Epilogue Three
DANIEL
* Seven Years Later *
“ W e’re almost there!” I called out to the back seat of our new SUV.
All I heard in return were tiny munching sounds. We had gone to the Happy Home Bakery, and five-year-old Parker and two-year-old Megan were clearly enjoying their sugar cookies.
Prairie turned to smile at me, a large red box of mini cupcakes on her lap. “Are you sure your mom won’t mind that I didn’t have time to bake?”
I chuckled, turning onto the side road of my parents’ property. “Considering you’ve been working like crazy all week in the toy factory, I’m pretty sure she’ll understand.”
Prairie and Mom had been designing all sorts of new toys, and the winter line had expanded over the years to include many different holidays. Several of them required delicate hand painting, especially the solstice ornaments.
“How is your wrist?” I asked.
“Fine,” she said in that flat voice that told me I was worrying too much. “But I promise I’ll rest this afternoon, okay?”
“Deal.”
We passed the side house, and I slowed as I passed several cars and trucks in the driveway. Dad had been training furniture and toy making apprentices, and now that my brothers and I each had our own homes, he put them up in the extra house for a few months at a time.
Jacob, Andrew and I all bounced back and forth between the toy factory and the furniture factory to train people as needed.
Everyone was excited that King’s Fine Handmade Toys was still a huge hit. Thanks to Uncle Ricky’s investment, the old warehouse had been purchased, fixed up, and there were now proper workstations for every section.
Jacob had worked closely with Sierra and Lucy at Williams Hardware to choose materials and tools that were easiest for new workers to use when sanding, painting, and varnishing the toys.
Some of the paint companies had even started using our toys as sample swatches to show off their shades, which was yet another strange but welcome direction that we had stumbled in.
I was the most excited about the expansion of the King’s Fine Furniture line. I’d done a few pieces and capsule collections, but I was waiting to hear how my first complete line of minimalist farm-inspired furniture had done this year.
I was also beyond curious to know how Andrew’s line of coffee accessories was doing. He had been designing trays, mug holders, and gift boxes for what he continually referred to as “true coffee aficionados”.
“Are we ready to use our best manners?” Prairie asked our kids.
She was an incredible mother, which is why Parker and Megan had turned out to be such mellow children, thank goodness.
“Is there a turkey?” Parker asked.
“No, honey. This isn’t Christmas dinner.” She looked over at me. “What are we calling this, exactly?”
Chuckling as I parked behind Andrew’s SUV, I said, “The week-before-Christmas King family casual lunch?”
“Lunch could have turkey,” Parker insisted.
“It will probably be a buffet,” Prairie countered.
“What’s a buff fay?” Megan asked. I looked in the rearview mirror to see strawberry blonde pigtails waving back and forth.
“That’s when there is a whole bunch of food, and you can have whatever you like best. Don’t worry, we’ll help you pick.”
We wrangled the kids out of their car seats, and as soon as we got inside, they ran down to the basement to join their cousins.
Aria had just turned four, and I could hear her voice all the way from downstairs. Her one-year-old brother Mack was on the couch, asleep in Sierra’s arms.
Robin trudged up the stairs, then gave us each a warm hug. “I should apologize in advance. My kids already had some cookies and are getting a little rambunctious.” Isabell was three now, and Crockett just turned two, so Robin had been rivalling Andrew for coffee dependence.
We greeted everyone with a round of hugs, then Prairie sat beside Sierra. “I haven’t seen him in two weeks. He’s grown again!”
Sierra laughed quietly, but Mack didn’t wake up, just shifting in her arms. “This one could sleep through anything, I swear.”
Andrew and Jacob served everyone coffee or wine as they preferred, as the conversation turned to the factories.
“I have to say, Jacob,” Dad said, “your paint swatch toys are a hit with every hardware store we’ve spoken to. Rachel says we’re getting random orders from all over the country simply from people seeing the website address printed on the bottom of them.”
Jacob reached over to squeeze Sierra’s knee, as Prairie leaned back into me, cuddling under my arm. Mom smiled every single time any of us showed affection, which meant she was basically grinning the entire time the bunch of us visited.
“I’ve never understood your coffee addiction,” Dad said to Andrew, “But your accessories line has done really well. Double what we had anticipated.”
“See?” Robin said, tickling Andrew’s ribs. “I knew it.”
“It didn’t hurt that a certain writer did an article about it,” Mom said with a laugh. Robin stared innocently around the room, then over to the Christmas tree, pretending she hadn’t heard the comment.
We all chuckled, then Dad cleared his throat. “So I know you’re all waiting to hear about the Prairie Line.”
My gorgeous wife rolled her eyes at me, as she did quite often when people mentioned that name.
“Stop it,” I whispered loudly. “How could I have called it anything else?”
