Epilogue
Robin
Two and a half years later.
Today was perfect. It was one of those summer days with the sun shining down on us as lazy clouds floated in the sky.
A cotton tablecloth shifted in the breeze while trays of half-nibbled potluck food sat on top of the table.
Cocoa went running by with Comet chasing after her. Those two had become inseparable. I’d never seen two dogs love each other so much.
All of our friends were here today for Annie’s birthday party. Even Jan and her husband. They were visiting Arkansas for a few days because they’d delivered a reindeer to our sanctuary.
Their trip ended up being good timing for the party.
Right now, Jan was learning how to line dance. My dear friend Violet was showing her the steps while Chloe, Charlotte, and Poppy shouted instructions.
“Come dance with us!” Jan hollered.
But that was one adventure I didn’t want to take. I was deeply, deeply pregnant right now, and I just wanted to sit here while the party went along around me.
“No, I just want to watch. You’re doing great! We’ll go to the Bear Den later tonight, and you can show off your steps.” I hadn’t taken her there yet, and I knew she’d love it.
It was a unique spot in the Ozarks for the locals.
I knew by the end of the night Jan would end up riding the mechanical bull there. I planned on having my phone out, recording the whole thing.
Violet ran over and sat down next to me, slipping a hand to my pregnant belly.
“How’s the little one today?” she asked.
“Restless and a little ornery.” There’d been a series of belly kicks happening. Someone was ready to come out and join the world soon.
“I can’t wait for them to meet Gavin.”
Violet had met her husband around the same time we had. They’d managed to get a year ahead of us in the baby-making business.
The two of us had already made big plans.
Her little boy Gavin and our soon-to-be bundle of joy were going to be best friends. We had playdates planned for ten years out.
Just then, her husband Easton came back from the river where he and Corbin had been fishing. Violet sprang up to meet them.
I heard Levi’s voice boom out, and the men nearby erupted in laughter. Whatever he’d said had cracked them up.
He was currently manning the barbecue grill and playing host to our guests. I couldn’t get over how cute he looked.
He was wearing a baseball cap that said ‘Reindeer Creek Sanctuary’, a chef’s apron that said, ‘Hot Sexy Daddy’, and a pin that said ‘Librarians Do It Better’. My man was a walking billboard of his personal interests.
We’d joked about our age difference after we got together. It turned out I liked calling him Daddy. And I was the one who’d bought the apron. But I hadn’t expected that he’d wear it when we had company!
What warmed my heart was what else he was wearing.
It had taken a long time, but slowly Levi had gotten comfortable wearing shorts around me. And then being naked in front of me with the lights on.
He was a handsome man. And the damage to his legs, despite being noticeable, didn’t make him any less attractive. It just meant he’d gone through a few of life’s rough patches. Those were the battle scars of a survivor, and he’d learned to be proud of them.
It was only recently that he’d gotten comfortable enough to wear shorts in front of other people.
He still wasn’t going to the supermarket in them, even in the heat of summer when it could hit over a hundred and ten degrees.
But he was wearing them around his friends and family.
And it made me happy because it meant he was no longer defining himself by what had happened to him. Or at least not as much.
He’d told me the story of what had happened once, and it was so horrific we’d never talked about it again. Some things are better left in the past.
No matter what pain people have felt in the past, it doesn’t mean they don’t deserve happiness in their future.
Levi was living in the present now. With me. We’d left that past behind.
And our life was perfect. I worked at the Red Oak Mountain Library with Grace. It was a tiny place, but I loved it.
And Levi had stopped punishing his body with the wood splitting. I’d talked him into buying a mechanical splitter. Now he just had to feed the machine and let it do the work.
He was making more money selling firewood than he would have at a corporate job at this point.
But we weren’t spendy people. So other than a few upgrades around the cabin, we were saving for retirement, and helping out some of the folks here on the mountain who needed a couple extra dollars.
With some of the extra cash, we’d opened a reindeer refuge. And now everything about Red Oak Mountain felt like home.
I watched as Levi flipped the steaks. He was showing Annie’s boyfriend Jacob how to cook on the barbecue grill today.
It felt like time was flying by, because it was only yesterday that Annie was in middle school. Now, she was proudly proclaiming her status as a very grown-up fifteen-year-old.
And it was the cutest thing ever that she was dating her first crush.
Even though her dates were heavily supervised by both her dad and Levi.
I don’t think they’d been left alone in a room for more than two minutes since they’d announced that Jacob wanted to take her to the Harvest Festival Dance at school.
But I was getting lost in my thoughts.
Levi clapped Jacob on the back and handed him the spatula. “You’re ready to take over. Do us proud, kid.”
Then he wove through the gathering until he made it to my chair.
“Hey, baby girl,” he rumbled as he leaned down to kiss me.
When he pulled back, he rubbed his hand through my hair. “How’s the most beautiful woman in the world doing?”
“I’m good. Just watching you work, Daddy.”
He chuckled at that and leaned in close, planting another kiss on me. “You better watch yourself, talking like that, or you’re going to find yourself riding a mountain cock.”
I grinned. “Not in front of company, I won’t.”
Some things were private.
Levi stood me up, then sat down in my chair and tugged me onto his lap. His hands went straight to my belly, stroking it gently as I settled into his embrace.
We’d both changed since we’d gotten together.
He was more outgoing now because of me. And I was more content and settled to be at home because of him.
“You throw a good party, Levi,” I told him as I nestled against his chest.
He kissed my forehead. “It’s all because of you, my love. This whole life is because of you.”
I snuggled in closer and hugged him, my heart bursting with contentment. I’d found everything I’d been looking for.
And now, Levi and I were living the biggest adventure of all.
The adventure of love.
Will Violet find out Easton's behind the over the top Secret Santa gift that landed on her desk at work? Find out in the next book in the Sexy Santa Christmas series, Secret Santa Mountain Man.