Epilogue

EPILOGUE

ELLIOT

T he sunset painted our backyard gold, catching the edges of Tommy's new treehouse like it belonged in some dream. A week ago this place had been all potential and promises. Now it hummed with life - kid laughter and adult chatter mixing with the smell of Cassidy's famous barbecue.

My kid. My home. My family. Still felt surreal sometimes, like I'd wake up back in that empty hotel room, everything gone.

But then Jake's hand would find mine, or Tommy's laugh would carry across the yard, and reality would hit harder than any checkered flag ever had.

"Dad!" Tommy's voice rang from his fortress in the sky. "Sheriff Jake! Watch this!"

My heart stopped for a second watching him swing from the rope ladder, but Caleb stood ready below. Always watching, always protecting. That's what this town did - looked after its own.

"Careful up there, sport!" Jake called back, but his smile said everything. He'd helped build that treehouse, every nail and board a promise to our kid.

Nina worked the drinks table like it was her bar, keeping everyone's glasses full. Sarah and Mrs. Henderson had taken over the food spread, arguing about potato salad recipes like it was life or death. Pure small town magic.

"He looks happy." Cassidy appeared beside me, pride clear in her voice. "They both do."

Followed her gaze to where Jake was now demonstrating proper rope ladder technique to an audience of fascinated kids. My sheriff, always teaching, always protecting.

"Still can't believe we're here." The words came quiet, meant just for her. "A month ago I was losing everything."

"And now?" Her smile went knowing.

"Now I've got everything that matters."

Tommy's friend Michael joined him in the treehouse, their excited plans for sleepovers and video game tournaments carrying across the yard. Real friendship, not the carefully scheduled playdates Vanessa used to arrange.

"Jimmy's doing better." Liam's voice carried hope as he joined our little group. "Doctor says brain activity is increasing."

"He'll wake up." Jake's certainty as he walked up wrapped around us like armor. "Too stubborn not to."

His arm slid around my waist, natural as breathing. No hesitation, no looking around to see who might notice. Just us, being us.

"You know," Nina called from her drink station, "when you first blew through town in that fancy car, didn't expect this ending."

"Neither did I." But watching Tommy show his friends the telescope we'd installed up top, his face pure joy, couldn't imagine any other path.

The garden lights clicked on as dusk deepened - Jake's project last weekend. String lights dancing between trees like fallen stars. Everything soft and warm and real.

The party flowed around us, everyone we loved in one place. Caleb and Liam sharing quiet moments between keeping kid-watch. Cassidy and Sarah plotting something that probably meant trouble. Even Riley, taking photos for the local paper instead of national news.

"Dad!" Tommy again, breathless from climbing. "Can Michael stay over? His mom said it's okay if you say yes."

Caught Michael's mom's nod from across the yard. Angela, who worked at the diner and always slipped Tommy extra bacon.

"Sure, buddy." The words came easy now. No checking schedules or social calendars. Just life, happening as it should.

"Yes!" Both boys punched the air, racing back to their castle in the clouds.

"You're good at this." Jake's words carried weight. "Being a dad. Being you."

"We're good at this." Corrected him gentle. "Being a family."

Because that's what we'd built here. Not just a house or a home, but something bigger. Something real.

The moon rose over our little gathering, full and bright like a spotlight on everything we'd fought for. Everything we'd won.

"Happy?" Jake asked, though he knew the answer.

"More than." Turned into him, breathed in that coffee-and-safety smell that meant home now. "This is everything I never knew to want."

Tommy's laugh carried across the yard again, pure and free. Our son, finally just allowed to be a kid. To be himself.

The race that mattered most wasn't about speed or checkered flags. It was about this - building something worth having, worth fighting for.

And fuck if we hadn't won that one together.

The party would wind down eventually. Kids would tire, friends would head home. But this feeling - this bone-deep rightness - would stay.

Because we'd made it.

JAKE

The fairy lights cast shadows across our backyard, leftovers from the party still scattered on tables. But the chaos had settled now, leaving just the three of us. Our family. Still felt strange thinking that word, good strange.

Watched Elliot through Tommy's doorway, the way he tucked our kid in with such care. Our kid. That felt even stranger, better.

"Love you, Dad." Tommy's voice came sleepy, content. "Love you, Sheriff Jake."

My heart did that stupid flutter thing it always did hearing those words. Elliot caught my eye, his smile saying he knew exactly what I was feeling.

"Sleep tight, champ." He pulled the door almost closed, leaving that crack Tommy liked. Kid still wasn't used to total darkness after Vanessa's perfect bright rooms.

"You're staring." Elliot's whisper carried warmth as he joined me in the hallway.

"Can't help it." Pulled him close because I could now. Because this was home. "Keep thinking I'll wake up back in my empty house, all of this just a dream."

"Not a dream." His hands found my waist, familiar now. "Though that first meeting felt like one. You looking all stern and official, ready to nail me for speeding."

"You were speeding."

"Totally worth it." His laugh came soft against my neck. "Got me the hottest sheriff in the state."

"Smooth talker." But fuck if my heart didn't race every time he looked at me like that.

The house settled around us, creaks and groans of an old place learning new life. My uniform hung beside his racing jacket in our closet. Tommy's backpack sprawled by the door, ready for school tomorrow.

"Remember that first pancake morning?" His fingers traced patterns on my back. "You trying so hard to impress my kid with fancy flips."

"Remember that first kiss?" Countered, feeling him smile. "Under the stars like some teenage romance."

"Wouldn't change a thing." Simple words carrying weight. "Well, maybe the whole Vanessa drama. Though at least Ramirez is behind bars now."

Right. Ramirez. Still sat wrong thinking about what he'd done, but at least justice had been served. The trial had made sure of that.

"You going back to racing soon?" Had to ask, had to know.

"Part time." His answer came sure, steady. "Already talked to the team. Home races only, nothing that takes me away too long. Tommy comes first now. This comes first."

This. Us. Our quiet hallway with fairy lights painting shadows and a sleeping kid down the hall.

His phone buzzed harsh against the peace. Liam's name lighting up the screen sent ice through my veins.

"Liam?" Elliot's voice went tight. "What's"

Watched his face change, emotions flickering fast. "Jimmy's awake?"

Everything shifted. Reality crashing back in with those two words.

The drive to the hospital passed in tense silence. Elliot's hand found mine over the console, squeezing tight. Mrs. Henderson agreed to listen for Tommy through the baby monitor we'd rigged between houses.

Small town magic. Always someone ready to help.

The hospital corridors stretched endless, too bright after our soft evening. Found Liam outside Jimmy's room, relief making him look younger.

"He's confused." Warning came gentle. "Doctor says it's normal after trauma."

Pushed through the door together, Elliot's shoulder warm against mine. Jimmy lay pale against white sheets, but his eyes were open. Alert.

"Who are you?"