boiling it down

Lon was beginning to think it was the worst  so-called honeymoon ever.

Well, it hadn't started out that way. Exactly.

1. Charlie got to see his grand parents.
2. Lon actually got some alone time with Ellie, and it felt amazing to be just a couple out on the town in Austin. They'd taken in great food. Amazing music. Dancing. Just fun being together. Yeah, he cherished those moments.

But it was cut short. Having to go back to a funeral.... was of course, serious, and he was glad he was there for Ellie because her Mom was determined to start a ruckus. But he was there for Ellie, and she was there for him. No one was going to tear them a part. At least that had been on his mind. Then. And he'd even talked Ellie into seeing her mother's parents. It seemed like a good idea. They only lived twenty minutes away from his folks. It was the simplest things. And it was suppose to be such a good idea.

They'd gone out to the ranch. Just the two of them. Finally, Ellie was going to meet her grandmother and grandfather. They seemed pretty well off too. Just really nice people. Of course, her grandmother had lots of pictures of rodeo queens in her livingroom. A whole wall of them. Lot of rodeo queens in Ellie's family, and he couldn't think of Ellie ever riding a horse.

And then there was a picture of her. Lon couldn't take his eyes off of her. He knew her. It troubled him that he couldn't put a name to her face. Maybe it had something to do with how much she looked like Ellie. Yeah, that was it.

Reese was Ellie's cousin. Her grandmother's other grand-daughter. And then it hit Lon when her grandmother started showing Ellie pictures of the great grandchildren. Reese had a five year daughter. Lon kept looking at the picture. He wanted to know her name so bad because there was a sick feeling that that might be his daughter.