Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Rowdy

“How are you fourteen?” I asked Stevie, giving her a big hug. “You were wearing sparkle boots and swirly skirts just three minutes ago.”

“I’m allowed to grow up,” Stevie said, snatching the envelope from my hand. “Papa said so.”

Emery scowled at Woody, who gave up a rare grin. He enjoyed being right, of course, but he’d admitted that being Stevie’s Papa was something he’d never take for granted.

“The issue of Stevie growing up has to be a unanimous decision, and I say no,” Emery grumbled, kissing Woody’s temple.

“Sorry, my love,” Woody crooned. “It’s going to happen either way.”

Stevie slid open the envelope. She pulled out the shiny photograph and her brows met in the middle. She looked confused.

“What is this? One of those ink blot things?” she asked, holding the paper up for her dad to see.

Emery’s eyes went wide, and a tear trickled down Woody’s cheek. Emery turned to me. “The Easy Bake Oven lady? Is that why Kess wanted to postpone launching our new business?”

Kess and I nodded. Kess wanted to hold off on the business, not just because of the baby, but because he hoped that he and Emery could adjust their plans for a more family-focused app.

Stevie had been conceived using a surrogate, a quirky woman who jokingly referred to herself as an Easy Bake Oven, apparently. Emery had given us her information a while ago because Kess and I had wanted to start a family as soon as possible. And the idea that our child could be the half-sibling of Stevie had settled it for us.

“She’s pregnant. Twelve weeks along. And so far, the baby is hitting all the growth milestones.”

Stevie looked back at the picture in her hands. “You’re having a baby?”

Kess nodded and brought her in for a hug. “Your half brother.”

“You’re having a boy?” she asked, tears now falling freely.

Kess and I exchanged a glance. “Yes, we are.”

Dawn came up to us with this year’s red velvet birthday cake, a deranged-looking Jackalope head.

“Wait. Does this mean I have a grandson on the way?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.

I lifted a shoulder. “If you want one.”

She set down the cake, then threw her arms open and dragged me in for a powerful hug.

“My ribs,” I squeaked out, and she laughed.

“I can’t wait to meet him and spoil him rotten.”

“Excuse me, this is my birthday,” Stevie said, her hand on her hip.

“Yeah, it’s my bestie’s birthday. Y’all should pay attention,” Jaxon said, shaking his head.

He had grown at least another half inch in the months since he and Sadie had moved to the dude ranch. He was also tanned and building muscle like it was a hobby. The local middle school football coach took one look at him and put him on the team without even asking if he could run.

As it happened, Jaxon could run. Fast. He was an excellent tight end, and all of us made a point to go to his local games, plus any away games that were within a few hours’ drive. He and Stevie would be going to high school next year, and the high school coach had already visited with Sadie to talk about Jaxon’s future.

Early word was going around, and as long as he enjoyed the game and stayed healthy, Jaxon had a bright future ahead of him in football.

Lane stood next to Sadie with his arm wrapped around her waist. Before, she’d been stressed and barely had time to care for herself. Now, she glowed. As much as she and Lane had tried to take it slow and be very smart about things, nothing about their relationship had moved slowly. Months later, they could hardly pull away from each other. For now, they were still in the bunkhouse, though Sadie had moved into Lane’s room while Jaxon had his own room. Everyone seemed to support their relationship, and it wouldn’t shock me if they were married within the year.

“Hello?” Kit called out.

“We’re in the back,” Emery shouted.

Kit appeared under the arched doorway with a small, pretty gift box done up in a bow. Stevie had started helping out at the dude ranch with Jaxon, and we discovered she was really good with the little kids who were learning to ride. Now that she was fourteen, Kit had officially hired her as the kid wrangler, and she worked every Saturday morning.

Stevie took the box from his hands and surprised him with a hug. Kit returned it, even though he looked a little uncomfortable doing so. His eyes landed on Skylar, then quickly darted away. Skylar’s lips flattened, and he crossed his arms over the sparkly blouse he was wearing. There was something going on there, but Skylar had refused to talk about it.

I exchanged a quick look with Kess and knew that we were thinking the exact same thing: Whatever was going on with those two was none of our business.

Even though I was going to get it out of Skylar, one way or another.

Stevie ripped open the box with no concern for the pretty paper and let out a shout of joy.

“A belt buckle?”

“I thought you’d want to wear official Baker Ranch merch when you train the kids.”

