Epilogue
Hudson
Quinn had her hands cupped around her mouth as she bent close to Amelia’s stomach. “Baby Junie. We’re waiting …”
Amelia looked at me over Quinn’s head and I could tell she was holding back a laugh. Our baby was a week past her due date and showing exactly zero signs of being ready for birth.
We were all sitting in a booth at Icy Asps restaurant, watching the Peaks play on the big screen television over the bar. The restaurant was full to the brim with Peaks fans there to watch their hometown hero, Dylan, play.
“Junie will come when she’s ready,” Amelia said, shifting uncomfortably on the seat.
Her gluten-free pizza only had a couple bites missing.
She hadn’t been very hungry this week, saying her stomach was too squished for food, but I’d finally convinced the kitchen to add gluten-free offerings to the menu and she wanted to support their efforts.
“And apparently she really likes it in my belly.”
Quinn got even closer to Amelia’s stomach. “It’s more fun out here,” she sang to the baby. A mound rose from her stomach toward Quinn, and they both squealed. “She’s moving!”
I watched the two most important girls in my life follow the movement with their hands and marveled at how lucky I was.
Amelia and I had been married and living in Winterhaven for over a year now.
We’d had a quiet ceremony in my parents’ backyard with our closest friends–even Bret and Gage, whom we decided to forgive for nearly killing us in their attempts to matchmake us.
Bret didn’t seem remorseful at all, but Gage had apologized enough times for the both of them.
The best part was when a blue jay had landed on the flowered archway we stood under for the wedding. No one understood why both Amelia and I stared up at it and grew teary. It felt like Shiloh had given us his blessing, and that meant the world to me.
Amelia was working at the high school with Mrs. Mabel, the English teacher who had been there for almost fifty years. Mrs. Mabel had decided to slowly retire, which meant that she still came in most days to talk with the kids and recommend books, but let Amelia do most of the teaching.
And one of Amelia’s favorite units? Writing original love letters.
She promised them it would come in handy someday.
Some of her students got creative and wrote love letters to their dog, their television, their favorite food, and occasionally, to the love of their life.
Or, who they thought the love of their life was at sixteen.
The only rule? No plagiarizing classic literature.
Especially the letter from Persuasion (the one I didn’t write), which she had framed on her wall as a bad example.
I was working at the family clinic in Winterhaven, mostly dealing with viruses and stitches, but got the occasional strange case to keep things interesting.
Since getting married, Amelia and I had not had one near-death experience or another encounter with the moose, something we were both grateful for. Icy Asps had added a lid to their huge dumpster to keep out the animals (and people), so we didn’t have a quick and easy place to escape to anymore.
Quinn was in second grade and loved it. My mom picked her up every day after school and brought her to their house until Amelia or I got off work.
Mom and Dad were happier than I’d seen them in a long time.
Quinn had brought new energy into their lives.
She was so much like her dad in that way, and being with her felt like having a piece of him with us again.
“I can’t eat anymore,” Amelia said as she pushed her plate back. Her cheeks were flushed even though it was cold outside.
“I’ll grab a box,” I told her. I ran to the bar, and while I waited for them to grab me one, I turned to watch Amelia, not caring if everyone saw how much I was in love with her. She was so beautiful. So kind. So everything.
And somehow, she was mine.
I often thought about the man on the island. The one who had built the abandoned cabin and never stopped longing for his family. I wish he could have found them, the way I’d found mine. I’d never known greater happiness.
Amelia and Quinn headed outside, and I knew Amelia was going to try to walk through the pain she’d been having in her back all morning. This baby had to come sometime.
Suddenly the door opened, and Quinn raced to my side with wide eyes and threw her arms around my waist.
“Daddy!” I would never grow tired of hearing her call me that. It was a privilege, and one I would cherish forever. “Mommy peed her pants,” she whispered in my ear, scandalized.
I shot my gaze up to the doorway, and I raced across the room, holding Quinn’s hand, the to-go box left on the counter. I pushed open the door, and Amelia stood there, her eyes bright with excitement. I came to her side and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Really? Your water broke?”
“She is going to keep us on our toes.” Amelia patted her belly and then looked up at me. “Are you ready for this?”
“I’ve been saying that I am,” Quinn said with impatience that made us both laugh.
Emotion swelled in my chest, and I tucked a lock of Amelia’s soft hair behind her ear. I searched her eyes, seeing absolute joy reflected back at me.
It was time. Our baby Junie was coming. And I couldn’t be more ready.
Click here to read a bonus epilogue about Amelia and Hudson!
Read Rosie and Dylan's love story here.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a hockey player in possession of a bad reputation must be in want of a fake girlfriend.
Rosie Forrester is in desperate need of cash after an embarrassing run-in with the law. Enter Dylan Savage, a disgraced hockey player who needs a place to hide out for a few months while he figures out how to get back on his team.
He's every bit as beastly as his fans' nickname for him would imply—nothing like the handsome, charming bookstore owner Rosie’s in love with from afar. But Dylan’s rent will not only save her art studio, it’ll help fund the secret she’s keeping from her three older brothers.
When Rosie proposes a deal to help Dylan improve his image if he can help her finally catch the eye of the bookstore owner, he reluctantly agrees. But nothing in their plan is going as expected, and pretty soon it's not just her studio she’s worried about losing, it’s her heart.
Rosie and The Beast Next Door is for readers who love Jane Austen, forced proximity, banter, hockey players, fake dating, and happily ever afters!
Keep reading for a sneak peek of Charlie and Her Sweet Escape, the next book in the Enchanted Forresters series.
Go on the Married in the Wild survival reality show? Check.
Collect a paycheck that’s enough to cover my mom’s medical bills? Check.
Get married? Um… Check?
Enter Bennett Forrester.
My best friend’s confirmed bachelor older brother is gorgeous, a huge flirt, and always in the the wrong place at the right time when it comes to catching me in my most humiliating moments. So I’m not surprised he's there when my wedding—which is being filmed for reality TV—gets called off.
I am surprised when he offers to marry me instead.
Now we’re in the wilderness, challenging everything nature—and a ratings-hungry producer—throws at us, all while pretending to be madly in love for the cameras.
Piece of cake. (What I wouldn’t give for a piece of cake out here.)
Okay, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
Especially with Bennett looking at me in a way he never has before. And his touch lighting a fire in me I’ve never felt before. He has no idea what he’s doing to me.
I just have to remember it’s all for the cameras. He’s completely off-limits.
I cannot fall for my best friend’s brother. My husband.
Because this show is going to end eventually (one way or another), and I won’t let my heart be broken again.
Charlie and her Sweet Escape is a closed-door, best friend’s older brother, marriage of convenience romcom with all the steam and none of the spice.