Epilogue

EPILOGUE

ROWAN

It’s Christmas morning. Kennedy and I spent the last several days on the mountain, just the two of us…and Harry and the filming crew. I won’t pretend I haven’t hated being filmed, having our private moments pulled from us. We’re not done, either. We have today off, but we’re supposed to film the big finale next week. It’s when she would have traveled home with one of the remaining dipwads. There’s only me, though, and she’s already met my entire family. In fact, we’re going over to my sister Bryn’s house later today, where she’ll be buried in them. Willow and her fiancé, Alex, will be driving up from Asheville. Cole and his daughter, Jane, are coming, and so are Harry and Oliver, although Oliver’s mother is probably going to curse me in at least twenty different ways for taking her son away on Christmas, even if it’s only for a little while. Tina and Zach won’t be there, but only because she has a big Italian family, and she claims they’d both be murdered if they didn’t show up for Christmas.

I have big plans for Kennedy and me before we go over to Bryn’s. Right now, though, I’m content to just lie with her, Jester snuggled between us.

I feel grateful.

I’m not going to pretend I’ve started believing in the holiday spirit or miracles, or any of that bullshit, but life is good. Better than good. Kennedy’s boss has agreed that she can work remotely, with once-monthly trips to Chicago to check in, and she’s moving into this house with Holly, Harry, and me. It won’t feel empty anymore, the way it did when it was just me, the echoing walls, and the dust bunnies that Harry later banished. I doubt it’ll be long before Holly up and moves in with her boyfriend, and fuck, it sounds like Harry and Oliver are moving fast, but for now it’s going to be a full house. No one’s as surprised as I am that I actually like that idea.

“You’re awake,” Kennedy says, curling into me. Jester gets up, moves around until he’s found a comfortable spot in the new alignment, then circles in place until he curls up too.

“I’m awake,” I confirm, putting an arm around her waist.

“Oh, you’re really awake,” she says as she pushes into me.

I laugh at the little grumble of complaint Jester makes when I lift him from the bed and lower him softly to the ground.

“Let me prove to you just how awake I am,” I tell her, sliding my hand around and beneath the band of her underwear. She’s wet for me, and I feel the same thrill I do every time.

I push her underwear down, and she helps me. Mine go next. I keep working her with my hand slowly, enjoying the little responses her body makes, the sounds that come from her mouth.

“Now,” she says, her voice demanding in a way that makes me grin. “ Now , Rowan.”

“I want you on top,” I say. “I want you to ride my cock so I can watch your tits bounce.”

She rocks back against me, then turns and mounts my hips, her eyes sparkling. “You have a mouth on you.”

“You like it. You especially like it when it’s sucking your sweet pussy.”

“I do.”

She lifts up, then adjusts my cock, and slowly sinks down. It feels so good, my eyes almost roll back. “Merry Christmas, Kennedy,” I say, then lean forward and capture her nipple in my mouth.

She grinds against me, my cock buried deep, gasping as I move to her other nipple. “ Merry Christmas, indeed.”

All in all, it’s not a bad way to close out the year, balls-deep in the woman I love, looking up at her face and knowing that this year will be better than the last—a million times better, because I’ve finally let myself love and be loved.

It’s not long before I pull her down so her breasts are pressed to my chest, and I can kiss her mouth while I thrust up to meet her movements. I want all of her, always, and for some unholy reason that I can only thank my lucky stars for, she feels the same way about me.

After, we get dressed, but I tug her back by the hand before she can leave the room. “I’d like to give you your present first. Just the two of us.”

“You already got me Jester,” she says, stunned. “Rowan, you didn’t need to get me anything else.”

“It’s nothing,” I say, self-conscious. Because it is nothing, or next to it. “I made it. It’s not something I bought.”

“You made me something?” she asks with the same look she got in her eyes when I told her about Christmas All Year Coffee. I feel a pleasant ache in my chest.

“I did.”

She clears her throat as I pull out the package from my closet. It looks pretty good, but only because Bryn wrapped it for me. “I got you something too,” Kennedy says.

“Did you get my shirt back from Jonah?” I ask. “I have fond memories of that shirt.”

“I have fond memories of you having it off,” she says with a slight smile, although I detect something nervous about her. “But no. That one went down in the blaze at Labelle Manor, unfortunately. This isn’t something I can actually give you, although I did get you something little. It’s just…” She pauses, looking at me, like she’s worried about what she has to say, which makes me a little worried.

“Well?”

“I get access to my trust fund a little over a year from now. I was thinking maybe we could start our own little nonprofit, here in Highland Hills, to make sure all of the kids get Christmas presents, like we were talking about. I thought maybe we could sell your cars as part of it. Step up production.”

My mouth gapes open. Here she goes, thinking big, when I’ve always been a small-picture kind of guy, but I don’t hate this plan. In fact, it’s a pretty fucking good plan, except…

“Kennedy, you can’t spend your money on me.”

