Epilogue

One Year Later

The bathing suit-wearing baby girl in Liddy's arms was cuter than any baby had a right to be, and as she stared at her aunt with a toothless smile, Liddy's heart melted. "Isn't she just perfect?" she asked Callum. "Almost makes you want one."

"I think we should get lots of practice on the making babies part," Callum whispered in Liddy's ear, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

Liddy snickered and handed Tara back to Elle's outstretched hands. "Hear that, Elle? My fiancé practically has baby fever."

Callum laughed, his arms tightening. "That is not what I said."

Elle set Tara on her shoulder, then bounced her in a way that seemed like a habit at this point. "All I can say is that you will never know how much time you had and wasted until you have kids. Right, Q?"

Quinn pushed his sunglasses back, squinting at them from the lounge chair beside the pool. His eyes were red rimmed with lack of sleep. "What?"

"Go back to your nap. It's not important." Elle blew him a kiss. She turned toward her parents. "But seriously, Mom, do you think you could take Tara to the beach for a couple of hours this afternoon so I could get some sleep?"

Brenda Winnick held both hands out for her granddaughter. "I'll take her whenever you want. Don't get to see my baby barely enough."

"You're over at the house five days a week, Mom," Elle said with a shake of her head.

"I'm the one who doesn't get to see my granddaughter," Quinn's mom piped up, coming up beside them.

Liddy turned toward Callum. "I think this is our cue to exit before the moms start a fistfight."

Callum grabbed their beers, and they slipped away together, heading away from La Hacienda's pool area .

The idea to have a family reunion at La Hacienda for Elle and Quinn's one-year anniversary had been Arthur Camden's. And while not everyone could make it, with most of the family not having had a chance to meet Tara, a surprising number of family members had come to the reunion.

"It's like the wedding all over again," Quinn had said with a rueful look when they'd arrived.

In some ways, it was. But La Hacienda had changed a lot, and it had also been an excellent opportunity for Liddy and Callum to check on the progress of the renovations.

The pool had been expanded, as well as the deck area for it. And all the bungalows had gotten a major facelift, including king-sized beds in all of them. Isla had hired Sergio as an in-house tour operator, and apparently, that was drawing more bachelorette parties to the site. Callum had also arranged for Kat to be their official wedding planner.

Elle and Quinn's wedding really had been the catalyst for La Hacienda's rebirth . Callum's mom still did yoga, and all the beachy, eco-friendly sweetness that Liddy had loved about this place was intact—especially the hammocks on the front porches of each bungalow.

Settling her head against Callum's shoulder, Liddy followed him toward the beach. "The weather's been really nice this year." She waved at Kyle, who was getting good at surfing. "Maybe we ought to find Kyle a nice girl. Do you know anyone?"

"He'll be fine." Callum snuggled her into his arms. "And, no. I had enough trouble finding a nice girl myself."

She pulled back and gave him a flirtatious grin. "You didn't call me nice when we were in bed this morning."

He set a kiss to her lips. "That's because I forgot how wild this country makes you. Not that I'm complaining."

She kissed him back. "That's because I love it here. It reminds me of where I fell in love with you. On that front porch where we had sex in the hammock. You were very drunk and very cute. I might have to get you like that later."

"Yeah?" He laughed, then took a swig of his beer. "I'll keep that in mind."

She watched the bright blue sea, the foamy waves coming closer toward their feet. She really did love it here. Not that they could move here anytime soon, but she didn't think she'd mind it if they did that eventually. She'd been promoted to Callum's position after he'd resigned the year before. Then she'd moved in with him since her roommate situation wasn't working out and fired Miranda, who had been, thankfully, discredited.

She smiled at the sense of satisfaction that still gave her.

Maybe the job did come with a bit of assholery. And she was too busy to consider moving anywhere for now. She was almost jealous of Callum's freedom from the grind.

Almost. But not quite.

She focused her attention back on Callum, who'd grown quiet beside her. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"When did you know you loved me?"

He gave her a look like why are we doing this, and she poked him in the ribs.

"Probably when you passed out after eating that damn hot pepper. I knew then and there I'd never meet someone as stubborn as you, and I loved it."

She burst out laughing. She'd come as close to pushing that memory to the furthest recesses of her mind as she could. "Come on, that's not true. Tell me when."

"You know when I started falling in love with you, Lid."

"No, I don't." She stepped away and shrugged her shoulders innocently.

His expression softened, and he set his beer down in the sand. Then he reached for his pocket and took out his wallet. He dug out his license, then pulled something from behind it and held it out in the palm of his hand.

A quarter.

"I fell in love with a girl in a bookshop who asked me to flip for a guidebook." He searched her gaze. "But I couldn't have her. So I kept the memory of her instead."

Just when I thought I couldn't love him anymore.

"You kept the quarter?" She could hardly find the words.

"You left it on the floor where we were flipping it. I picked it up and tucked it away. Could never get rid of it."

She reached toward it with fascination, and he closed his fingers around it. He tucked it away again. "This one is mine. Get your own lucky quarter. You got the guidebook."

"You know it's going to be your guidebook, too, once we're married. The whole what's mine is yours, marital property thing?"

He shrugged, then reached for her hands. "The guidebook was always supposed to be yours anyway. I was buying it as a welcome book for you."

She shook her head. "All the crazy things we had happen to us. Hard to believe we spent two whole years missing the chance to be together."

"Maybe. But I don't think either of us were who we needed to be for each other during that time." He held her chin, then kissed her. "We weren't ready. Or I wasn't, at any rate."

That's true. But he'd come around nicely since then.

Their toes sank deeper into the sand as a wave came up and lapped at their feet. She kissed him again. "I love you, Callum. I love us. I'm glad you finally found your way back home here—I'll always think of Costa Rica as the place that brought us together."

"I love you, too, beautiful." He pulled her against him, steadying her upright as another stronger wave rushed against their shins. "I'm glad we're here together. My roots will always be here, but you . . . you're my home."

"And you are mine, my love."

She smiled, then kissed him with reckless abandon, ignoring the way they had sunk into the sand.

The tide must be coming in.

Maybe even a storm.

But they'd weathered storms before, alone and together . . .

If she'd learned one thing throughout the last twelve months, it was this:

Life wasn't always easy, but when you had the right person by your side, when you weren't trying to prove that you could handle everything alone, even the hard days couldn't overwhelm or defeat you.