Epilogue
Have a Snack
Ivy
A year later…
“I’ve got a surprise for you,” Ryan said, coming into the kitchen where I was chopping an onion.
I put the knife down and faced him. “I love surprises.”
He tipped his head to the cutting board. “Can you put that in a container? The surprise isn’t here.”
“Aren’t we having dinner in tonight?” I asked.
He grinned. “I changed my mind.”
I twisted my lips to the side and shrugged. “All right, but just to let you know, I’m starving.”
“Then have a snack, Trouble.”
I almost rolled my eyes at the nickname.
In the past year, we hadn’t had one bit of trouble, and I liked it like that.
Killian had been released from the hospital after five days in ICU, and another day in a regular room.
Like Ryan had predicted, his triplet refused my offer to stay in my townhouse.
When Chad shared his offer to use his condo for a convalescing stay, Killian had looked flabbergasted before he chuckled.
“Man, I would cramp your style. I’m not gay, but I’m a man, and men get jealous. You bring someone home with you, they are not gonna believe that I’m just ‘convalescing’ as you put it. Besides, Colton has a walk-in shower at his place and a seventy-inch flat screen.”
Ryan handed me a granola bar and pulled me out of my memories. “When you’re finished with that, put your hair up. We’re riding somewhere.”
“Do I need to wear my cut?” I asked. Ryan had given me a leather cut that had a patch on the back that declared me to be ‘Property of Nickel.’ The feminist in me didn’t care for it, but after spending time in the biker world, I loved that everyone knew I was his.
His head wobbled as he considered it. “We’re hitting the Interstate, but you don’t need your cut tonight.”
Forty-five minutes later, we rode along an exit ramp off I-10 in Sanderson.
“What are we doing?” I called over Ryan’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it,” he yelled back.
I turned my head to hide my irritation.
“Don’t be cute, Trouble,” he said, and I noticed him watching me in the mirror.
When the light changed at the off-ramp, we rode north, and then Ryan turned left onto US 90. Five minutes later, he slowed and hung a right onto a dirt lane I hadn’t thought I’d see again for the rest of my life.
If it hadn’t been for a conversation we’d had a few months ago, I’d think this was outlandish.
But, I’d seen a listing come across the database that stood out not just because it looked familiar, but also because of the dilapidated nature of the house.
Someone had listed the run-down home Ryan and I had been taken to, and when he got home from the bar that night, I’d said I wished I could buy it.
It was crazy for so many reasons. The house was forty-five minutes away from my office, and that assumed no traffic.
Every morning there was traffic headed into town on I-10, so the idea of living out here meant I’d be committing to sitting in my car a lot more than I did already.
A year ago, we’d only been in part of the house.
The pictures on the listing showed every room needed major repairs.
Some of them massive. It would be a money pit…
and we weren’t likely to recoup that money because of the location being so remote.
Ryan brought his bike to a stop, put down the kickstand, and powered off the engine.
I scrambled off the motorcycle and crossed my arms as I stared at the house.
It wasn’t quite so run-down any more. At least, not from what I saw on the outside. A new roof had been installed and the siding had been replaced. The house had been painted a crisp yellow, like a sunflower.
I glanced up at Ryan. “Somebody bought it.”
He sidled up beside me. “Yeah. Me.”
My head turned with my sidelong glare. “Are you crazy?”
He grinned. “I’m crazy about you. My goal is to give you anything you want, Trouble. You mentioned it—”
I dropped my arms and turned to him. “Yes, and you told me I was nuts.”
His hands came up and cupped my cheeks. “Then I thought about it, looked into the listing, it was priced way too high.”
My eyes closed. He was right. It was the thing that caused us both to dismiss it – or so I thought.
I opened my eyes. “But you bought it, and you didn’t hire me as your realtor!”
He chuckled.
“This is not funny, big guy.”
He wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “I wasn’t sure I’d qualify for financing.”
I shook my head and tried to wave an arm at the house. “Half the reason I wanted it was to be the one who remodeled it.”
He nodded. “I know, and you still can. The only things I had done are the things you weren’t going to do yourself anyway – insulation, new roof, and the siding.”
I stepped out of his hold. “But that had to set you back even more.”
He shook his head. “Not really. Bluff did the insulation and siding for the cost of supplies. The roof was done by the sellers because the bank wouldn’t finance otherwise.”
My eyes darted to the house. “Do you like that shade of yellow?”
“Your eyes light up at every yellow house you see. And as Bluff pointed out, there aren’t any trees close to the house so the sun’s gonna beat on this place all year. That means it’ll fade faster than you’d probably like.”
I put my hands on top of my head as everything sunk in, then I bit my lip. “This is a long way from On a Lark.”
