Epilogue

(TWO YEARS LATER)

K andie

"I really can't stand your alabaster ass sometimes." I skewer my husband with a mean look, watching as he tastes test the chiffon cream icing.

"Your pussy says different." He licks his tongue out, pink cream dripping from his tongue. "And it's still too tart." He screws his face up in a mock frown. "Do it again."

It takes me an entire five seconds of hearing his order before I take the powder sugar I was leveling and toss it in his face.

"Motherfucker," he roars, but I'm already racing out of the door, hearing it slam behind me as I take off into the woods out behind our house.

"You know what's going to happen when I find your lil' crazy ass." He calls out into the fast approaching dusk.

Giggling, I race deeper into the property, anticipation racing along my spine.

Hiding along the brook, I hear a twig snap half a second before his heavy body topples me to the ground. Like always, he rolls so that he takes the most of the impact.

"You made it too easy this time." Nipping my ear, he tugs me into his lips. Lush firmness covers me. His tongue spearing into my mouth as he makes me take him.

"Fuck," he growls smacking my bottom when he comes back with a bloody bottom lip.

"Easier to get you caught in my web." Quirking a brow, I lean in, sucking the cut I made.

"New kink unlocked?" His low inquiry is emphasized by the way his dick lengthens between us.

Grinding against his hardness, I shrug. "Does it matter as long as your freaky ass likes it?"

His eyes go half-mast as he watches me suck my bottom lip into my mouth, savoring his taste.

"I'm going to fix that reckless ass mouth of yours, lil' girl." He murmurs, easing me down his body. Sliding over the hard planes of his torso, I smile, hearing him groan when my body touches sensitive areas of his body. I take my time pulling the joggers over his jutting dick.

"Damn girl—" his words cut off when I cover him with my mouth. Losing myself in the taste and texture of my husband, my eyes roll as I savor him. He smells so clean, a hint of clover from working on the land, honey, citrus and man.

"Kandie, I'm close." He moans. I climb his big frame, straddling his dick. "Open that pretty pussy and let me put my baby in you," he demands. Slowly, I slide down his thick dick until I'm fully seated.

I rock, smiling. "You're so fucking blond sometimes, U." Bracing my hands on the broad expanse of his chest, I rock us both into a rhythm of bliss.

It's been a year of trying. We wanted to wait until I had another year of being sober to give our baby the best environment to grow. I'm not going to say this shit has been easy, but I'm proud of myself. I knew when I walked two hours to save my own life, I was never going to do anything to put my life in jeopardy. Not only that — seeing how lost Ulysses looked when he came in and saw me sitting by the side of the bed let me know one thing — I never wanted me to be the reason he had that look on his face, ever.

"What?" He makes me still. The blue ice of his gaze filled with hope and awe even as he slowly thrusts into me, almost making me forget my train of thought.

Stretching over him, I whisper before taking his lips, "I took a test this morning. I put the stick in the truck, but you changed your mind about going into town." I shake my head at him. "You're going to be a daddy in about nine months, ex-sheriff."

"Wildcat," his eye smolder. Immediately he takes over, topping me from the bottom, taking me in long dragging strokes, making me take him like he has so many times in the last two years.

"U," I gasp as he surges inside of me, hitting my spot in that deliciously brutal way.

"Take this motherfucker, wife." He pounds up into my pussy making me come on his dick as he kicks inside me, filling me to overflowing.

It's dark as we make our way back to the craftsman mansion U had built on the same land my daddy once built his more modest one. The loft nor his parents' house felt comfortable after I was ready to leave Angel's loft over El Diablo's clubhouse. It's funny we stayed in the dollhouse for the year it took Cruz construction to finish our house out here. We had to go through the gauntlet of Loves to allow Ulysses to even live on the land. Technically, he does not own the land and is only leasing the house for fifty years. Thankfully, LL handled the legal matters to everyone's satisfaction.

