Epilogue

My gaze lands on Sam across the living room, talking to Adam and Ellie. His green sweater is molded to his chest, each muscle standing out as he lifts his tumbler glass to his lips. Damn, I am one lucky man.

The Christmas tree in the corner gives the space that happy glow of the holidays. Our whole family is here for my parents’ Christmas party. On top of that, Sam’s mom is here, as well as Natalie’s mom. Ellie’s sister and her husband came, too, and so did Katie, Ellie’s best friend, and her son, Cody. Rounding out the group are Tilly’s parents and her brother. To say the house is packed would be an understatement.

“Helloooo?” Nolan waves his hand in front of my face. I smack his arm down as he laughs. “I thought the puppy dog eyes went away after you got engaged.”

I smile into my soda. “Not when you find the right person.” My eyes go straight to Sam’s ring finger. The dark band stands out in that masculine way that shouldn’t be as hot as it is. It does something to me every single time I look at it.

Nolan’s sigh is full of longing, and I look back over at him. His eyes are glued to Katie, and my eyebrows raise. The woman is beautiful. No doubt about it. But she screams off-limits. It’s so loud even I can see it, and I don’t look at women like that.

“Have you ever talked to her?” I ask.

Nolan blinks and finally turns back to me. “No. Well, for, like, a few minutes at Adam and Ellie’s wedding. I didn’t even flirt with her.”

I give him a look.

“Okay, I flirted a little, but it wasn’t my picking-up-a-girl flirting. It was just me being me. I can’t turn it off.”

“And what happened?”

“I got a polite response before she walked away. And then nothing. She’s avoided me like the plague. I’ve made sure to keep my distance, because I can catch a hint, but still…”

“You like her.”

“Yeah.” He sighs again. “I’m gonna get another drink.”

Nolan sulks off to the kitchen of my parents’ house. I take the opportunity to go back to Sam.

“I’ve got one more year to go in the program. I was hoping to graduate early, but my freelance gig has taken off way more than I expected.” Ellie smiles.

“What kind of freelance stuff do you do?” Sam asks.

“Mostly logos and rebranding for companies, but I’ve been getting into character art ever since Tilly published her book. It’s been a blast drawing the characters in her stories, and I’ve been debating about starting a page dedicated to that specifically.”

“I didn’t know you were doing that. I’d love to see some of your stuff,” I tell her.

Her face immediately flames, and Adam laughs at her. “Well, some of it is normal character stuff, but Tilly and I have been playing around with the steamy stuff, too.”

“Ah, how about we skip those, then.” I wink at her.

She presses her palms to her cheeks to cool down. “That would be ideal.” She laughs.

Adam presses a kiss to her head, his eyes alight with humor. “I quite enjoy the steamier ones.”

Ellie slaps Adam’s stomach. “Adam.”

He busts out laughing. “Come on, let’s go get a drink.”

Sam turns toward me. “I love your family. They’re unapologetically themselves and incredibly supportive of each other. It’s sort of mind-boggling.”

I press a kiss against Sam’s lips. “They are all of those things.”

“How are you feeling, husband?” he whispers the last part.

Warm fuzzies spread through me at the word. Sam asked me to marry him the night of Thanksgiving. He surprised me with a beautifully romantic proposal in front of my family. He got down on one knee and everything. It was perfect.

Then, once the excitement wore off, we both wondered why people wait as long as they do to get married after getting engaged. Neither one of us was interested in a big to-do for a wedding, so we found a Saturday when Sam wasn’t on shift and invited his mom and my parents to a secret ceremony at the courthouse.

That was a couple of weeks ago now, and we swore everyone to secrecy. We wanted to be the ones to tell everyone, and this is the first time we’ve had a chance to gather as a group since Thanksgiving.

“I’m wonderful. How are you?” I respond.

“I couldn’t be better.” He gives me another kiss. It takes everything I have not to escalate it into something more. His calling me husband gets me hot every time.

“When do you want to tell everyone?” I ask.

Sam looks around. “How about right now?”

“Are we going to tell them the other part of our news?”

“They’re going to find out eventually, so we might as well tell them everything at once.”

I adjust my body to take in the entire room full of people we love. The dining room and kitchen are just as full, and the noise level in the house is a constant buzz of conversation.

After everything that happened to me over the summer, this feeling of happiness is more welcome than ever. The nightmares that plagued me for months began to abate after I started talking to a therapist. The process of finding one is the only reason it took me as long as it did to set up an appointment. I’m grateful Sam kept pushing me to reach out to someone, though. It’s helped more than I ever imagined it would.

With Jeffery’s help, we were finally able to find concrete evidence that Dr. Hutton orchestrated the attack on me. While I think I would’ve been okay knowing he was getting jail time for endangering his research participants, I’m even more relieved to know he will be punished for his crimes against me, as well.

Paul was going to be charged with conspiracy for his role in falsifying the data, but the prosecuting attorney made a deal with him instead. In exchange for testifying against Hutton, they didn’t charge him with any crime, but he was fired from the company. Not only did he cause major damage to our research studies, ruining every ounce of credibility he once held, but he also used Inez’s credentials to cover his tracks. I’m not sure where he ended up after he testified. There was only one other person on the osteo team who helped cover up the bad data, and they were also charged with conspiracy and reckless endangerment.

Pharmatech is still trying to overcome this disaster, and while I debated about finding a new place to work, I ultimately decided to stay. I was proud of how our CEO handled the situation, and I still believe in the work being done. If I can continue to help make people’s lives better, I don’t see any reason to leave the company.

Looking at Sam, I raise my eyebrow to see if he’s ready to make our announcement. He grins, slipping two fingers into his mouth to make a sharp whistle.

