Cole smiled and pressed his cheek to Ned’s, applying just enough pressure for them both to finally face the ocean. “There it is. Look at all that water.”
And yet the magnificent view of endless blue waves couldn’t hold a candle to the warm green of Ned’s eyes.
Epilogue 2 – Ned
Seven years later
Los Angeles, 1894
Ned didn’t mind being one of the handful of people who knew how to set up and maintain the steam-powered merry-go-round. It made him feel useful, and while he didn’t work in the spotlight, his job was crucial for smooth operations.
The young ranch hand who’d met Cole Flores so many years ago could have never imagined the kind of life he’d get to live at thirty-seven, touring America with the circus. At that time, he’d had no plans for the future, nor understood what he truly needed, but now he had a man who loved him every day, and a boy who felt like Ned’s own. Uncle Liam might not have called the three of them a family, but his opinion didn’t matter anymore.
The troupe members were a part of it too, all serving as aunts and uncles or cousins to Tommy. While Ned wasn’t close with every single person who rode with them, they remained his home even when the landscape around them changed.
There would likely be a big party tonight, as was customary whenever they settled in a new place. The show would open in a week, and most of his colleagues were in no hurry to work past dinnertime, but this new fancy machine Jan had bought for the sideshow needed extra care. Ned wanted to prove himself to secure better pay, since the arrangement Cole had made seven years back left them always scrambling for additional income.
So as much as he’d wanted to go with their friends to check out the electric streetcars all the way in the city, he was stuck in a hot shed that housed the steam-powered equipment, and oiled the cogs. Sometimes he wondered what his parents would have made of this. Not of his life, as he had no doubt they wouldn’t have approved of the way he’d found happiness, but of how the world was changing. Big cities lit up with electricity at night, and the newest locomotive was said to travel up to a hundred miles per hour. Cole had claimed he’d get them tickets, but Cole’s life savings were already running thin, so Ned wasn’t exactly holding his breath.
He applied more oil to the part of the mechanism he’d just screwed together when the door of the shed swung open, letting in the last of the day’s sun. Cole stepped in. Over time, he had gone back to the black clothing he’d preferred in the past, and the starkness of their shade went wonderfully with his tawny complexion. Tall boots showcased his shapely calves, and the thin duster swung about his legs as the breeze pushed the fabric forward, nudging him inside. But something was different, and Ned found himself stilling in confusion.
Cole looked like on the day they met in Beaver Springs, over fourteen years back, when he tipped his hat with a smile unobscured by a moustache. He was smooth-shaven, and as he stepped closer at an energetic pace, Ned sat back, at a loss for words.
He pushed the hair away from his sweaty forehead, feeling underdressed in his denim overalls, and without a shirt. “Lookin’ dashing. You going into the city with everyone?”
“Just returned. Jan took me with him to protect a big bag of cash. Negotiated some of its contents for myself too. Ta-dah,” Cole said, sinking to his haunches in front of Ned and presenting him with two pieces of paper. Train tickets.
Ned stared at them with a growing smile. “Well, I’ll be damned, Mr. Flores. Fourteen years, and you still astound me. I hope you negotiated some time off too?”
Cole grinned and blew away a silver hair that upset the even blackness of his mane. Ned hadn’t seen him without facial hair in almost a decade and a half, but still remembered the dashing youth he’d fallen in love with as if it had been yesterday. Cole’s features had sharpened since, and there were now lines around his eyes, but he looked as roguish and full of life as ever.
“Sure did, Mr. O’Leary. But something even grander’s happened, and I want you to hear it from me,” he said and grabbed Ned’s hand, dragging him up.
“We finally gettin’ a raise?” Ned laughed and wrapped his arms around Cole’s neck. If Cole came over all fresh and fancy, he ought to be prepared for some sweat and grease stains.
Cole chuckled and leaned in, as if he wanted Ned to smell the ylang-ylang on him. The tease knew how addicted Ned was to that scent. “No. But looks like we’re gonna stay here. Jan bought the land,” he whispered into Ned’s ear.