Eden's Joker (Devil’s Nightmare MC Next Generation, Book 7)

Epilogue

About two and a half years later…

Since meeting Tyler, I’ve had more adventure crammed into my life than I ever imagined would be mine. More adventure than even the heroines in my books ever got. We’ve travelled clear across the country. Swam in all the oceans bordering this country, soaked in hot springs, and made love under the stars in the desert, the northern forest and everywhere in between. I’ve been home too, but not all that much.

Tyler’s not stopping me from seeing my family, but he refuses to have anything to do with them. I don’t ask him to change his mind. I can’t. The peace is holding, we can live worry free again and that’s the most important thing.

We’ve left the town of Justice behind, settling in another small town called Dawnrise near Pleasantville and I’m grateful for that, because it makes visiting my family and running my bookstore easier.

But I’ll be moving my bookstore here soon. That and the rest of my life. I hope.

We’ve just returned from a lovely summer ride along the California coast and if I concentrate, I can still smell the sweet ocean’s brine and feel the sea breeze on my face. A part of me wanted to just stay by the ocean forever. And a part of me is happy to be back, settled, making our two-story house with a picket fence and a backyard that faces the rising sun a home.

I have some news for Tyler. News that I’ve been sitting on for days now, trying to find the perfect moment to give it to him. But between unpacking and getting settled back in, which for him always involves a lot of hanging out with his MC, it just hasn’t come.

The sun is starting to set, and the sky is a wonderful blend of gold and lilac. Perhaps tonight is the perfect night. Over dinner in the backyard, under this perfect golden sky.

Too bad he’s not home yet.

Just as I think it, I hear the front door open. A moment later he calls out my name.

I walk to him and the adoration in his dawn blue eyes as he watches me approach is something I will never tire of. And which I hope will never fade. It makes me feel like I’m the only woman in the world for him and the only one he’ll ever love. I slow my step, just to bask in all that a little longer.

But the kiss we share isn’t the slow, sensual kind that would complete this homecoming perfectly. It’s good, but also hurried. Like he wants to get it out of the way.

“Good, you’re dressed,” he says. “Let’s go.”

He takes my hand and starts pulling me to the door.

“Where?” I ask.

He grins at me over his shoulder. “I’m in the mood for some pie. But we gotta hurry before they close.”

“I’m always up for some pie,” I say and finally let him lead me to his bike.

A glorious, but very fast ride into the sunset later, we’re sitting in the park in the town of Starling, sharing a warm cherry pie that smells like angels made it. Our first date ended right here. That time, we were stuffed so full of pie because I insisted we order every flavor. And I never got the good night kiss I know I’m getting tonight.

“You know, cherry pie is my favorite too,” he says.

“Yeah?” I say in between bites. “I thought you were rather partial to the chocolate ones last time.”

“They’re all good,” he says. “Just like you.”

I swallow my bite and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Not super romantic, but I’ll take it. You’re all good too.”

I should tell him my news now. Maybe he only seems nervous because I am.

He takes another bite then puts his plastic fork down and clears his throat. We’re sitting under a majestic willow tree, atop our blanket in the grass—a blanket that we’ve made love on too many times to count. It’s adorned with a lion’s head, which is staring me right in the eyes as he takes the pie box from my hands and stands up, guiding me up too.

“What’s going on, Tyler?” I ask. “We still have the whole pie left.”

He clears his throat again and this time I’m sure my nervousness has nothing to do with his.

“This is where I first fell in love with you,” he says. “Or possibly back at the pie shop, after you made us get all the pie just because I said I never had much pie growing up. It seemed cheesy as hell at the time, but it grew on me.”

He pauses to take a breath after all that talking as I cringe.

“Not romantic enough?” he asks, smiling at me.

“Oh, it’s just fine,” I say and smile too. “I just didn’t want it to come across as cheesy at the time. But I guess it kinda was. Sorry about that.”

He clears his throat. “No, you wanted to do a nice thing for me. And you did. So how’s this for romantic…”

He goes down on one knee and pulls a little purple box from his pocket. My heart is doing cartwheels in my chest, sending tiny bubbles of joy everywhere. Especially my cheeks, which must be cherry red right now. But I don’t care. I don’t care about anything but waiting for the next words out of his mouth.