“I won’t be,” she says firmly. “We’ll both be spending it on kids who need help.”

I slowly nod. “This would be a good time for you to open your present, so you can see if your plan is shit.”

She lets out a tinkling laugh, then sifts through her suitcase and comes out with a small package, which she hands to me.

We both tear in, and I laugh when I reveal a little blue pony similar to the one I gave her last week. She’s more of a let’s carefully remove the wrapping paper type, so she slowly disassembles the paper on the package I gave her, pulling aside the flaps.

When she gets to the box, she opens it, and the slight gasp she makes is adorable. It’s a bright purple, two-door coupe, made of painted wood. I use recycled plastic for the windows, since I usually give them away to kids, and the last thing you want to hear is that you’re responsible for little Danny losing an eye. “You made this?”

The way she says it, I feel special, like I’m not some two-bit handyman-slash-fireman without any real ambition or talent. That’s her talent, though—making people feel special. I’m just the lucky so-and-so she chose.

“I did,” I say, looking down at the car. “You told me purple’s your favorite color, Princess.”

“And it works?”

“It does,” I say with a grin.

“Want to try?”

“First, I think you ought to open the car door and look inside.”

“The door opens?” she asks in wonder, and hell, if she’s that easily impressed, she’s really going to be blown away when she—

She looks up at me, her lips parting, a plain white gold band on her palm.

I scratch the back of my neck, suddenly feeling like an idiot. I should have taken Rory up on his offer to help me with a ring. I shouldn’t have—

“Rowan, is this what I think it is?” she says in a whisper.

I take her other hand. I get down on one knee. “I know we’re supposed to playact getting engaged next week for the cameras. But I don’t want it to be pretend, Kennedy. Maybe you’ll think I’m crazy, but I want to marry you for real. This past month has been hell…and it’s also been the best month of my life. It’s not much of a ring, but you can use the one the production gives us if you prefer.”

“I want this one,” she says, her eyes glistening as she slips it onto her finger. Because I ran her ring size past her brother, who had no fucking idea, and Tina, who put forth an educated guess, it fits. “I want this. I want you .”

“Thank God for that,” I say, letting out a breath as she wraps her arms around me and squeezes. She kisses me, and I kiss her back thoroughly, so grateful I can’t put it into words.

I pull back slightly and say, “I didn’t ask your father for permission.”

She laughs. “Good. We both know he wouldn’t have given it.”

That, and he doesn’t deserve to be treated as if his opinion matters. He’s never paid Kennedy that compliment. She’s always been told to do things, never asked.

Her parents do know about us, however. Zach was right about them. They haven’t disowned her, but they’ve made it very clear that I’m not allowed to attend any family events or even visit their house. Suits me. I want upper crust parents-in-law about as much as they want a blue-collar son-in-law. Kennedy has other relatives, though, including a great aunt, who made sure to call to wish us a happy Christmas Eve. Her other brother, Phillip, did the same. It was awkward as hell, but I appreciate that he made some kind of effort. Although I don’t want to drive a wedge between Kennedy and her family, she insists that if her parents had approved of me, she’d have been worried. I get that.

My own mother doesn’t know we’re together, or at least she doesn’t know from me . I was done with her before I found out the truth about Jay, and now I’m more done with her than ever.

“I didn’t ask because it’s a ridiculous tradition,” I tell her, “and yes, he would have said no. It’s always better not to ask if ‘no’ isn’t an acceptable response. But I did ask Zach for his blessing.” My mouth hitched up. “He gave it, and he seems pretty pleased you’ll be staying in Highland Hills.”

She gives me a broad smile. “As it happens, I’m pretty pleased too.”

“I also asked Olive and Nanny Rose for their blessing.”

“You did?” she says, her heart showing in her eyes.

“They said no.”

She pushes my arm. “No, they didn’t.”

“No, they didn’t,” I confirm. I reach up and trace her bottom lip. “They seemed pretty pleased.” They’d come up to see us for a couple days after the ski trip, and we’d brought them to Christmas All Year Coffee…which was shut down for us so there weren’t any gawkers. Although the production team didn’t want to include anything related to Christmas on the show, I made the argument that the place always looks like that, mostly because I knew how much Kennedy wanted to share it with Olive. I could have happily spent the rest of my life without stepping foot in it again…if it didn’t make her so damn happy.

“I love you,” she says, and I’ll never get tired of hearing those words from her. If that means I’m exactly as much of a sap as Holly and my other sisters have always accused me of being, then so be it. I’ll hear I told you so five million times or more, but I’ll develop selective deafness. She’s worth it.

“I love you too.”

We spend the next twenty minutes playing with the car, which Jester does not like. We really are like kids on Christmas morning, and Kennedy tells me at least three times that we have to pursue her business plan because every child in America needs one of these. I’m not so sure about that, but I like the idea of bringing joy to kids. Kennedy’s brought joy to me, and now I feel like everyone could use a little more of it.

