24. Epilogue
Christmas at Wyatt’s ranch is a lot bigger than I remember it being when Mandy was small. Back then, it was a small but festive celebration with Wyatt and Sam and, later on, Hank. Now there’s Wyatt and Mark, Hank and Lee, Trey and Me, Sherri and Mitch, Sam and Paul, and Mandy and Holden. I hadn’t seen that coming, but around Thanksgiving, she had popped out to the house with a lanky young man in the passenger seat of her little car. Sam mentioned that his friend and co-worker Brett and his family might stop by later.
“This is Holden,” she told me while Trey and the newcomer shared a rough bro hug. “This is the guy Trey went to stay with when you two were being jackasses that one day. We kinda hit it off after that.”
“Wait, isn’t this the one that you scared so bad he offered to call the cops?” I teased her.
“Dude, you looked scared as hell,” Trey said, grinning at Holden as he took Mandy’s hand.
Holden huffed a laugh, scratching his forehead and resettling his beanie. “Yeah, well, I like a little danger,” he said as he cast Mandy an appreciative glance, and Trey laughed.
Holden arrives at Wyatt’s ranch in the passenger seat of her car, too, dressed in a buffalo check hoodie, black jeans, and a black beanie. It looks like he dressed up a bit, but we’re not formal, and he does match Mandy, who sports a buffalo check shirt and black mesh leggings. Her hair is freshly dyed a deep red as well.
Sherri kisses both of Holden’s cheeks, making him blush, and ushers him into the house with the rest of us.
Christmas dinner looks delicious. Most of us brought something, and we’re all pretty good cooks if I do say so myself. I did twice-baked potatoes in a portable roaster oven to save the main oven for Wyatt’s ham, and Sherri brought two desserts. The others brought sides, and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into Hank and Lee’s dinner rolls. They smell amazing.
Sam studies Trey and me, and Mandy and Holden. “I think we’ll be setting up that dance floor for Trey and Ben by August,” he says with a grin, and I gawp at him before looking at Trey, who clicks his tongue.
“You never know,” he allows and shoots me a grin that gives my stomach a little wiggle. Trey wants to marry me here at the ranch?
Hell yeah.
“It would be fitting,” I agree, “since this is where we first met.”
“Sam, honey, did I hear that you guys finally found the murderer that I read about in the paper last summer?” Sherri asks as she butters a dinner roll.
“Yes! Finally. God, that was the worst case I’ve been on, hands down. It was Big Frank Mitchell. That arrest wasn’t pretty,” Sam says with a grimace.
“I knew there was something strange happening out there,” Hank says quietly. He’s never talked much, but I noticed this year he’s contributing more. “His son always acted like a bully, but I’m pretty sure he was just terrified.”
“Is Frankie okay?” I don’t know Frankie, but if his dad's a murderer, what might he have done to his son over the course of his life?
Sam shrugs. “There’ve been some issues,” he says. “I try to check on him now and again.”
I nod. Sam is a good man and a good cop; he cares about the community he serves. Also, he’s not going to talk about his neighbor’s personal business.
On the way home, Trey takes my hand. “You wanna get married on the ranch? Where we met?”
I glance at him. “Do you?”
Trey shrugs. When we get home, he stops me once we get inside, pulling something out of his pocket and dropping himself down to one knee. “I want to,” Trey says. “Do you? Will you marry me, Ben?”
I look first into his gorgeous, deep eyes, then from his face to the simple but gleaming gold band in the box he is holding. “There’s nothing I want more,” I say, my voice all but abandoning me and making my reply a rasp. “From the day I met you, you have made my life better. You showed me things about myself that I didn’t know. You’ve made me feel cherished and important and loved, and I hope I’ve done the same for you. I will love you forever.”
Trey stands and pulls me into a kiss, the beginning of the rest of our lives together.
Coming Soon . . .