Epilogue
Three months later
Nervous didn’t even begin to cover what I was feeling right now.
Standing next to the luggage carousels, I scanned the crowd of arrivals exiting the airport terminal. It had been over sixty days since the last time I saw my mom. Through nothing short of a miracle, she had managed to complete the entire program in Florida.
She did it—detox, recovery, therapy, graduation—all of it. And now she was coming home.
Sure, I could worry that this time would be like the times before and she would relapse, but I was trying to stay positive and look at the glass half full. Plus, my mom had a whole family of support waiting for her back in Silver Creek this time, and she didn’t even know it yet.
Jace, knowing firsthand how hard coming home can be after finishing rehab, spent the last few months making sure everything would be ready for her when she got back.
Jace, Colt and Liam spent most of winter fixing the apartment above my bakery, so my mom would have somewhere permanent and safe to live when she got back. Molly was even nice enough to offer her a job at the bakery until she decided what she wanted to do with her new life.
In the last few months while my mom was away, I learned that you don’t have to have the same last name, or even blood, as someone to consider them family.
The McKinley’s considered me one of them and I honestly felt like they would go through hell for me, just as they would each other, who they had grown up with.
I had finally found my forever family, shared DNA or not.
I continued scanning the crowd, red curls catching my attention.
Mom.
I hustled towards her, making my way past people as they moved towards the baggage claim area.
We collided together, wrapping our arms tightly around one another, not letting go for a long time. When we finally did, both of us had tears in our eyes.
I could tell just by the hug my mom was a better version of herself than when she left Silver Creek. Brittle bones were replaced with healthy curves. Her face was no longer pale and bruised. And her eyes were filled with happiness, rather than pain and distress.
Even the way she was dressed was different than before. I could tell she had taken the time to do her hair and makeup, something she never worried about when she was using and the only thing on her mind was finding her next high.
Her nails were freshly painted and she seemed as though she had more pep in her step, too. Overall, she was a brand new person.
“I’m so glad to be back,” she said, taking me in for another embrace. “I missed you so much Cassie.”
“I missed you too, Mom,” I said, returning her embrace. “Everyone has been busy fixing the apartment above the coffee shop for you. Molly said you can work at the bakery, too, if you want. Part-time of full-time, whatever you’re ready for.”
“Oh Cassie, you guys didn’t have to do that for me,” she said as we made our way towards the carousel looping around with everyone’s bags.
“It was mostly Jace’s idea, honestly. He wanted you to get the best possible start when you got back, he said, so he spent all winter fixing the fire damage and gutting the apartment, replacing every last thing.
You’ll have everything you need. A new bedroom set, stocked kitchen, he even fixed up a space in the living room where you can do some painting if you want.
I told him how you liked to paint when I was little. Before everything, you know?”
“I don’t know much about this Jace, but he sounds like an amazing man, Cassie. I hope while I was gone you snatched him up,” she joked, nudging me playfully as she waggled her eyes.
“I may or may not have spent all winter shacked up with him in his cabin,” I said, laughing as I reminisced on the last few months with Jace.
When Jace wasn’t working on the ranch or fixing up my old apartment, him and I were together in the cabin, snuggled against one another on the couch, baking together in the kitchen or getting to know each other even better underneath the sheets. Jace was a giving man, in more ways than one.
“He wrote to me while I was away, you know?” my mom said, catching me off guard.
“He did? What did he write to you about?”
“You,” she said, a smile across her face.
Oh.
I was still confused. I had spent all winter with Jace and never once saw him writing a letter.
“He asked for my permission to marry you.”