Epilogue

Beau

O ne more night, for old times’ sake, definitely involves one more sit-up on the roof that kicked my ass straight into the ground. Literally. Except this time, I made a foolproof system. This time and every other time we come up here, we wear a safety harness in the form of rock climbing ropes secured to the wall inside the house and tightened firmly around our waists.

“One more, huh?” Sam always reads my thoughts with zero effort. “It’s not just for old times’ sake. It’s for our sake. It’s for the sake of this being the last night we spend in this house, at least as owners of it.”

“Are you having second thoughts?” I ask.

She snorts at me. Her hand finds mine on top of the shingles, and she squeezes my fingers before replying, “No, darling. You built me the most wonderful farmhouse slash mansion because you had to have a home theatre, a shower big enough to live in, all the closets, and state-of-the-art everything. And I adore it. We poured so much time into making everything perfect. I’m going to be working from home there, and you’re going to be running operations in your office, and…yeah. Life is going to be good.”

When Sam said she didn’t want to go back to the city, to any city, which included my sprawling penthouse or any house I could have bought anywhere else other than the country, I did the most sensible thing and bought the land right next to hers. I bought so much of it, in fact, that we now have over five hundred acres surrounding the house we built. And she’s right. It did get a little out of hand. I wanted to give Sam the best of everything, and she wanted an old farmhouse, whereas I wanted it to be safe, highly functional, eco-friendly, and sustainable. She wanted those things, too, and so we compromised the entire way. The result is that the house looks like an old farmhouse, with three stories, turrets, and a porch that wraps the entire width of the house, but it’s also six thousand square feet, and I built a shop in the back that could probably fit at least another whole house inside it.

Sam has her own workspace. She’s still sewing prairie dresses, and I know one day she’d like to get back into fashion, but she’s busy and happy right now doing what she’s doing. She loves making dresses, and people love what she makes, so it’s a great deal all around.

I’m officially retired from putting my body in front of bullets or people who may want to fire them, so I do much more of the management now. It’s a good project for the time being. After six months, I rented out my penthouse and officially moved here, where we started building our dream house. Even with a ton of money, things only move so fast. I also paid for crews to fix anything over here, including the barn and shop.

Katie made good on her promise to do her antiques, and she’s transformed the barn. I know that as excited as she was to live up there, she’s extra excited to move into the house as soon as we leave. We’ve been packed for weeks, but the movers officially come tomorrow.

This time tomorrow night, we’ll be sleeping in our new house for the first time.

Or sitting out on the balcony I built off our bedroom so we can watch the stars without tumbling ass over end down the roof.

“I’m so excited to be in the new house, but I’ll miss this one. Even if it’s just down the road. Katie’s so beside herself in excitement to have this place that I know she’ll take care of it. Even if it’ll still be in the family, it’s just nostalgic. You fell off the roof here, and I fell in love with you. Not that I won’t fall more in love with you over there, it’s just…”

“I know. I understand.”

“Fresh starts are good. Not that it’s totally fresh. We’re still the same people, and we’ll still be doing the same jobs. We’re not changing everything. We’re not changing our names or going on the run. You saved me from that, and I’ll never have to do it again.”

“And you saved me from being a giant old grump in the ass pain.”

“I think you mean giant old pain in the ass grump,” she corrects.

Then, she adds, “The stars will still be just as beautiful over there. It’s the same country, the same part of the world. The stars will always be brighter because you’re here, sharing them with me.”

“We don’t have to move,” I say.

“Oh yes, we do, Beau. Do you know how excited Katie is to have her own place? She has big plans. She has paint swatches picked out and—”

“We could give her the new place. We could stay.”

“Goodness. You’d really give up your theatre room, your gym, and those perfect showers with the benches and the steam functions and towel warmers?”

“I’d give up anything and everything if it would make you happy.”

“No. I’m happy. I’m so happy here, and I’m happy for our new place. Change is good. It’s a place that will be totally and completely ours. We can make our own history there. We didn’t start our lives there, but we can continue making them wonderful. We’ll fall more in love, start a family, and make so many great memories. The cats might be staying here because this is their home, but we can adopt more and give them a great life, too. Maybe some dogs. Some mini cows—”

“Whoa there. Cows?” I exclaim.

She chuckles. “You don’t like cows?”

“I love cows if you love cows.”

“What about purple cows?”

“If you wanted purple cows, my love, I would search the entire world over to find them for you.”

When she kisses me on the cheek and then on the lips, I barely manage not to plunder her face right there on the rooftop. “Maybe we should start a crawfish rescue. We have three more tanks.”

Her blush is the most adorable thing, especially under the starlight. “I couldn’t not get them. I mean, they looked so sad, and now they’re doing so good. I’m excited to give them their freedom by driving to the river and setting them free. It’s time.” She snuggles against my shoulder. “Only you would think I’m not crazy for wanting to do something like that.”

“There are probably quite a few people out there who would call it not so crazy. If you want to rescue a hundred crawfishes a year and drive a hundred times to the river to free them, I’m up for it.”

“We could just move near a big river instead and rescue the crawfish right on location,” she says.

“Wherever you want to go, I will go. Always, Sam. Always.”

She threads her fingers through mine and stares up at me, her eyes more beautiful than all the stars in the sky. “Me too, Beau. You’re my heart. Where your heart goes, mine will always follow.” She glances at the sloped roof. “Just not off of there.” Her other hand fingers the rope that’s wrapped around her waist. “These were a great idea. Very foolproof and splatterproof. You’re pretty much a genius.”

“That dirty talk is going to wind up getting you whisked off this roof and straight into bed, my love,” I grunt.

Her lips trace mine with the softest kiss. “Would they make it possible to be whisked straight into bed right here? Never mind. Katie’s in the barn. And, also, shingle burn. The only road rash I want on my backside is from your hand.” Then, she grins at me. “Careful. If you keep looking at me like that, you might have to tie me to the bed to restrain me.”

It’s an old joke. One I still find no less shocking than the first time. But we haven’t done it yet, not even in gentle play.

“Should I take you inside yet and show you how much I love you with all of me?” I murmur huskily.

“Oh, yes, please, darling. Just give me one more minute to admire the moon and the stars, and then my attention is all yours.”

“No moon or stars or anything in this world could be more beautiful than you are.”

“That’s the same for me when it comes to you, you beautiful, wonderful, hotter-than-sin beast of a man. I love you,” she says, her eyes brightly showing her deep love.

“Am I doing a literal minute? Should I start counting down now?” I ask impatiently.

Her laughter reaches up to the night sky. “Yes, Beau. One literal minute. Start counting now.”

The End.