Between The Yees And The Haws

Epilogue

November 8, 1833
1 year later

"Good morning." Edward chuckled as Montgomery rubbed his eyes. Vivian laughed, turning her head away.

"Put on a shirt, goddammit. There's a lady present!"

"Is there? Where?" Montgomery asked her. He laughed as Vivian hit him with a newspaper.

"Shut up, asshole!" Montgomery walked up to Edward, who was pouring a cup of coffee. He planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Cletus woulda hated that." Edward said softly, smiling. Vivian chuckled.

"Yeah. Yeah, he would've." It was silent for a moment.

"I miss him." Montgomery said, standing in the kitchen.

"We all do." Vivian said.

It had been a little over a year since Cletus' death. In that year, the town of Buckleton changed. Not for the worse, but not for the better. It just changed.

West and Yee Yee didn't end up going to his brother's wedding, and went to dinner that night instead. Their own wedding is planned for some time this spring. They were such an unlikely couple, but soon became inseparable. They were given their happily ever after.

Leigh-Anne and Abigail became stay-at-home moms looking after Mary-Rose. They took turns taking her to school in the next town over, and while they were there, Abigail got a job at a ranch and quit her job as a sex worker. While at the ranch, she became attached to a stray dog that would often come to eat the pig's food and one day decided to take the dog home. She and Leigh-Anne had created a small little family, and so they had their happily ever after.

Vivian began to take care of Vanilla's horse Ace while Vanilla was away. Soon, she began staying at Vanilla's house and eventually moved in. Vanilla, after quite some time, told Vivian about her feelings for her and Vivian returned them. The two girls built and extra stable and got a horse for Vivian. They would often go on adventures out of Buckleton on the backs of Ace and Nita, and everyone was glad they got their happily ever after.

Vanilla often didn't see Ar at his house anymore. Ar spent most of his time helping Moonshine at the bar, but never drinking anything he cleaned up. All Ar needed was someone to love him, and he couldn't believe it took him this long to realize it was Moonshine all along. A bartender and a struggling alcoholic. Unlike West and Yee Yee, this was a likely pair. And this pair had their happily ever after.

Willy stayed with Saddle for a few months before Saddle found a church in Consentown that allowed Willy to preach at. Sure, he was rusty, but he was getting his groove back and was soon back on his feet, excited and alive. Saddle felt better about herself knowing she had done good to her father, especially after twenty years of neglect. The father-daughter duo got their happily ever after.

Montgomery and Edward still mourned Cletus, and would forever. But they eventually found happiness in each other, and even if they could never move on from Cletus, they could never move on from Cletus together. Edward was happy with Montgomery. But something still wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it. It wasn't about Mont, he knew that. This was about something else.

And on one cold November evening, he realized what it was.

"I'll be back before you know it, I swear." He told Montgomery. Montgomery nodded.

"See you in a little while, then." He smiled at Edward. Edward closed the door behind him and headed into town.

He decided to take the shortcut to the store, the one through the woods. He made his way past the trees and was nearing the end of the path when he heard rustling behind him.

"Who's there?" Edward asked. No reply. He kept walking, looking behind him. He wasn't watching where he was going and crashed into someone. "Shit! Sor-" His eyes caught sight of the person in front of him. "No...no fuckin' way." His hand instinctively reached in his pocket.

"Do I know you?" The woman asked him. He smiled.

"You really don't remember me, Sally?" He asked her. She raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think I- oh. Oh no." She said, tears filling her eyes. "Edward...I can't even begin to tell you..." she started. Edward played with the handle of the object in his pocket, still smiling. "...how sorry I am-" She was cut off abruptly by a sharp pain shooting through her heart. Edward was still smiling as he twisted the knife, pushing it in deeper through her chest. He pulled it out of her, Sally's body collapsing to the ground. Blood pooled around her in the dirt. Edward chuckled, looking at her corpse.

"Now there's my happily ever after."