“I love it,” she said immediately, undoing her belt and adding the buckle to it. “It’s perfect.”

Kess hugged me from behind. “Jaxon was right, of course. I’m glad we told them about the baby,” he whispered, “but we’ll wait till next week to tell him about the engagement.”

I flushed hot, thinking about how he had proposed to me just last month.

In celebration of our baby news, I had purchased a nipple toy for him with a super strong suctioning feature and had been using it on him when he’d choked out, “Fucking marry me.”

I’d fired back, “Don’t threaten me with a good time, Daddy.”

I’d been referring to the fact that he was about to be an actual father, but that one word had proven lethal on a couple of occasions. He’d come without me even touching his cock. As we were cleaning up, he pulled me into a kiss.

“That wasn’t the way I wanted to do that,” he said, staring deeply into my eyes. He knelt right there in the bathroom and held up a ring. “For real this time, Rowdy. Marry me.”

I may have squealed and said yes immediately. He jumped up and carried me like a baby back to the bed, where he slid the ring on my finger and kissed me until our lips were raw from it.

“I am so excited to build a family with you, and when I think about all those years I was alone, I wonder if you were the one I’d been waiting for this whole time.”

“I think we were both waiting for the right person,” I’d replied.

There were still days when I couldn’t believe that this was where my life was going. Kess showed me again and again that he was in it for the long haul. That he was my person. That he loved me more than anything else in this world.

Kess

Woody was holding baby Cash as Skylar came down the stairs with Rowdy on his arm. Skylar had offered to tone it down so as not to outshine Rowdy, but Rowdy had insisted that Skylar put on his wedding best to walk him down our version of the aisle.

I stood by Emery in his living room as Rowdy made his way to me. As beautiful as Skylar looked, I only had eyes for my man. I smiled, remembering our text exchange this morning.

Rowdy: Sorry, my well-hung lover. After today, I’ll be a married man.

Me: Who is this lucky bastard that gets to call you his husband for the rest of his life?

Rowdy: Some big city lawyer type. Blond. Gorgeous smile. Green eyes that tell the truth, always.

Rowdy: And gentle hands that have completely rearranged my life.

Rowdy: Anyway. I’m the lucky one.

Me: Trust me when I tell you he’s the one who lucked out.

Cash was a little fussy, but Woody got him to quiet down by lightly bouncing him in his arms. Our little boy preferred to be held by his daddy, but Cash loved Uncle Woody and mostly remained quiet for the ceremony.

Dawn stood in front of the fireplace, wearing a beautiful teal dress, while Stevie wore a classic favorite: fancy boots and a beautiful sparkling dress that swirled around her knees. Bandit sat at her feet, a jaunty little bowtie fixed to his collar.

Our closest friends were here: Kit, Jaxon, Sadie, and Lane, plus a very few others. Sadie and Lane had eloped last month after they found out she was pregnant, and Jaxon was beaming with joy. It was a good look on him.

I wore a gorgeous black suit that had been tailored to within an inch of its life. Rowdy wore his nicest boots and his best jeans, along with a sharp white button-down and a soft linen vest. His hair was loose around his shoulders, and hidden in his loose waves was a smattering of those tiny braids I liked so much. He was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life, second only to our son.

He and Skylar joined us in the living room, and Skylar took his hand and put it in mine, then stepped in next to Stevie.

Dawn kept the ceremony short and sweet, and Woody surprised us with a poem. The two cousins, who were even more like brothers now that their children shared DNA, were emotional, exchanging words of love and support that had been in short supply for both of them growing up.

Stevie then stepped up and read from a book on love and thanked us for giving her a brother-cousin, which sent peals of laughter through this big, old house. We assured her that we weren’t laughing at her, but only Jaxon was willing to explain to her why it was funny.

Her mildly outraged “That’s not what I meant!” made us laugh even harder, and she finally couldn’t help but join in on the fun. Lane, our unofficial videographer, caught the whole thing on his phone.

The past year had been one of the best of my life, and as we said our vows to one another, it occurred to me that the best years were still ahead of us.

I took Rowdy’s hands in mine, and I said the words that’d long ago settled in my heart, staring straight into his eyes as he stared into mine.

“This I vow: to love you forever.”

Thank you for reading Pure Country! Find out if Skylar ever convinces Kit to see a doctor about that knee in Gone Country .