Epilogue
TRENT
Afew weeks after we’d gotten home from Chicago for the final time, the ranch felt like an entirely different place than it had before. Charlotte had walked in and rearranged the very molecules of air I breathed just by existing, and honestly, I’d never been happier.
Everything in the house now smelled like her perfume and whatever she’d decided to bake at two in the morning. Whenever she missed her brothers and needed an excuse to text them pictures of cookies, I got treated to the actual end products.
Well, most days, they were mine, but there was also a constant parade of Westwoods showing up at our door unannounced as a result. They arrived out of nowhere, ate the cookies, crashed in the guest rooms, and took off again, like tornadoes of laughter and life that tore through our home.
This morning though, it was just us and my hands were firmly over her eyes as I guided her across the barn aisle. “Trent, if you let me trip over something and break my nose, I swear—”
“Sweetheart, the only thing you’re fallin’ into today is a surprise.” My grin stretched wide as she tried to muffle her laughter, amused despite herself.
The fall air was cooler than it had been so far this year.
Winter was definitely coming, but the afternoons were still warm enough to be comfortable.
Colby spotted us when we rounded the corner, lifted his chin in the subtle greeting that said I’m ready, boss, and disappeared into the stall to fetch her surprise.
He didn’t ask questions, but on the other hand, he’d known for days what I was planning. Hell, he helped me choose the girl.
“She’s gonna lose her mind,” he’d said yesterday, patting the horse’s shoulder. “This one is so sweet, I’m shocked she ever made it through a single day of training.”
Now, her hooves clopped softly as he let her out of the stall and I felt Charlotte frown under my fingers. “Are we almost there? Because I’m starting to think this is a trap.”
She wrapped her cool fingers around my wrists but didn’t try to pull my hands away from her eyes. I bent down, speaking quietly against her ear. “It’s not a trap. It’s a gift.”
I dropped my hands and Charlotte blinked against the sudden intrusion of light, then gasped when she saw the horse standing in front of her. A big chestnut with a white blaze and the face of absolute friendliness, like she’d been waiting her whole life for Charlotte to show up.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, then repeated it, just louder this time. “Oh my God. We got a new one?”
The mare took a step forward and bumped Charlotte’s shoulder with her nose, the touch as gentle as a kiss. Charlotte made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob, throwing her arms around the horse’s neck like she’d known her forever.
I pretended my heart wasn’t melting into my boots as I watched them together. “She’s yours. Another retired racer. Just too nice and too goofy for the track according to everyone who ever tried working with her.”
“She’s…” Charlotte’s eyes went glassy as she trailed off. Then she swallowed so hard it was audible before she blinked up at me. “She’s mine?”
“Yep. You even get to name her,” I said. “Give her a barn name, I mean. I might not be able to change what she was registered as, but whatever you choose will be her name going forward.”
She looked at the mare, who blinked back like she already adored her. I didn’t know this horse from a bar of soap, but whoever had even tried racing her clearly didn’t know anything about horses at all.
“Okay,” Charlotte said finally. “Her name is… Princess Buttercup Sweet Tea.”
Colby, who had conveniently reappeared, barked out a laugh so loud the mare flicked her ears back. “Ma’am, with all due respect, that’s the most insane, adorable name I’ve ever heard.”
“Well, her name had to be just as ridiculous as all the others around here. They’ll pick on her if she doesn’t fit in.” Charlotte lifted her chin. “Besides, she looks like a Princess Buttercup Sweet Tea. Can we go for a ride?”
She turned to me as she asked the question, her eyes wide and pleading. I laughed, groaning as I thought about all the other shit I had to get done today, but I already had a picnic packed in my saddle bag, and since I’d expected this, I’d dealt with all my urgent business this morning.
“Sure,” I said, glancing at Colby, who gave me a swift nod before he disappeared into the tack room.
I moved my gaze back to hers, seeing the moisture shimmering on her lids.
Instantly, I stopped trying to pretend I hadn’t already melted, and pulled her into me.
“The horses were the selling point, right?”
She let out a soft laugh, nodding. She buried her face in my shirt and just held on to me for a moment. “I can’t believe I finally have a horse.”
