A possible future....
The first night he escaped the orphanage and found himself wandering the wilderness alone, a child of eleven, almost certain to die in the harsh terrain, Vin Tanner had not been afraid. How could he be afraid when all he had to do was look up into the night and be awed by the majesty of the glorious sky, like diamond dust across sapphire velvet.
Although God had been beaten out of him by the so-called Christian overseers of the orphanage he had been trapped in since his mother’s death, at this moment, staring into the beauty of cosmic design, Vin could almost believe God existed. Something this beautiful could not be random, it had to have been crafted with the care of an artisan’s loving hand.
Ignoring the howling of coyotes in the distance, no doubt picking up his scent, and the chittering sounds of the deserts smaller inhabitants, Vin made a vow that night. He and these stars would never be apart for long. No matter what, he would always spend time beneath their vista, never forgetting his first night of freedom and how when he thought he was most alone, they had wrapped him up in their embrace and whispered a great truth to him.
At the end of all things, he would become one with them.
For a long time, Vin thought of that truth to mean in the end, the dust he became would join the stars he took such comfort in, but he was wrong.
***********
He was an old man now, so old his bones ached and he had no business riding a horse but like the salmon that were called to the stream they were born, he returned to the creek he once stood with her, where he’d held her hands and she realised she loved him*. She had been gone for almost twenty years now and he had never come back to this place because the pain of her loss was too much. Tonight, however, he knew he had to make the trip because he could feel its call.
He set up camp, ignoring the hearth light of the house in the distance, the place where Nettie Wells once lived, now occupied by Kyle Larabee and Casey’s daughter Annette, not wishing the presence of anyone on this night. Not there was anyone left anyway. He was the last of the seven. The others had started to die off a decade ago, their bodies winding down like old time pieces, until now he was the only one left.
Ironically, Chris Larabee was the last to go. When he died, what will Vin had to remain in the land of the living had gone with the gunslinger who died peacefully in his bed, surrounded by his family and best friend.
Don’t be long Vin, were Chris Larabee’s last words to him.
This morning, he’d woken up in his bed at the house at the Lucky Seven Ranch, where he lived with his son Daniel who was now the town doctor, since Nathan Jackson was long gone and Annette Larabee had taken a step back to raise a family. Daniel*, whom Vin named after a time traveller who once helped him saved the woman he loved from a fate worse than death, had oddly enough given him no argument when Vin informed him he was making this trip. Daniel, who would normally fuss like a hen whenever Vin went off alone anywhere these days, had been oddly silent and Vin suspected, he understood the importance of his father making this trip to the creek.
While he wished he could have seen Sam, Vin had spoken to her on the telephone. The old tracker still marvelled at the device that allowed him to hear her voice all the way from Sante Fe, where she lived with her husband Peter, flying those contraptions that still made Vin wince. But as the land had been his calling, hers had become the sky and despite the fears, he held for her, Vin knew his little girl had been made to soar.
So here he was now, sitting at the edge of the dock, his feet submerged in cool water, thinking about Alex and how empty the last twenty years had been without her. He never married again, he couldn’t bear the thought of anyone taking her place in his heart. Still Chris had been right that day by her grave, the seven had helped him go on without her. Not just the seven but the family they unknowingly seeded the day he looked across the street and met Chris Larabee’s eyes and decided to do the right thing by saving Nathan.
The great truth he believed all his life had revealed itself to him that day. The ‘them’ he would become one with was not the stars, not at all. It was the Seven.
The men he rode with, who became his family, his brothers, in every way that mattered, without the need of blood, had really made life begin for him where before it had wandered along aimlessly. Everything good in his life had come with meeting them and she had been the greatest gift of all. She who loved him, who never saw him as anything less than the man she adored, for whom there was no sacrifice too great, made every moment a joy he never imagined a worthless drifter like him could ever have.
“Hello Cowboy.”
Vin turned his head in shock. She was standing over him, in that apricot coloured dress she wore the first time they danced, beaming at him with that dazzling smile that caught him like a bullet to the brain. Her dark hair was swaying slightly in the night breeze and her eyes glittered with the same adoration he was only a moment ago remembering.
“Doc?” He whispered.
“Come on,” she smiled at him knowingly. “We’re going to be late,”
“Late?” He stared at her, deciding he had fallen asleep on the dock and would wake up in the morning, with the sun blazing in his eyes and one hell of an ache. It wasn’t the first time he’d dreamed of her of course. It probably wouldn’t be the last but it always felt like the first time whenever he saw her. His heart swelled with that familiar heat and excitement, the one that came upon him the day he laid his eyes on her and knew she was the love of his life.
“Yeah,” Alex extended her hand to his. “We’ve got to meet the others. You know how Chris gets when he has to wait for anything.”
“Chris?” He stared at her blankly but gave her his hand anyway.
When their fingers touched, Vin realised his hand was no longer the wizened, wrinkle appendage he’d woke up with this morning. Instead, the arthritis that required ointment to stave off was gone and he had the hands of a young man again. He stood up easily, the aches gone and as he started to look over his shoulder at the place where he had been sitting, she placed her hand on his cheek to stop him.
“Don’t,” she said with a slight shake of her head. “There’s nothing to see."
“I ain’t dreaming, am I?” He asked her, understanding what this was at last. Not that he should have been surprised, the feeling of this moment had been with him all day.
Alexandra Styles drew him to her and pressed her lips to his in a tender, sweet kiss of greeting and love. Just like their first kiss in Agnes Doherty’s cabin, its power over him was total. Until he felt her silken skin against him, Vin hadn’t realised how much he longed for her touch these past twenty years. He nearly broke down in the middle of it, until he felt her arms around him holding him close.
“You’re not dreaming Vin, but does it matter?” She asked smiling.
“Jesus no,” he almost sobbed when he embraced her back, never realising how much of his heart she’d taken to the grave until he held her once more. “God I’ve missed you Doc.”
“I missed you too Cowboy,” she pulled away and gestured to the horse waiting in the tall grass impatiently. Peso looked up at his master, whinnying in greeting at their approach.
As they walked towards the horse that had passed long ago, Vin saw something else in the clearing, a short distance away. Six riders who also sat astride their own horses, waiting for him in the twilight. The slight burn of a cheroot brought a grin to Vin’s face, when he saw Chris Larabee’s smile through the illumination of the flame. The gunslinger’s eyes met his and once again, that unspoken understanding passed between them. It was time to take his place at Chris’s side once more.
Because at the end of all things, Vin Tanner was one with the Seven again.
NOT THE END...