BONUS EPILOGUE

Gigi

“Oh, I don’t mind having her a little longer. I can rock her while I walk around.”

Warrick scooped up a sleepy Georgia who’d been sitting next to me and telling me all about her friends and how they’d made a new game at school on the playground where the monkey bars were. Vivi was fast asleep, drooling on my shoulder in the cutest white wedding dress they ever made for infants. What I wouldn’t do to get just another minute with this precious heat rock.

“I know, Gigi, but we need to get them down or they’ll be bears tomorrow,” Em answered, already reaching for Vivi.

Georgia let out a pitiful bear roar that showed off her spunk, but also her fatigue. Weddings will do that to a girl.

“Oh, okay,” I grumbled, helping to transfer Vivi to Em’s shoulder. The cool air that swept across where she’d lay on me made me want to weep. Nothing I loved more than time with my grandbabies. “Come visit me tomorrow, Georgia?”

My sweet girl gave me a thumbs up before resting her head on her daddy’s shoulder and letting her eyes slide shut. The little family walked away, off to their own house on the west side of my property. I sighed, watching them go. Behind me, the band continued to play and couples kept right on dancing the night away. Colson and Tully made a gorgeous bride and groom today. I was so proud of them for putting their past behind them and giving their love a second chance.

I had a seat and tipped my head back, looking for those bright stars in the sky that comforted me at night. There was something about weddings that just brought out all the emotions. I was ecstatic for my son and daughter-in-law, while also right back in the trenches of grief, missing my husband. It was just shy of a year since I’d kissed him for the last time.

“Ah, Willy, you’d be so proud,” I whispered up to the night sky, wondering if he heard me. The old coot didn’t have the best of hearing even when he was sitting in the chair next to me.

“You talking to yourself again, Mom?”

My head swiveled to take in the dark form of my youngest son. Boon grabbed a chair and spun it around, sitting down next to me. He was in a suit that probably cost more than the new cow I’d been thinking about buying. Poor Bessie needed a friend.

“’Bout time you showed up,” I groused.

I was secretly over the moon to see him, but I couldn’t let him get by me without commenting on his tardiness. It was my duty as a mother to hold his feet to the fire. I feared I hadn’t done that enough with this one. He was always so damn charming, he got away with murder. The baby of the family in every way.

Boon smirked at me, those dimples flashing, distracting me from the fact that his hair had grown way too long, the ends curling up and away from his head. Baseball players couldn’t afford to get haircuts these days, I guessed.

“Came as soon as I could.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek, buttering me up with that voice I knew he used on the ladies. I let him. “Couldn’t wait to get here and talk to the prettiest lady who ever lived.”

I scoffed at that. More gray hairs and a few new wrinkles had greeted me in the mirror this morning, proving his words a blatant lie. “If you lay it on too thick, it’s not believable, you know.”

Boon leaned back into his own space and shrugged. He stretched his long lean legs out in front of him, looking quite relaxed despite the fancy suit. “I do just fine in the lady department, don’t worry.”

“Oh, I do worry! Haven’t seen the lady who made me a grandmother in years. Maybe you should start there when you retire.”

Boon’s jaw tensed. Always did when we got onto this subject. I didn’t care. Willy dying had burned away all the politeness reserves I had in me. Sometimes you just had to say it like it was, and screw the hurt feelings. Boon had a daughter, Kinsley, who was fifteen years old this year. I’d only seen her three times in her lifetime and it was a goddamn travesty I didn’t know her better. A child deserved to know her father and grandparents. Boon had her out of wedlock with some kind of cleat-chaser. I thought the mother of your child deserved more respect than a term like that, but Boon hadn’t offered any other details about Kinsley’s mama except for her name, Cassie.

“Listen, I’m retiring and moving back to Blueball just like Dad wanted. Can’t that be enough?”

I shook my head, disappointment weighing me down on what should have been a celebratory night. “I raised you to be better than that, son. I raised you to appreciate family.” I stood up, too incensed to stay seated. My index finger found its way into his face. “Family’s the only thing that matters in this life here on earth and you’re squandering it. Make things right with your girl or don’t bother coming back at all!”

Boon shifted, jumping to his feet and turning that hard glare on me. I welcomed it. His glare was no match for the anger I felt at how he was treating his own daughter. Seeing her just a few times a year? Keeping her away from me and her aunts and uncles? An absolute travesty. Shameful.