“Yeah, well, nothing you want is ever going to be too much work for me.”
Her arms wound around my waist, her grip on me tight as she burrowed further into me. I didn’t mind at all. Not even when Colby came out and started tacking up the horses for us since I was otherwise occupied.
I’d long since stopped caring who knew I was nuts about my wife.
After breathing me in for a few moments, she glanced up at me, tears still glittering in her eyes, but the biggest smile ever on her lips. “Thank you.”
I shook my head. “Thank you for being exactly the human this sweet girl needs.”
She inhaled a deep breath, then took a step back and gathered her hair in her hands, tying it up with an elastic she’d had around her wrist. It seemed she’d learned to always keep one of those around, and as soon as she was done, she winked at me.
“I’ll race you.”
I laughed. “That’s not fair. Colby’s got you almost all saddled up.”
Colby grunted. “I got your gear out too. If you get moving, you might just stand a chance.”
It turned out, I didn’t, but I also didn’t need to.
In the end, Charlotte got sidetracked talking to Colby about the horse and we enjoyed an easy rhythm as we got ready to go out.
When it was time, she mounted with a confidence she’d been building over the past few weeks, and Princess Buttercup Sweet Tea took to her like she’d been waiting for this very job.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Hustle, the big, moody, stubborn gelding, flicked his tail like he resented being made to work after noon, but he fell into step with his new friend.
Together, we rode out through the wide fall fields where the grass had turned golden and the air smelled like cedar and upcoming rain.
Charlotte kept reaching down to pet Buttercup’s neck, murmuring to her and laughing every time the mare twitched an ear back like she understood.
By the time we reached the back pasture that sloped down into the low creek bed, the horses were happy to graze, and Charlotte’s cheeks were flushed pink with excitement and wind.
I slid off Hustle’s back and, after relieving him of the simple picnic, sat down with my ass on the grass. She joined me a moment later, leaning into my side as if it was the most natural thing on earth.
“Thank you,” she whispered, glancing up at me with tears shimmering in her eyes. Again. “I mean it, Trent. Not only for Buttercup, but also for taking the time to have a picnic with me on a regular Tuesday and… just for everything else too.”
“Anytime.” I pressed a kiss to the top of her head before resting mine against it. “You deserve horses with ridiculous names and boring sandwiches in the dirt.”
She elbowed me and I laughed, bracing an arm around her before reaching for the cooler bag with the other. While we ate, we watched the horses, Princess Buttercup Sweet Tea nibbling delicately and Hustle eating entire patches of grass like a lawnmower.
Finally, I let out a long breath and turned to look down into her eyes. “So, I have some news.”
She tilted her head. “You do? I thought I knew everything that was going on around here.”
“Almost everything,” I teased, but then I dragged in a deep breath and said words I didn’t think I’d be stringing into a single sentence for a long time to come. “Dad’s stepping down.”
Her eyebrows climbed slowly higher. “For real this time?”
“For real,” I confirmed. “He signed the papers yesterday. I think Mom finally convinced him.”
“Wow.” Her smile softened and she reached for my hand, threading our fingers together as she held my gaze. “This is a huge moment, and you celebrated by buying me a horse and bringing a couple sandwiches out to a field?”
I chuckled. “Well, actually, Sadie called about the horse. She got word that the owner was looking to offload her and she knew I’d been looking for the perfect fit for you. It was kismet. As for the sandwiches, I was hungry before we even left the house and I knew you’d want to go for a ride.”
“So this isn’t a celebration?” She frowned. “That doesn’t seem right.”
I winked at her. “Feel free to help me celebrate in any way you please. Preferably naked. Right here or later, when we get back home.”
She elbowed me, but her cheeks flushed and she nibbled at her lower lip for a moment. “I’ll keep that in mind. Either way, it’ll be a surprise, but we’re definitely celebrating.”
“Yeah.” We fell into a comfortable silence for a beat, both of us lost to our own thoughts.