After we get coffee from downstairs, which is empty because Holly is with Cole and Jane, and Harry is in Asheville with his mother for the morning, we put Jester’s leash on and leave for our next destination—Jay’s house. Because there is one parent I’d like to share my news with.

I expect Ivy to answer the door, or maybe Jay himself, so it’s a shock, to say the least, when that guy from Ziggy’s opens it. Leo. Or maybe Lou.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I burst out, because my initial reaction is that he must have broken in or roofied Ivy or something. I’d intended to ask Willow about him after our dinner at Ziggy’s, but what with the fire and the Rolex ceremony and the ski trip, it escaped my mind. Still, I’m fairly sure he has no place in my father’s house, on Christmas, no less. I don’t like it, and I have a strong suspicion I don’t like him.

“Merry Christmas to you, too,” he says with a slight upward movement of his lips. Then he steps aside, holding the door open wider.

“Your sister’s a late sleeper, and your dad is lying down in the living room,” he says. “I offered to get the door.”

I notice, distantly, that he said dad and not stepdad. Does he know? Did Jay tell him?

“You still haven’t said what you’re doing here,” I grumble, adjusting where I’m standing so I’m in front of Kennedy and Jester.

“I live here,” he says, laughing. “When everyone got kicked out of the inn, the innkeepers let me stay with them for a couple of nights, but Moira said she knew of someone who was looking for a roommate. That someone turned out to be your dad.” He waves a hand. “You know what they say about small towns.”

“What do they say?” I ask, still confrontational. I don’t like that I didn’t know about this, but I suppose it’s my own fault for being so wrapped up in Kennedy. Actually, I wonder when Ivy found out. She flew back to Charleston last week for a few days to grab some things, so she must have been gone while all of this went down. Something tells me she would have told Jay to say no.

“That there are no strangers in them. So I probably shouldn’t have come here to escape my problems. Go figure. There are no bad ideas, just dumb people who come up with them.”

He seems like he’s talking to himself more than me. “ Excuse me?”

He shrugs. “Come on in. Don’t worry. I’ll make myself scarce.” He steps back to let us in. Kennedy enters the house first, unclipping Jester, who immediately rushing up to Lou as if they’re long-lost best friends. I’d be more moved by his approval, but he treats everyone as if they’re a long-lost best friend. I take some satisfaction from the thought that he’s probably drooling on Lou’s socks, if only because Lou looks like the kind of guy who wears, I dunno, cashmere socks or some shit. Cashmere socks deserve to get dog drool on them, if you ask me.

“Are you coming to Bryn and Rory’s house later?” Kennedy asks him. “Rowan says Willow’s going to be there.”

“She and Alex invited me,” Lou says, nodding, and I feel a spurt of annoyance, but then he adds, “but I’m not going to go. I’m not good company right now. Obviously. I’ll see them before they leave.”

Kennedy’s expression says she’s intrigued, but I couldn’t care less what secrets this guy has tucked up his sleeve. I’m thinking about Jay…about what I came here to say to him. I’m thinking about forgiveness and the promises it holds.

I take her hand and squeeze it, then nod to the temporary addition to the household. “Thanks for letting us in. Merry Christmas.”

“Is there anything merry about it?” he asks with a laugh, and it strikes me that he’s slightly drunk. At ten a.m.

He walks off, and Kennedy and I exchange a look as I close the door behind me. “Something’s going on with him,” she says. “Poor guy. We should ask Willow what she knows.”

“You’re right,” I say, leading her into the living room. Jay’s been in this place ever since he and my mom divorced. I’ve only been here a few times, but they were memorable enough. “I’ve meant to, but I’ve been otherwise engaged. He’s shady, if you ask me.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Her gaze is shrewd. “You have a bad impression of him, but it’s not because you thought he was rude about those papers.”

“I noticed the way he was looking at Ivy,” I admit. “I could tell he liked what he saw.”

She smiles at me, her eyes as warm as lake water at the peak of summer. “You sound like Zach.”

“I’ll have you know that I offered to let Zach punch me, and he turned me down.”

Her smile widens. “Of course he did. You’d have obliterated him.”

“Nah,” I say, reaching down to scratch Jester’s head. He snorts and leans into it. I’m so damn happy that he’s alive that his snorts are music to my ears. “I would have let him get one in for free.”

“You’re such a guy,” she says, scrunching her nose. Truthfully, though, she doesn’t seem too upset by it.

“Does this mean I’m a gentleman, after all?”

“Yeah, I think maybe it does.” She takes my arm, hooking hers through it. “Now, are you ready, sir ?”

I give her a look, soaking in this woman who wasn’t supposed to be mine—this woman who has changed everything for me. I was so sure that I wanted to be the last man standing, alone, while everyone else found a partner, but it turns out that was another thing I was being bull-headed about. “Yeah, I think maybe I am.”

Because, with her, I’m ready to face anything.

Want more Kennedy and Rowan? Find out what happens when Rowan meets Kennedy’s best friend, Olive! You can get the bonus chapter here!