“I’ve got my career to think about,” he hissed, leaning in closer and looking around like someone might be listening in.

“Not anymore, you don’t! You’re retiring this year! When are you going to stop using your precious career as a shield, for Pete’s sake? Who gives a horse patootie if you earn some award or win the gosh dang World Series if your own child doesn’t even know you? You’re not winning at life, son.”

Boon was breathing as hard as I was. His nostrils flared, which I almost said something about, just because I knew it would make him mad to know he didn’t look like the perfect GQ guy at every second.

“Wow, Mom. What a way to talk to your son,” he snarled, words dripping with a sarcasm that didn’t befit him.

“Someone needs to talk to you this way. Should have spanked that butt a few more times when you were growing up too. Maybe then you wouldn’t have let a woman you barely know raise your own daughter. Be a man, Boon Wolfe, and take responsibility for your actions. Make things right with your daughter, and then you’ll be welcome back here in Blueball.”

I knew I risked him never coming home again with that kind of threat, but I wasn’t playing around anymore. Willy left this earth, trusting me to handle our hardheaded sons, and I wasn’t going to let him down.

Boon scoffed. “I do take responsibility. I pay that woman a hefty dollar amount every single month to take care of our daughter.”

I waved my hand through the air, disgusted with my own son. “I really have failed as a mother if you think money sent through your lawyer is somehow ‘taking care of your daughter.’” I shook my head, turning to leave. I had to get away from Boon or I’d say a few other things I’d never be able to take back.

Boon snagged my elbow, holding me in place. “Cassie’s threatening to take me to court.”

I spun around, eyes wide. Boon dropped my elbow and ran his fingers through his hair, making the slight brunette curls on top even fluffier. “She’s dating some new guy who doesn’t want kids. She wants me to take full custody of Kinsley.”

My heart lurched, shifting into a faster rhythm with what this might mean for Boon. For us as a family. I grabbed both of his arms and squeezed for all I was worth. His gaze shifted back to me.

“You offer her whatever she wants and you bring my granddaughter to Timberwolfe Farms. Do you hear me?”

His gaze skittered away, fear replacing the anger. “I don’t know the first thing about being a dad.”

I shook him as best I could when he outweighed me by a hundred pounds of solid muscle. “Then you learn, Boon. Since when do you walk away from a challenge? The son I know would dive in headfirst, work his patootie off, and come out the other end victorious.”

He groaned, his chin dropping to his chest. “That’s work. A teen girl is another story entirely.”

“Exactly. Even more important you get this right.” I let go of his arms and lightly slapped his cheek twice. He glared at me. “Go get her, Boon.”

“Mom,” he groaned, sounding like the teenager who didn’t want to bring the dirty dishes out of his room and put them in the dishwasher.

“Don’t fuck this up, young man.”

I spun on my heel and walked off, more on edge than I’d been since the day the doctor told me there were no more treatments they could give Willy. I had to take three laps around the festivities before I’d burned off the energy that made me want to find Boon again and yell at him some more. Son of a bacon bit, he’d made me drop the F-word!

Colson caught me by the waist and spun me into his arms. Tully wasn’t far behind. Between the two of them, they wrapped me in their arms. I could see the joy and contentment radiating from their smiling faces.

“Thank you for a beautiful wedding, Mom,” Colson said, his voice gruff with emotion.

“Thank you for coming back home, son.” I patted his cheek, much lighter than I had Boon’s cheek.

“Thank you for raising up a good man,” Tully said, tears in her eyes, even as she smiled so wide her cheeks were sure to hurt tomorrow. “I’m a lucky girl.”

Colson leaned down and kissed her. “Love you, wife.”

The two melted into each other and I excused myself. It made my heart so happy to see the two of them finally together again like they always should have been.

And Tully was right. I had raised a good man. Two of them. Warrick was happy with his wife and two daughters. Colson had the love of his life back in his arms.

Now if I could just get Boon on the straight and narrow…

I looked up at the sky again, seeing a shooting star I knew Willy had sent just for me. “I’m gonna need you to talk to the big man up there if we’re going to get this right. Boon is one heck of a stubborn boy.”

No other stars streaked across the sky in response, but a warm breeze ruffled through my short hair, wrapping around my shoulders like a comforting hug. My Willy was still here with me.

And that was enough to get me through another night.