“Sounds like a good start,” Walker called out.
“And I’m going to hand over the deed to this ranch to the person who should have had it in the first place. Riley, Westfield is yours. I know you’ll know what to do with it.”
Riley covered her mouth with her hand, then buried her face in Boone’s chest. Avery’s eyes filled with tears of joy for her friend.
A cheer went up from the crowd, and more than one Base Camp couple kissed.
“Wait!” a man cried. “Wait, wait, wait!”
Avery nearly groaned when Montague pushed his way through the crowd and stormed up to Fulsom.
“You can’t give this land away. It’s mine now! I won. They lost.”
Fulsom stared at him, and Avery remembered Montague was right. Walker hadn’t married her. Midnight was long past. The women of Base Camp and their helpers from town had stopped the bulldozers, but that didn’t change anything.
“Well… I… I mean.” For once in his life, Martin Fulsom didn’t seem to know what to say. “I know I set up the rules, but—”
“But nothing! This ranch is mine. I’m going to build that subdivision. I won fair and square.”
“No, you didn’t!” Avery cried. “You cheated every step of the way, including bringing those bulldozers here well before midnight, when you didn’t have any reason to be here at all!”
“That’s right.” Fulsom cleared his throat. “You broke the rules.”
“Because you told me to.” Montague didn’t back down. “This is a big pile of baloney. You’ve been manipulating me all along.”
“I’ll… I’ll give you another ranch.” Montague was making a mess of his big moment, and Avery could see Fulsom was determined not to let that happen.
“You’re going to reward him for all his bad behavior?” Riley asked. “What’s the message in doing that? You’ll be encouraging people to do the wrong thing.”
Fulsom threw up his hands in frustration. “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing,” Walker said. He stepped forward. “Here’s another idea,” he said to Montague. “How about you join us?”
“What?” several people cried at once.
“Why would I want to join you?”
“Because you’re a developer, and we can help you be a leader in that industry. Trends are changing. You need to adapt to keep up. People need houses that several generations can share. They need houses that work for retirement. They need houses that run on green energy and return power to the system rather than draw it down. They need a new way of coming together in community, sharing resources rather than being isolated. Work with us. We’ll help you design a new kind of subdivision. One that works more like a town than an afterthought. Step into the future with us. You’re looking for success, right? We know how to get there. Fulsom can give you the land. We can give you the know-how—and our seal of approval. Think of the publicity you’ll get.”
Montague stared at him. “After everything I’ve done, you’d let me work with you?”
“It’s a hell of a lot better than having to keep fighting you.” Walker waved a hand to encompass the crowd. “We might have different ways of going about it, but we’re all after the same thing, aren’t we? We all want a steady job, a way to pay our bills, a roof over our head, food and safety for our families. We want to belong to something. To feel good about how we spend our time. We aren’t all that different. You’re a builder. We’re builders, too. Why not work together?”
Montague processed this. “You know… I made some plans recently,” he said slowly, scratching the back of his head. “Don’t know why, really; I don’t build little houses. After seeing yours, though, I knew I could do better. And I did.”
“We’d love to see those plans,” Clay assured him, joining Walker.
Avery held her breath. Montague chewed on his lip. “Guess I could show them to you. Working together could be… interesting.”
She let it go.
“That’s agreed, then,” Fulsom spoke up. “We’ll work out the details and make sure the stakeholders get their say, but I’m still returning Westfield to Riley. Can you live with that?” he asked Montague.
“Guess so. If I get a piece of land somewhere of similar value,” the man grumbled. When Riley threw her arms around him and gave him a big kiss on his cheek, he pretended not to like it, but it was obvious he did. Soon he was deep in discussion with Clay and Dell about plans and possibilities.
“Okay, folks, it’s official,” Fulsom said. “Base Camp forever!”
“Base Camp forever!” the crowd cheered.
Someone’s fingers twined in Avery’s, and she looked up to see Walker next to her. A wave of relief swept over her, then a wave of love. For the first time ever, she knew he was inevitably, utterly hers.
Nothing could stop them from being together now.
He nodded. Turned her to face him and took her other hand, too. “Want to try again next week?” he asked. In the din around them, his eyes held a world of patience and peace—and love.
Avery’s heart swelled until she thought it would burst out of her chest.
“Yes.”
“Avery!”
Before she could turn to see who was calling her, she was enveloped in a double hug. Her parents clung to her.
“Are you okay?”
“Did they hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” she assured them, meeting Walker’s gaze. As long as she had him, she’d always be okay.
Chapter Fourteen
‡
One week later
Okay, now you can look.”
Walker blinked when Avery uncovered his eyes and straightened, taking in the beautiful wooden shelf now installed in the living area of his tiny house. On it lay the ceremonial fan he’d given Avery just a few weeks ago.
“I thought it needed a place at the heart of our house.”
His chest flooded with warmth. She had to know she would always
