Epilogue
brAEDYN
THREE MONTHS LATER
The fall sun baked the ground as it hung high in the sky over Twisted Oak Ranch, as if it knew it needed to shine a little brighter for the occasion.
We may have tipped into October, but the sun brought with it enough warmth that we could be outside, scattered on picnic blankets, to celebrate Dex’s birthday and the completion of the framing on his new house.
Our house.
Shrieks sounded as Skylar and Owen raced around the yard with Yeti and Lucy, Tink the Highland cow, and Pepper the goat racing after them. Mav gave chase with a massive Nerf gun.
God, they were happy. There was nothing better than happy kids. And honestly, Maverick qualified as one.
Waylon stood behind a grill he’d hauled over here, wearing a Bigfoot apron as Blaze critiqued his grill skills.
Wylder chatted with Aster, only pausing when she flipped off Mav after he shouted something at her.
I wondered if the two of them would ever make nice.
But they hadn’t managed to call a truce, even after he rushed to her side in the wake of her attack.
I glanced over my shoulder at the gravel road leading to our property, hoping I’d see a familiar SUV approaching.
I didn’t. Cora was keeping her distance these days.
Aside from work, where we only shared polite chitchat, she avoided me.
All of us. It was clear the guilt that wasn’t hers to assume had made a home inside her.
But she wasn’t the only one I was worried about. My gaze shifted to the fence line, where Nova stood stroking a horse and then scratching behind its ears. She looked better—so much better than when Kol had found her.
The image of her in that hospital bed sent a shudder through me—just like the memory of her screaming when I tried to take her hand did.
But she’d battled her way back to us because our Supernova was pure fighter through and through.
Only, I knew she was hiding wounds. And groups like this one today proved challenging for her at times.
Then again, she’d lived for an entire year only coming into contact with one person—and a monster at that.
She’d had no light, only the exercise of walking back and forth in her prison, little food and water.
It made sense that this sort of thing might be too much.
Nova hid it well from most people, though. She smiled and joined in, but I knew there was so much more going on beneath the surface.
Movement caught my eye. Kol shifted ever so slightly, his gaze moving to Nova. I found him doing that often, as if doing a pulse check, making sure she was still there and breathing.
I understood it. He had been the one to find her, after all, nearly starved and dehydrated, more than five miles from Travis’s cabin. I had no idea what Travis had planned to do with her out there. But what I did know was that her ordeal had changed her forever, as much as she tried to hide it.
Lips brushed across my temple. “Worried?”
I leaned into Dex on the quilt spread out over the ground we were making a home. “I think I’ll always worry about her now.”
Dex pulled me tighter against him. “She’s doing really well, all things considered.”
“I know,” I whispered. I pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “I’ll be right back.”
I pushed to my feet, crossing the grass to where Nova stood at the fence. I lifted a hand to stroke the horse’s jaw, even though all I wanted to do was pull my best friend into a hug. But that hadn’t gone well the first time. “Need anything?”
Nova’s gray gaze found mine as the wind lifted her dark, almost-black hair. “All good here.”
I knew that wasn’t the case. But I also knew she would get there. And I was holding tight to that hope. For both of us.
“Supernova, watch me!” Owen yelled as he executed some sort of flip and roll, shooting foam darts at Maverick.
Nova let loose a laugh, one that felt real. Not the kind from our past but one from now—different, huskier. It somehow meant more. “You’re a ninja warrior king, Bubs,” she called out with a grin.
There was something about the laugh. About her smile. It gave my hope wings.
I had so much to be grateful for. Sometimes, it felt impossible to me that I’d gotten every single thing I’d ever dreamed of. My best friend, my sister, returned to me. My son, thriving and safe. A partner I not only loved but trusted. And the family he’d given me by extension.
My phone dinged, and I pulled it out of my pocket, quickly reading the message from Maren. My jaw went slack. “Give me a second.” I crossed to Dex, an incredulous look on my face. “What did you do?”
Dex’s brows rose. “What are you talking about?”
“Maren said all of Vincent’s accounts were drained.
” And that was on top of the fact that Vincent was currently in prison, and I’d already received a settlement from the courts, along with sole custody.