“Eden, I know we didn’t come together in the best possible way, but I don’t ever want to lose you,” he says. “Will you be my wife?”

“Yes!” The answer bursts from my mouth because it’s been so hard keeping it in to let him ask the question first. The question I knew the answer to a very long time before he asked it. Maybe even as early as the first time we were here.

“Yeah?” he says.

“Obviously,” I say. “What did you think?”

“I don’t know… that you wouldn’t think it’s such a good idea,” he mutters.

I guess I now know why he was so nervous. He stands up and offers me the ring. It’s a large diamond flanked by rubies that shine like ripe cherries as he slides it on my fingers.

“I thought the rubies could remind us of the cherry pie, you know… “

“And you say you don’t know how to be romantic,” I say and kiss him.

He tastes of cherries, and summer, and everything good that is yet to come. All of it, right here in this kiss. And this one is even better than the kind we’re used to sharing. It’s the kind that makes the rest of the world fade away until we’re all alone in the world, and nothing but our love matters.

But that might not last very much longer…

“Good thing you proposed,” I say once we’re sitting on our blanket again, finishing the pie.

“Yeah? Did I take too long?”

“It’s not that,” I say and rest my hand on my belly. “It’s just that now, no one can say it was a shotgun wedding.”

He’s confused for a moment, but then he connects the hand on my belly and the smile on my face. His eyes are wider than I’ve ever seen them and my heart’s racing again. Not quite as happily as before.

“You’re pregnant? We’re gonna have a child?” he says breathlessly, and I nod. “I’m gonna be a dad?”

I nod again.

“In how long?”

“About nine months, give or take,” I say and laugh because he sounds like such a young boy right now. “Are you happy?”

His lips stretch into the biggest smile I’ve ever seen, and his eyes are no longer wide, but soft, content, sunny.

“I am,” he says. “More than I know how to say.”

Then he lays his hand over mine on my belly, wraps his arm around my shoulder and hugs me tight.

“Thank you. For everything,” he whispers into my hair before kissing the top of my head.

“It’s been my pleasure,” I say.

Then we just sit like that, watching the sunset for a while and nibbling on the pie.

After a while, he moves away and pulls something else from his pocket.

“We best get this show on the road then,” he says. “I had another surprise for you lined up.”

“Yeah? This day has just been full of surprises,” I say trying to see what he’s holding in his hand. It’s a colorful flyer of some sort. “What’s that?”

“An idea for our wedding. I thought we could do something special,” he says. Figures he’d already be planning our wedding. He loves to plan. And taking care of me. He loves doing that as well. Almost as much as I love taking care of him.

“I was thinking an Alice in Wonderland themed wedding down in Vegas,” he says and hands me the flyer. “Seeing as you love the book so much.”

My heart was all soft and full of love before and now it all just spills over. I hardly see the flyer. All I see clearly are his beautiful eyes and his beautiful soul.

“Unless you think that’s too corny,” he adds, clearing his throat softly. “Or you want something more, I don’t know, traditional.”

“I would absolutely love an Alice in Wonderland wedding,” I whisper. “Thank you for always thinking of me.”

He grins. “Better get used to it. Because I’m not stopping anytime soon.”

Then he clears his throat and seems to grow nervous again. I have no idea why. Maybe he doesn’t know I love him just as much as he loves me. I should find my words to tell him that.

But before I can, he says, “And if you want your family to be at the wedding, I’m fine with that.”

I gasp so loud I spook a couple of birds digging for seeds nearby. But I can’t help it. I’m pretty sure my heart just exploded with all the love I have for this man.

“Are you sure?” I ask.

He nods, not breaking eye contact with me. “I know they mean a lot to you, so I won’t stand in your way anymore.”

“That’s so big of you,” I say. “But I never doubted that this is the kind of man you are. Good, and kind, and strong. It’s why I love you and it’s why I always will.”

Those empty icy plains in his eyes are showing me our entire future now, all the way to the end of days. And as he kisses me, I feel that future too, all of it, from now until eternity. Lifetimes upon lifetimes of love and devotion, peace and love and everything else good that I can imagine. And so much more!

My life began when I met him, I always knew that. Now I get to share to rest of it with him. Mere words have no hope of ever describing the joy I feel knowing that!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story!