EpilogueNo More Spies

One week later

Bliss, Colorado

Serena Dean-Miles stood on the porch of the cabin they’d bought so many years ago and breathed in the scent of clean pine. When she closed her eyes and that scent caught her, she was back to a time when her kids had bounced around the cabin and ran through the woods, when they’d eagerly gone off with their dad to fish or begged their papa to take them to the café in town for pie.

Her baby boy had gotten married today. She felt a smile slide over her face. She’d never thought her son would get married at The Feed Store Church, but here they were.

“Well, I personally feel like we’ve won a war,” Jake said, joining her. He’d lost the tie and jacket he’d worn to the small ceremony. It had been far more intimate than the other tries. “We managed to get through a whole wedding without a single assassination attempt.”

“Do not even joke about that.” Adam rounded the corner. He’d driven up moments before. Unlike Jake, he was in his full suit. “I’m still having nightmares.”

He was, actually. He’d woken up in a sweat this morning, and she knew it had to do with what happened in Toronto. He was playing it down for her sake, but she knew it had been bad. Carys hadn’t minded telling them all Dr. Evil had almost started cutting off her fingers and then blown up the house around them.

Adam had been there, watching their son nearly die. He’d also watched him be a hero, getting Carys out.

Tristan had figured out what was important. He was making decisions like the husband he wanted to be. The way his fathers had taught him.

“The kids are happily settled into their honeymoon suite, thanks to Stef Talbot,” Adam announced. “And Brianna and Devi are staying with Uncle Van and the group.”

Jake’s brother lived here along with his partner, Hale, and their wife Elisa. They had two girls who would love spending some time with their cousins. “Devi’s okay?”

Devi was the only one outside of immediate family who had come along for this hastily put-together wedding. Even so, they’d still descended on Bliss as a large group. Sean, Grace, and their family were in Ian’s big cabin. The O’Donnells were at the new B&B in town.

“Devi says she’s great,” Adam replied. “She smiles at all the right times, and I can’t tell if she didn’t care as much as everyone thought she did or if she’s planning a murder. Though she’d have to find the fucker first. I will give it to Captain Reed. The man knows how to disappear.”

Zach Reed’s disappearance and the fact that Emmanuel Huisman was still out there were the reasons for the paired-down guest list. Carys had insisted on getting married as soon as possible. They all had. When they’d returned from Toronto, there had been no hesitation in Tristan at all. He’d barely touched down before he’d started planning a Vegas wedding.

She’d negotiated them down to Bliss, where at least the family could attend and they could keep the whole thing fairly quiet in case the doctor decided to try again.

“Big Tag really doesn’t know anything?” Jake didn’t sound like he believed it. “He worked with Zach for over two years.”

Adam sighed and sank down onto the big porch swing Jake had built years before. “I think Tag has suspicions, but he’s not going to voice them without proof. You know Tristan doesn’t believe Zach truly betrayed the team.”

Tristan wanted to reach out to the man who’d been his friend for years. The rest of the team wasn’t as sure.

“I’m sure he has his reasons, but I’m worried about Devi.” Serena sat down beside him. “I don’t care about her smile. She’s devastated. She was in love with him. According to Bri, she’d had a crush on Zach pretty much from the moment she met him. Bri and Daisy will take care of her, but I worry about what happens if Tris is right and Zach comes back.”

“Devi seems so reasonable, but she’s got a lot of Erin Taggart in her genes.” Jake took his seat, the one beside her. He settled in, a hand on her thigh. “I’m more worried about Kala. Do you have any idea what happened to her beyond that fucker fed her some drugs? I asked and those were her exact words. It must be fun trying to get her to write up mission reports.”

Adam sighed and his arm went around Serena, connecting them all. Like she always wanted to be. “Tristan heard her. Whatever he did it was enough to make the toughest woman I know scream. Whatever it was, I hope it prods Cooper into making some kind of move. That kid is in love with her.”

“They’ll find their way.” Serena believed. Cooper and Kala had been circling each other since they were children. “Like our boy did.”

Jake leaned over, nuzzling her neck. “Our boy finally got his head out of his ass. Thank the universe. They can handle anything as long as they’re together. I just hope Kala figures it out. Cooper would do anything for her.”

She put a hand on Jake’s. “Don’t go there. Don’t make him out to be a saint. She worshipped the ground he walked on when they were kids. He did something, something she won’t talk about, and it cut her heart out.”

Kala wouldn’t have turned from him over nothing, but she was far more fragile than anyone thought. Something had happened between them, and it cost them years. Or perhaps they were like Lou and TJ had been and their time hadn’t come yet.

Serena prayed it would come soon because there was something dark in her niece’s eyes.

“You’re right,” Jake allowed. “I don’t know the story. I wish she would tell someone.” He breathed in and brought her hand to his lips. “So did Adam tell you enough for a new story?”

There were always new stories. They were all around her if she opened her heart. Writing a story was like making a wish—that those she loved would find what they need, that the world would be a kinder place. When she sat at her keyboard, she created the world as she wanted it to be. Not free of struggle. That was required for growth and to learn empathy and compassion. But a world where love won. A world where her children found what she had found with these men. “Just being with you is enough for a new story every day.”

She never stopped thinking up happily ever afters. Even after she’d found her own.

Perhaps tomorrow she would start a story about a brave young woman who most people misunderstood and the heroic young man she’d loved from childhood. She would write about them going on an adventure together, one that would allow her heroine to put aside the past and find a brilliant future. One that ended in two hearts finally beating as one after all these years.

She would sit and write, her words a wish, a dream, a prayer to the universe.

For love. For peace.

For everyone to find what she’d found.

“We have a completely empty nest.” Adam sat back as the sun sank beneath the horizon and the nightly show began.

The stars were a blanket of diamonds here. They shone and sparkled, illuminating the night and giving it a softness she’d never found elsewhere. “Maybe we should spend more time here.”

“I’d like that,” Jake said quietly. “But I think we’ll have to get better Internet.”

“Hey, I can do the wilderness thing,” Adam argued.

And they were off. Her men could fight like brothers. Like only the best of friends could.

Like family.

Serena turned her head up to the night sky and thanked the universe for the story of her life so far.

And for all the adventures yet to come.