The room grows silent immediately. My mouth goes dry with everyone’s attention on me.

“Carter and I have an announcement to make.”

“Please let it be a baby!” Natalie shouts from the couch while Carson snoozes in her arms.

I shake my head with a laugh. “Sorry to disappoint you, sis, but it’s not a baby. As most of you know, Sam and I got engaged over Thanksgiving. What you don’t know is that we decided against the big fanfare of a wedding and got married a couple of weeks ago at the courthouse.”

The shocked cheers make me grin. Sam lifts his hands in the air, trying to get everyone to settle down. “Hold your horses. There’s more we need to tell you guys.”

When there’s only a low murmur, I finish sharing our news. “We’ve also bought a house in Sonoma so Sam can stay on at the firehouse, and as of today, we are now approved to be foster parents.”

“Holy shit, you guys!” someone yells. I think it’s Matthew, but I can’t be sure.

Mom and Dad swarm us first, with Sam’s mom, Danika, following closely behind.

“Thank goodness you finally told everyone. I’ve almost slipped up twice!” Mom shouts. She squeezes me in a hug while Danika hugs Sam. Then they switch places.

Of course, we told our parents our plans about fostering before anyone else. For starters, there was no way we could keep the move from them for any length of time. Secondly, we wanted their opinion on whether we should go through the foster program or not. Our parents know us best, and we trusted them to give us an honest answer. Danika gave her wholehearted approval without question. My parents asked us for more details about fostering and how we planned to prepare for a placement. They weren’t disapproving—far from it, actually. They just wanted to ensure we’d taken the time to do our research.

“We are so proud of you boys. Whatever you need to get a space ready for a foster kiddo, just let me know,” Dad says, patting me on the shoulder. He’d give me a hug if Mom and Danika weren’t still standing in the way.

Then the rest of my siblings push their way into the circle to ask a million questions about the house and when we’ll get our first placement. Sam and I try to answer as best we can, but we only know the basics for now. Our plan is to foster to adopt in the hopes that we can provide a safe home for a kiddo who needs it the most.

“Where’s your house?” Sara asks. Ben is next to her, his arm wrapped around her waist.

“It’s in the same neighborhood as Quinn and Cooper’s house,” I tell her.

Sara gasps, excitement shining in her eyes as she jumps up and down. “Yay! This is perfect. Now you have no reason to skip our get-togethers.”

I roll my eyes and laugh. Sara has been inviting me and my brothers to hang out with her friends for forever. Every now and then, we’ll indulge her, but they’ve always been her friends, not ours. It’s never felt natural to hang out with them. I have a feeling with Cooper and Quinn just down the street from us, the invitations will double. If I include Natalie and Tucker into the mix, we won’t stand a chance of saying no.

Sam grins. “I’m always up for a party.” His hand squeezes my hip, and he shoots a wink at me, silently telling me he’s just teasing.

“Also, my best friends, Megan and Todd Montgomery, would be a great resource for you. They’re fostering right now, too, and have had a couple of placements. I know they’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.” Sara pulls out her phone to send me their contact information.

“That would be great. Thank you, sis.”

Talk turns to the New Year’s Eve fundraiser that Adam and Matthew are planning for their foundation. It’s turned into a massive event in Greensboro. After Adam was blasted in the press for something he didn’t do, the news outlets became even more obsessed with him than before. Everyone seemed to fall in love with his story, and the Fit For All foundation has never been more successful.

Every bigwig in the country wants to be seen supporting Adam and Matthew’s foundation, and because of that, they’ve decided to host a yearly benefit to capitalize on the extra attention. I’m quite proud of the way they’ve handled the whole thing. Adam has personally paid for the cost of the event to ensure that every cent they raise will go directly to the foundation. It was the only way Adam would agree to host the event in the first place. He’s always been very vocal about his distaste for the elaborate fundraisers people host.

“How much longer do we need to stay?” Sam whispers in my ear, making my skin pebble.

“Not too much longer.” I tilt my head toward where Noah is curled up on Tucker’s lap. “Nat and Tucker are minutes away from taking the boys home, which will set everyone else off to leave.”

And as if I spoke it into reality, Sam and I watch Natalie give Tucker the universal nod that says she’s ready to go home. We follow their lead and start to say our goodbyes. It takes over twenty minutes to get through everyone, but we finally make it out of the house.

Pulling into my driveway sends a wave of sadness over me. In just a couple of weeks, this will no longer be my house anymore. It’s a little hard to believe.

The change feels overwhelming at times, but then I remember that I’m finally getting the future I have always dreamed about. All I have to do is look at Sam and the worries fade into the background.

“It’s hard to believe we’ll be pulling into a different driveway in just a few short weeks,” Sam says as he looks up at my house from behind the wheel.

“I was just thinking about that. We’ve got a lot to do in a very short amount of time.”

He grabs my hand over the center console. “We’ll get it all done. I’m not worried.”

“I’m glad one of us isn’t,” I joke.

He leans in to kiss me. “I can’t wait to start our life together, Carter. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. How I lived my life without you, I’ll never know.”

“It’s a good thing you won’t ever have to do it again.”

Sam laughs. “Good thing.”

Running my fingers through his blond locks, I bare my heart. “For a long time, I believed I needed to be someone else in order for anyone to choose me, to love me. And then I collided with a brick wall of man chest, and everything I thought I knew was wrong. Being loved by you is one of the best feelings in the entire world, and I will never take that for granted. I am so in love with you, Samuel Ellis, I think I might start glowing.”

“I love the way my new name sounds.” Sam grins, pressing his forehead against mine. “I love you, too, Carter Ellis. Forever.”

“Forever.”

THE END