Epilogue
Daisy
I woke to the wind howling outside. The storm had started early last night and was severe enough that Alder had issued the emergency conditions order at the refinery. I got a storm day, and while he’d be working from home, he was still in bed next to me.
He rolled into me and buried his face into my neck. “Happy anniversary.”
I grinned. “Happy anniversary.”
His arm wound around me, holding me to him. Desire woke and heat spread under my skin. “I told Dad and Linda that it didn’t matter when they finished the paperwork for the house.”
“You’re really trying to sell that this marriage is real?” I couldn’t keep a straight face and started giggling.
“I’ve got to sell it for forty or fifty more years.”
I liked the sound of that. Counting by decades soothed my anxiety. There was no such thing as too long when we were talking about eternity.
“Mommy!” Our bedroom door burst open, and Laila ran in. She jumped up on the bed and wiggled between us.
Alder let out a playful groan. “Oh no, you’re late for school.”
“There’s no school today, silly,” Laila said. The schools and daycares had called out yesterday when the storm had moved in. “Can we make cookies?”
“My mom’s cookies from the caterpillar book?” Alder asked.
I’d made that recipe with Laila once, and she was hooked.
Laila’s hair bounced as she nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“Want hot chocolate with it?” he asked.
Laila bolted to her knees and bounced on the bed. “Can we?”
“It’s a storm day,” Alder said. “That’s what we have to do.”
Laila squealed. “I can’t wait to tell Hannah.” Laila was making friends at preschool and Hannah was one of them. Laila went still, a little frown on her face. “She might not be at school next time.”
“Why?” I asked. Had I missed preschool drama?
“Her mommy’s having a baby soon. Might be today.”
I grimaced. “I hope the baby waits until the streets get cleared.”
“Are you going to have a baby, Mommy?” Laila asked.
The muscles in Alder’s arm rippled over my abdomen.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. Alder and I hadn’t talked about it. We’d been happily drowning ourselves in wedded bliss for the last two and a half months. Sure, I’d thought about it, but I hadn’t asked.
When we were teens, I had assumed marriage and kids would be the natural progression. Then my plans had derailed. Now, I didn’t want to assume anything, nor did I want to rush it. Yet I couldn’t deny that I was aging, and if we wanted more kids, then we should get started.
Alder rolled to his back and propped his arm behind his head. “I’ll have as many babies as your mom wants.”
Flutters erupted in my belly. I loved Laila, and I didn’t regret her, but I had missed the happy pregnancy experience I had envisioned as a young wife. I’d known I wasn’t happy with Jason, and I’d been preparing myself to force it. I had written off having more kids because the dad wouldn’t have been Alder.
“I do want more kids,” I said softly.
Laila bounced again. “Yay!”
“Settle down,” I said, laughing. “There are a lot of things that go into having a baby.” The first step would be stopping birth control.
Alder’s hot gaze burned into me and a flush spread through my body. Yeah, there were some pleasurable activities that went into trying to have a kid.
“Can we make the cookies now?” she asked.
“Give us a few minutes.” I laughed. “Go get dressed, and we’ll have a decent breakfast before eating cookie dough while baking.”
She scrambled off the bed. Before she ran out of the bedroom, she stopped to pick up the carving of Trixie. She did that a lot. Jasper was working on a carving for her for Christmas.
“What would you think of starting to learn to ride next summer?” I asked.
Delight streamed across her face. “A horse?” She jumped up and down. “ Really ?”
“You’ll meet Uncle Jasper at Christmas, and he’ll show you his horses.”
“Eliot raises some too,” Alder added.
“Could I get my own?”
Babies and horses. I was back on track with the life I had dreamed of. “We’ll have to see how it all goes.”
“Yes!” Laila darted out of the room.
Alder rolled to face me. “A baby?”
“We can try.” I wrinkled my nose. “I am thirty-seven.”
“That means we’ll have to try a lot. In all different positions.”
A grin spread across my face. “So, say I forget my pill starting today…what sort of positions?”
“Hmm.” He pretended to think. Meanwhile, I had to throw the covers off because he was an oven and a fire was sweeping through my blood. “Most definitely a quickie with you bent over the bed.” He rolled up. “I’ll lock the door.”
“Alder?” Laila called. “Can we make pancakes?”
I exchanged a wry grin with Alder.
“Another position is a quickie when the first batch of cookies is in the oven,” I whispered.
“Whenever you want me, you’ve got me, wife. I’m yours.”
I held up my hand, the diamonds of my wedding ring glinting in the light. “And I’m yours, Duke.”
________
When Poppy Duke makes a big move to Coal Haven and then doesn’t know what to do, she meets an old classmate, and he has ideas. Jensen Hollis needs help with his business and Poppy needs to be married to get a house that would solve a few of her problems. But it’s only a deal between friends. Unless those friends keep growing closer in Poppy Kisses .
Enjoy a special Christmas with Alder and Daisy in a special bonus epilogue.