He shook his head. “It’s twenty-five minutes on US 90. Your place or the clubhouse is twenty minutes most days even if it isn’t the same mileage.”
“Wow,” I murmured.
“On the one hand, it’s a trek to your mom’s, but on the other hand Lark’s place is fifteen minutes away. You two aren’t that close, but I’ve noticed he’s reaching out to you more and more.”
“Yeah,” I said while nodding slowly. After the shooting, Lark and I had carved out some time every other week to get to know each other. It was slow going, but I was hopeful we would at least be friends, even if he’d never be a father-figure to me.
“Baby, do you still want it? It’s okay if you don’t. I’m gonna fix it up with Bluff’s help regardless. You’re gonna be in on that, and if you don’t want to live in it, then I’ll sell it. We can use that money for a down payment on a different place.”
“How long does Bluff think this will take?” I asked, turning to face the house.
“Depends. There’s a lot of square footage here, so probably a year if everything goes well. Most likely eighteen months.”
I leaned toward him. “Do you really want to live in the house where we ki—”
He put his finger to my lips. “I’m going to live wherever you are, Ivy. What happened is over, and I don’t believe in ghosts. When this place is finished, it’s gonna be fuckin’ gorgeous –almost as gorgeous as you. And when we’re ready to have kids, there’s plenty of fuckin’ room for them.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m gonna need a new car.”
He grabbed my hands and turned me toward him. “That’s another thing. You aren’t happy with your firm. Haven’t been for a while now.”
“Yeah, but—”
He leaned toward me. “There are no ‘buts’ when it comes to your happiness, Ivy. You could get hired by a different realty firm, one that’s closer.
I know that’s easy for me to say, but I’ve been biting my tongue for a while.
I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you’re happy. So, keep that in mind.”
I wandered closer to the house and in the direction of where we’d taken Campbell’s body.
Ryan chuckled as he followed me. “We dug out those palmetto bushes, and cut down one of the trees. That area doesn’t look the same any more because I knew you’d be superstitious.”
I turned around. “I’m not superstitious.”
He jerked his head toward the house. “Let’s take a look.”
We wandered up the steps to the wrap-around porch. I noticed that down the far side, a porch swing had been hung with two wicker chairs sitting beside it. A small table sat between the chairs with a tall vase of sunflowers on top.
“What on earth?” I asked in a low voice.
“Go take a look at that,” Ryan encouraged.
I crept down the porch and heard Ryan’s footsteps behind me, until I didn’t. When I turned around, I saw he was crouched on one knee.
My eyes widened. “You cannot be—”
He held out a hand with a small velvet box sitting in his palm. My hands went to my mouth as I gasped. His other hand shook while he opened the box. “Ivy, my troublesome woman, I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
I put my left hand out. “Like you even have to ask! Of course!”
He slid the ring with a huge square-cut diamond onto my finger and stood. I wrapped my arms around his neck, went up on my toes, and kissed him as hard as I could.
Ryan
“She said yes,” I murmured into my cell phone while I sat on my bed.
“Of course she did,” Mom said. “Congratulations, honey. I can’t wait to see you get married.”
“I was wrong,” I blurted.
Shit. I hadn’t meant to say that and I couldn’t think of a decent fib to lie my way out of it.
“Wrong about what?” Mom asked.
I sighed. “I told myself I’d never find what you and Dad have.”
“Sweetheart,” she started.
“No, it was more than that, Mom. I figured it wasn’t worth the trouble either. Hearing from the other brothers what you and Dad went through. I never wanted that.”
“I see,” she murmured.
I took a deep breath. “But I was wrong because it wasn’t up to me.”
“This is true, but there’s a reason I love the nickname you gave her. You said ‘it wasn’t worth the trouble,’ but you were wrong about that.”
I huffed out a quiet chuckle. “Yeah. She’s trouble and she’s completely worth it.”
Movement in the dresser mirror caught my eye and I looked over my shoulder. Ivy stood there, eavesdropping shamelessly with glossy eyes.
“I gotta go, Mom, but I wanted to pass on the great news.”
“I love you, sweetie. We’ll talk soon,” Mom said.
“Love you, too, Ma,” I said and ended the call.
“How much of that did you hear,” I asked while I leaned over to put my cell on the nightstand.
“Most of it,” she said, coming to the bed and climbing on my lap.
I put my arms around her. “I love you, Ivy.”
“I love you, too, but you should understand something,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“You’re the one who’s trouble around here, but I’m crazy in love with your brand of trouble. When we start a family…in a couple years or so, our kiddos are gonna be full of trouble.”
I laughed and leaned back on the bed. “And I can’t fuckin’ wait.”
Thank you for reading.