“This is all ours now,” I said after a moment, sweeping my free hand toward the horizon. In the distance, I could see some of the barns. All around us were the rolling pastures, the cattle, the creek, and the endless Texas sky. “Every bit of it.”
Charlotte looked out, thoughtful and quiet. The wind tugged her hair lightly across her cheek and I brushed it behind her ear, my eyes on hers. I got to the reason I’d even brought this up right now.
“What do you want to do with it?” I asked.
This ranch, the legacy, the responsibility, and the future it represented, was all changing hands—and not only from my father to me, but from me to us. She turned toward me and rested her head on my shoulder, our joined hands resting on my thigh.
“How about an in-ground swimming pool?” Charlotte asked as she watched Princess Buttercup Sweet Tea stomp at a patch of grass like she was considering taking up gardening as a hobby.
I laughed under my breath. “Yeah? All this space and a brand-new horse, and you’d rather be swimming laps every morning?”
“I might just like a swim after my ride,” she said primly. “We always get all sweaty and dusty out here. This way, we’d get to take a cool plunge when we got home.”
“Mmm.” I nodded slowly. “I’ll look into it. Anything else you want to put on the list, sweetheart?”
She inhaled slowly, but it was too slow, almost like she was gearing up for something. “And…” She trailed off, her eyes on the pasture, but her voice light in a way that made every hair on my arms stand on end. “I’m going to need a bigger car.”
I frowned. “A bigger car.”
“Yes.”
“The convertible isn’t big enough?” I teased, because that little cherry-red thing I’d gotten her just the other day to match my mom’s—their idea, not mine—had already gotten her two speeding warnings. “You know bigger generally means slower, not faster, right?”
I expected an elbow or a giggle, but Charlotte didn’t laugh. She just bit her lip and my heart kicked so hard, it damn near left a hole in my ribs.
“Why?” I asked gently. “Why a swimming pool and a bigger car, baby?”
“Baby.” She glanced up at me, blue eyes intently fixed on mine all of a sudden. “That’s exactly it. I think… uh, I think I might be pregnant.”
For a second, my whole world just stopped. The wind and the rustling of the breeze, the chirping of the insects, it all went silent. Charlotte fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, her voice trembling around the edges.
“I haven’t taken a test yet,” she rushed out. “I didn’t actually want to say anything until I knew for sure. I don’t want to get my hopes up. I know it’s soon, and everything’s been happening so fast, and we’ve only been married a few weeks but—”
I didn’t let her finish, just lifting my hand and cupping the back of her neck, hauling her closer until I was kissing her so hard that she gasped against my mouth. Then I pulled her into my lap before she could do anything except squeak my name.
All the while, my thoughts raced, my head spinning. She’d been really emotional the last couple days, about everything, big and small. She’d also been pretty tired, her body even more responsive than usual, and she’d mentioned feeling a little nauseated once or twice.
Her fists curled in my collar, her forehead pressed to mine, her breath shaky and warm when we finally broke apart, but she kept her eyes closed. “You’re okay with this?”
“Charlotte,” I murmured, brushing my thumb along her jaw like I could somehow steady both of us with that one touch. “Sweetheart. Look at me.”
Finally, she did, those big, hopeful blue eyes looking right into mine. “I don’t care how soon it is. I don’t even care if it’s real yet or not. All I care about is us. Do you want this?”
Her breath caught. “I really, really do.”
I kissed her again, completely reverent as her mouth moved against mine. My heart fluttered like there was a nervous butterfly stuck in my chest.
The sun was dipping low, turning the whole sky golden orange. As we pulled apart, it caught in her hair, lighting her up from the inside out. If I didn’t already love her enough to drown in it, this moment would’ve done me in completely.
“I love you,” I whispered against her mouth.
“Pregnant or not. Today and tomorrow. For the rest of my damn life, I am going to love you, Charlotte. Whatever our future looks like, swimming pools, bigger cars, babies, chaos, or sleepless nights, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s ours. Mine and yours.”
Her arms slid around my neck, her body curling into mine. Whatever waited for us tomorrow, I knew one thing for sure. She was mine, I was hers, and that was enough for us to build a whole damn future on—and no one and nothing was going to be able to stop us.