Beekeepers

“No. Not one little bit,” she said as she pulled Jared close and kissed him.

“You ready for bed?” he asked.

“Your place or mine?” Willa sweetly replied.

“It’s along walk back to the cabin. How about we give the tiny house a try?”

“I think I can live with that,” she said before kissing him again.

“I do have electricity and running water, you know.”

“Yes, but I’ve seen the thing you call a shower. Can you even fit in there by yourself?” she asked as though she cared.

“Sure,” Jared told her. “If I duck down a little. And if I don’t turn around.”

Willa’s laugh echoed through the night air as she said, “If you take me inside, I’ll let you duck...me.”

Jared tried not to laugh but couldn’t help it.

“That was bad,” he told as they walked inside.

“Yes, but I’m very good, huh?”

He laughed again and said, “Oh yes you are!”

The next morning Willa was up early with Jared and out with the bees checking on them. She had a thousand things to look at as potential causes of CCD and couldn’t wait to get started.

Mr. Dyer told them he’d left several of the hives with honeycombs fat with product, so Jared used one of the smoke canisters that came with the deal to calm them down and check each one. He carefully recorded the number of slats in each hive and how many were full of honey knowing he’d need to harvest it and take into town to have it processed.

The honey would provide a modest amount of cash, but the real money was in pollination, but the lure of money seemed trivial now in comparison with spending time with Willa. Almonds needed to be pollinated in early Spring, so while there was still time to go places other than California for almonds and ‘rent out’ his bees, Jared had no interest in doing so. Besides, Spring would come around again in less than a year, and with his income from the VA, he had more than enough to live on. With the extra money they could make from selling the honey in all of the hives in the colony, it would be more than enough for two people to live on quite comfortably in this part of the country. So for now, the only thing Jared wanted to do was be with this beautiful, older woman he was falling in love with.

After a month of going back and forth between the cabin and the tiny house, Willa proposed something that made a lot of sense.

“I could really use some extra lab space,” she said one evening. “And if we were to say...live in the tiny house...we could use the the rest of the cabin for that.”

“So are you suggesting we move in together?” Jared said while trying not to laugh since they were essentially doing that already.

“Unless you need a break from me,” Willa said, knowing the answer before she brought it up.

“Not hardly. But you know how tiny that tiny little house is, and it’ll get tinier the longer we stay in it.”

“It won’t be forever, right?” Willa said as she nuzzled up to him.

“Hey! Are you trying to break up with me?” Jared teased, keeping the whole shtick going.

Against her better judgment, she said, “I actually like the sound of forever where you’re concerned.”

“Yeah?” Jared replied with a smile as she continued nuzzling.

“Uh-huh. A lot.”

He pulled away then looked right at her and said, “Me, too.”

When she smiled at him, Jared reached out and touched her face and, for the first time, said, “I love you, Willa.”

She’d wanted to say those words herself for several weeks, and she wanted to hear them even more. And when they finally came, they touched her so deeply she teared up once they were said.

“I love you, too, Jared.”

She kissed him then said, “With all my heart.”

He got very serious then said, “You must. I mean, if you’re willing to move into the Shoebox with me....”

They’d been calling it that for the last few days, and Willa laughed when he said it.

“Yes. That is very strong evidence of just how much I love you,” she agreed as she carefully pulled him down on top of her. “But before we do, maybe we should de-christen the cabin. You know, for good luck.”

The bees thrived in their new location and filled every slat with honey several times over before the colder weather arrived. Jared not only harvested it, he proved to be a fast learner where Willa’s work was concerned and contributed as much to the effort as he could. There were also many days spent in one of the labs at NDSU where Willa had access to equipment and more powerful computers than those at the cabin. She was also able to collaborate with Chrissa and other scientists who helped analyze the data and make suggestions.

In October, Jared’s dad flew to Fargo to finally meet this older woman his son had been raving about, and although he had to stay in a motel due to space limitations, he spent more than enough time with them to understand why his son loved this most unlikely choice of women. It was clear they had the kind of connection he and his late wife had once had, and in spite of the difference in their ages, he told them they had his blessing before he left.

In early December, Don and Chrissa, who were staying in Fargo, agreed to watch the hives for a week so that Willa could bring Jared home to Kansas and meet her family. They’d Skyped many times, and they’d ‘met’ Jared that way and seen him in the Shoebox during those times when only Willa talked with them.

Her parents were understandably cool to the idea, but that changed after they met him. Willa had never really said much about his time as a Navy SEAL, but once her father learned about what had happened and got to know Jared, his attitude changed very quickly. Her mother took a while longer to come around, but she, too, couldn’t help but like the very intelligent, humble young man who loved her daughter.

Vicki liked him from the moment they met, and told her sister, “If only you’d known, right? You could have passed on the...ass...and won the gold medal on your first run!”

Willa remembered laughing then asking her sister how many sayings the mangled at once and got a laugh and a hug back.

The day before they left for Fargo, Jared proposed to the older woman he loved after dinner. He’d already approached her parents and gotten their approval, and Willa’s mom had even gone with him to look for a ring earlier that day.

The day after they returned home, they stopped by the Dyer’s house. The older couple had intended to leave the cold north, but in the end, they just couldn’t say goodbye to the house they’d lived in for over 40 years. But they did part with two female pups that were fully weened and ready for a life together with owners who would love them dearly and who had plenty of land where they could play.

When the first hint of Spring came, families flew in from the east and the west and made their way out to the property where the cabin, the Shoebox, and the bees were for an outdoor wedding. It was a simple ceremony, but there wasn’t a pair of dry eyes when Jared kissed his wife after the new couple said their vows.

By then Willa had several volumes worth of data to analyze, and she agreed to drive to California with her husband and their dogs where they would spend a month letting the bees do their thing while they had a kind of working honeymoon.

The amount of money they made by using the entire colony was enough to make a downpayment on a new house. The only question was where to build. But that question was answered before it was asked, as both of them knew they wanted to build their own home on the land they loved and where they’d met. And because it was kind of halfway between Seattle and Manhattan—Kansas—it made even more sense.

So before the cold weather returned, the Crislers moved into their brand new home. It was just 1,600 square feet, but after having lived in the Shoebox, it felt like a palace. And because they no longer needed the tiny house, they were able to sell it and move it to the new buyer’s chosen location.

It wasn’t much of a play on words to say that life was sweet for Jared and Willa Crisler who spent their days doing something they not only loved but something that was important for everyone on earth. That they were able to live and love together just made life that much sweeter.

But the most wonderful thing of all was when, just before Willa turned 43, she gave birth to a healthy little girl they named Victoria Beatrice Crisler in honor of Willa’s sister and best friend. But the name that stuck was Bea, or more often—Bee—a reminder of the way their love they had...blossomed...since that time when Jared nearly scared her death when she pulled up to the cabin.