But I hadn’t wanted Vincent’s money. So I’d divided it between a college fund for Owen and a trust he’d receive at age thirty. But this was more.
A knowing smile spread across Dex’s face. “Hmmm. I wonder what happened.”
“Dex,” I pressed.
That grin widened. “I felt like some nonprofits needed a little extra funding. One for single parents starting new businesses or going back to school. Another providing educational support and scholarships for kids from single-parent homes. And at least a dozen women’s shelters across the country.”
“I can’t believe you,” I whispered. But I could. Because Dex used any darkness he had for good and only that.
Dex’s hazel eyes heated. “Justice.”
“Vigilante justice,” I corrected as I leaned into him.
His lips twitched. “Potato, potahto.”
“I love you,” I whispered against those lips.
“More than I thought possible.” Dex’s hand slid into my hair as he kissed me.
I lost all sense of time as his mouth took mine, but I still tried to identify the kiss, classify it. It was still one of my most cherished pastimes. Just like this particular kiss was still a favorite—a blend of heat, comfort, and home.
“Sick,” Owen called out, cutting into my blissful haze. “And not the good kind!”
Dex chuckled against my mouth as he pulled back.
“It’s romantical,” Skylar argued as she wrapped her feather boa around her neck and draped it over the back of her T-shirt that read If you think I’m scary, you should meet my uncle.
Owen’s face screwed up. “Hard pass.”
Mav chuckled. “Trust me when I say, you will be rethinking that in the future, my man.”
Aster rolled her eyes as she turned to me. “You might want to watch how much time Maverick spends with Owen. Bad influences and all.”
“Ouch, Ice Queen. That hurts,” Mav shot back.
“Truth hurts, Satan,” she retorted.
Before they could devolve into a bickering fight that could easily get out of hand, I turned to Owen. “Even though we’re totally sick in the gross way, do you want to go get Dex’s present?”
Dex’s hand slid beneath my hair and squeezed the back of my neck. “I said I didn’t need any presents.”
I shot him a look. “Too bad, so sad, Buttercup.”
Owen snickered as he ran to retrieve a wrapped box from Dex’s 4Runner. A second later, he was setting it on the quilt. He stepped back, looking suddenly nervous. “I hope you like it.”
Dex’s expression shifted in that way that said he was paying a little closer attention. “You help pick it out?”
“I helped make it,” Owen said softly.
“Then I’m gonna love it.”
God, Dex was a good man. The best Owen and I could’ve ever hoped to find.
Dex deftly unwrapped the robot wrapping paper, revealing a shoe box beneath. He frowned for a moment, then opened the lid. His jaw dropped. “My own custom Converse?”
A grin tugged at Owen’s mouth. “I drew a computer and Yeti and your energy drink. And your glasses.”
Dex lifted a shoe to hold it up for the group and immediately went about switching his boots to the sneakers. “The best gift ever.”
“Really?” Owen asked hopefully.
“Really. Now we all match.”
I kicked out my own Converse that Owen had decorated, as Owen put his foot next to mine. “Perfect,” I whispered.
“Not quite,” Dex said. “We need one more thing.”
I frowned as he shifted and pulled something out of his pocket. There was no box or anything for the ring, but the diamond caught the light as he lifted it. It glowed, the large gem in the center surrounded by countless tiny ones, making it seem like it was floating.
Dex’s hand slid to the side of my neck. “Want to move into this house as a family in every way. Marry me, Hellion. Plant roots with me. Carve a big, beautiful life with me.”
Tears filled my eyes as I took him in, as I felt the family we’d built all around us. “Yes.”
It was the only answer.
I locked gazes with those dark-hazel eyes as he slid the ring onto my finger. “I love you. I trust you.”
“Love you forever,” he whispered. And then Dex’s eyes moved to Owen, who looked a mix of excited and unsure.
“Does that mean—will you…will you finally be my dad?” Owen asked.
Dex’s throat worked as he swallowed. “That gift…way better than even custom Converse.”
Owen grinned huge and leapt on us. We caught him in a pileup that Yeti soon joined with a gleeful bark. And I didn’t miss Nova looking on, that new smile stretching across her face.
I knew it then: Nothing was better than this. And it was all the sweeter for everything we’d battled to get here.