Everyone agreed that the streamlined look and natural textures went perfectly with the concept of prairie and farm life. It just so happened that the look became incredibly trendy with influencers this year. Because the pieces had a smaller footprint, they were perfect for city condos.
“So?” Mom asked, waving her hand for Dad to hurry up. “How did we do?”
Dad looked at me with an odd twinkle in his eyes. “Remember how we had a reasonable sales goal, and a great sales goal?”
“Yeah,” I muttered anxiously. “Which one did we hit?”
Dad smiled widely. “Four times the great sales goal. Sorry, son. You’re going to be chained to that factory for the next two months.”
“Wow,” Prairie exclaimed, throwing her arms around my neck. “I’m so proud of you!”
“We all are,” Mom said. “But don’t worry, you’ll still be able to take a break for Prairie’s birthday in April.”
She turned and looked at me expectantly. “What’s happening in April?”
I gave my mother a look and released a dramatic sigh, wrapping my arm tightly around Prairie to give her a squeeze. “What’s happening right now is that Mom wants me to give you the big news so that she has an excuse to open a bottle of champagne.”
“Busted,” Mom said with a shrug.
We all laughed, and since everyone in the room knew except for my sweet wife, I finally had to let her in on the secret. “In April, you and I are taking a three-week vacation to Europe so that you can see all of the great art museums you’ve mentioned over the years.”
Her beautiful lips fell open, but no sound came out. I gave her a tiny shake. “Breathe, baby.”
“But…what about the kids?” she sputtered. “Aren’t they a bit young for a trip like that?”
“We’re taking them,” Mom announced.
“We’re all going to pitch in,” Robin added. “Two extra kids among six adults is no big deal. That works out to, like, a third of a kid each.”
“Speaking of which, I’ll be right back,” Jacob said as he went downstairs. With six children to wrangle, we’d all developed a habit of checking on the gang every few minutes so that nothing got out of control.
“Three weeks,” Prairie said. “That’s amazing. Thank you so much.”
I kissed her lightly. “Anything to make you smile like that, gorgeous.”
She actually looked slightly dazed. “And not just the museums. The scenery. The restaurants. It’s going to be incredible.”
“Speaking of incredible food,” Dad said, “your mother has been cooking all day, so why don’t we take a stab at this buffet before the hot food gets cold and the cold food gets warm.”
“Yes, why don’t we sneak in a round before the kids come upstairs,” Robin laughed.
Mom hung back, smiling, letting us serve ourselves first.
“Wow,” Andrew laughed. “Did Mrs. McKenzie come by? That’s the biggest bowl of her potato salad I’ve ever seen.”
“No,” Mom said with a sly smile. “She didn’t. Everything was made by me.”
Jacob came back upstairs just in time to lock eyes with Andrew and I. The three of us dug in to taste a mouthful.
“It’s exactly the same,” I gasped.
“Mrs. McKenzie didn’t make this?” Andrew asked.
We all turned to Mom in shock.
“Maybe that replacement knee really is bewitched,” Jacob laughed.
“Boys, don’t pester your mother. She worked some of her Christmas magic again. Let’s just leave it at that,” Dad said, before helping himself to a huge scoop of potato heaven.
Prairie took a bite, her eyes opening wide. “Wow.” Then her gaze locked on the window.
While everyone else loaded up their plates, Prairie took my hand and led me to the living room window where we were half hidden by the Christmas tree. The snowflakes had just started to fall, swirling and dancing, melting as soon as they hit the ground.
“It’ll start sticking by tomorrow,” I said softly, cuddling her sexy, curvy body against me. She belonged in my arms, and it was still hard to be appropriate when we were in public.
Prairie had been so shy when we first began to date, but now she wrapped her hands around the back of my neck, pressing her luscious figure against me. “Thank you for the most incredible gift.”
“You are very welcome. We can go over all of the details later tonight.”
She shook her head, her strawberry hair swishing around her shoulders. “No, we can’t.”
“Why not?”
She raised a perfectly arched brow, then brought her lips to my ear. “Because gorgeous husbands who break sales records with their new furniture line and then give their wives a trip to Europe get their cocks sucked as much as they want over the Christmas season.”
Instantly my shaft turned hard as rock, as I ground against her. “You are being terribly inappropriate right now,” I growled, grabbing her ass hard.
“Yes, but you love it.”
“I do. And I love you, my gorgeous sweet wife.”
“I love you, my wonderful handsome husband.”
In a few minutes, we would be pulled into the chaos of food and bright conversation, and feeding the kids. But for one more minute, we were simply two people completely and utterly in love, staring out at the falling snow.
No matter how many times it snowed in Holly Valley over the holidays, it always felt like there was a tiny bit of magic holding us all together.
For an extra holiday romance, please check out Trifling with Tristan , part of the Home Cooked Holidays series, and Fake Christmas Girlfriend which is also set in Holly Valley.