague him worse now than they had back then and his nightmares kept him up more now without his cowgirl to love him back to sleep.
"Nobody will ask. As far as everyone is concerned, I'm already as good as dead."
"You are damn near one hundred," Thomas said with a chuckle.
Brody nodded, threw his hand up at Aiden who smiled and waved back and then made his way into the house. It took him nearly five minutes to get up the steps to his and Elizabeth's bedroom. The pain and pressure in his chest was increasing. He knew what it met. His heart was giving out. He needed his Elizabeth. He'd kept good on his promise and he'd never left her alone but now he was ready to join her.
He grabbed her picture off the dresser and curled up on the bed they had shared for nearly seventy years. He breathed in her scent, still clinging to her pillow and smiled even as a tear filled his eye and rolled down his wrinkled cheek. He ran a hand through his long white gray and closed his eyes.
"I love you, boss," he whispered to the empty room and a gentle breeze blew through the open window and across his face.
***
"Uncle Thomas, where is my dad?" Lexi asked as she stepped up on the porch with her grand daughter in tow. "Gretchen's class is studying the civil war in school and she has to write a report so she wanted to talk to him about his time there."
"I don't think he'll want to talk about it Lexi, you know how he is," Thomas warned as he rocked slowly.
"He will for his great granddaughter," she countered with a raise of that Atkinson brow. Sure she might be a McKinnely now but that brow was all Brody.
Thomas nodded. Lexi was in her sixties and she was just as mean and bossy as her father had always been. He wasn't about to argue with her. Thomas sighed, "He went up to rest a while. He said he wasn't feeling well."
Lexi frowned with concern, "That doesn't sound like him," she said and without another word she went into the house.
Gretchen wasn't sure if she was supposed to follow but at thirteen she certainly didn't want to stay out here with her great uncle who had the scars on his face. She followed her grandmother up the stairs and into her great grandfather's bedroom.
"Daddy, wake up. Gretchen wants to talk to you," Lexi said gently as she approached the bed but Brody didn't move.
"Maybe he didn't hear you," Gretchen offered.
Lexi shook her head as a lump formed in her throat and tears filled her eyes. Her father heard everything, "He's gone," she said sadly as she sat down hard on the edge of the bed and smoothed her father's long, gray hair from his wrinkled face. His jaw was still as strong as it had always been, "He was such a strong man, it doesn't seem right that he died so easily."
Gretchen felt no real sadness. She hadn't really known her great grandpa, having grown up back east and only seeing him once a year. She couldn't remember him as being a strong man. To her he had always seemed old and weak and he had never spoken much. He'd always seemed a little on the rude and arrogant side. But she didn't like to see her grandmother in so much pain. "I wonder what killed him?" Gretchen asked.
Lexi smiled a bittersweet smile as she picked up the picture that her father had had clutched in his hand, "I have an idea."
" I'm sure they'll do an autopsy and tell us for sure."
"We don't need an autopsy," Lexi assured her granddaughter, "My papa died of a broken heart,"
Gretchen shook her head, "Grandmother, they have science now that proves you can't die of a broken heart."
Lexi nodded but didn't believe her granddaughter for a moment. Her father was a strong man. He had lived for ninety-six long years and faced death countless times. He had never broken in all that time, but losing her mother had been worse than any physical wound he had ever endured.
"I don't want to dispute your science, dear," Lexi countered, "I know it's the 1930's and times have changed but Brody Atkinson was too tough a man to be killed by anything other than a broken heart. There was one thing that my father loved more than anything else in the world. More than us kids, more than his own life even, and that was my mother. Without her I reckon he just gave up."
Gretchen nodded and left the room to go let the family know. Lexi bent down and kissed her father's cool cheek, "I love you, papa. I'll just bet that you and mama are already lost in each other's arms up there in heaven."
Lexi smiled and stood. As she left the room she was sure she heard her mother's soft laughter and her father's deep chuckle floating on the breeze through the window.