"I don't care as long as you're happy," U said at the time. My heart melted at his words. He's been so selfless this whole time —only wanting me to be happy, even when I was a mean heffa getting sober.

"I love this house." Coming up the front porch to the planters and rockers and porch swing we brought over from his parents' house, I watch the soft smile that spreads across his face. It's taken a lot of therapy for us to get past what we were denied all those years ago. And though a lot of times we both feel like it's bullshit and for the birds, it has proven to be a help, along with our family helping us over the rough parts.

"I'm glad I could give you this." Tugging me into his arms, I know he doesn't mean just the house but the sense of belonging and acceptance we find in each other. "Just as you've given me everything I could ever dream of, wildcat."

Pulling me tighter he spins me high in the air. "You make me so fucking happy. He whoops.

My head falls back as I laugh looking into the night sky at the stars twinkling down on us. I can't help but think both sets of our parents a smiling on us from heaven and maybe even some of our ancestors too. Maybe we can heal this feud once and for all.

Ten Months Later…

Ulysses

I rock Josiah bassinet with my foot as I change Hezekiah. Kandie is taking a much needed break. I can hear her moving around but she's banned from coming down here during my bonding time with my sons. That's the only way I can get her little busy body ass to take a break of any kind.

One of the small victories I've been able to claim along with us closing the bakery while we take family leave. My inheritance made that decision easy. It gave us the room we needed to be together with our little family. We've had so many people actually bringing us baked goods Kandie was a little miffed by how good some of the food is.

"You don't have anything to worry about, wildcat. No one compares to you." I assured her even though she threw a burp cloth at me because I was enjoying Ms. Ernestine's lemon meringue pie a little too much. "Plus once I tell them how much work goes into it they'll run scared." I added after catching the cloth midair. Which seemed to mollify her.

Since retiring from sheriff I've been working with her full time and who knew an ex-seal, ex-sheriff turned baker would be in my cards but I love it. Working with my wife at her bakery is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I get to support and love her everyday.

"I guess you really meant it when you said not another day apart." She told me one day after a particularly grueling day of catering for our new contract with the Shelby University.

"Damn straight there are certain perks." I grinned dragging her into her little office in the back. She'd been six months pregnant and horny as hell all the time. I was more than happy to oblige her.

The doorbell chimes just as I give Hezekiah his pacifier. His swaddle form doesn't move though. Hurrying over to the door I get ready to give whoever it is a few choice words to one of our extended family. Kandie sent out a text on the family thread about the days and times she was allowing folks to come visit. She'd gotten the idea from Easy, and Mimi, who had to put similar schedules in place with their new babies.

"Hey," Joi says when I open the door.

"Hey," I smile down at her. "Everything okay at the loft?" I ask, not sure why she's come way out here when a call would have sufficed. She's been living above the bakery for about a year, now that she's on her own after the residential treatment she's been undergoing at the Shelby mansion; now the Isabella Shelby & Vivienne Spencer-Love Women's Center with Dr. Lockhart. Natalie had done a number on her for years and it's taken her a while to come to terms with that. There were some dark days, and we almost lost her to her own demons, but she's so much better now.

"Yeah," she hedges, her eyes dart to the side. Immediately, my hackles raise when I realize she's not alone. I don't have a gun, but my bowie knife is strapped to my side. I shove out the door, pushing Joi out of the way to confront the person who's obviously forced her here.

I don't hesitate in shoving the small form into the side of my house. But that's all I do. I stare down into my wife's face. It takes me a minute. No longer. She says nothing, letting the realization settle over me. Aside from the slight difference in features with her dimples, not being as deep. She has one side of her head shaved with a cascade of curls falling to one side.

"Kerania?" The hoarse whisper doesn't come from me but Kandie, who's just stepped out of the house.

"Get your fucking hands off my wife. I'd hate to have to kill you, cousin." My head jerks to the sound of the voice I never thought I ever hear again. I find myself looking into the molten silver gaze of the lost Shelby, Ananias.

(I know*giggles*)