Epilogue
Seven months later
Lettie sure could put on one hell of a spread. It was a wonder that the picnic tables didn’t come crashing down. And how many Magills were there, anyway?
I looked over at Marlowe, and this time she was holding a newborn. Simon and Trenda’s little boy, Drake. She looked good holding a baby. She’d been holding kids every time I turned around. It was about time I did something about that.
“Hey, are you going to join the conversation, or just make cow eyes at your woman all afternoon?”
I glanced down at Sue Rankin. How great was it that I liked Marlowe’s best friend?
“She’s a pleasure to watch.”
“You know I’m mad at you, don’t you?” Sue asked for the umpteenth time.
“You might have mentioned it.” I smiled.
Her husband put his arm around his petite wife’s shoulders. “Quit busting the man’s balls. Your friend can’t help who she falls in love with. Anyway, they’re buying a big enough house so that we can come and visit.”
“Like those bedrooms are going to be empty for long,” Sue groused.
I laughed. Sue had our number.
“The Whispering Pines is nice. And it has a room with a hot tub on the deck,” Steve reminded her.
She relaxed against her husband. “There is that.”
“Kai, get over here. Little Grandma wants to talk to you.”
“Gotta go. When the queen asks for an audience, one must listen.”
Sue giggled.
I sauntered over to the covered patio where Little Grandma was sitting with her two sisters and three of her daughters. I sat down at the table. “Hello ladies.”
“Tell me, dear, do you think there is a chance that Beau will be here to stay?” Little Grandma asked.
I frowned. “There’s no telling. It says something that for the last five weeks he hasn’t let Bernie rent out his house.”
Patti nodded. “That is a good sign. Why did you move out?”
“We wanted to give Chaos a bigger place to run around in and be closer to the forest.”
Little Grandma reached over and put her hand on top of mine. “And you wanted the house to be free for your brother to come home to,” she said gently. “Now I want to know what happened to your daddy.”
“You had to testify, didn’t you?”
I looked at the woman who asked the question, and my mind went blank. Was this Pearl or Ronnie?
“I’m Pearl, honey. Pearl Garner. I’m the second oldest. You’ll see my kin all around town.”
“Java Jolt. Ruby. Now I remember.”
“Yep, she’s my great-great-granddaughter. Now tell me about your daddy.”
“He got put away for seven years for aggravated assault. Willie’s trial is coming up.”
“Didn’t your daddy try to say that Beau hurt him?” Little Grandma asked.
“Yeah. He did. There wasn’t any witness to testify to that, and I actually saw him fall down the three stairs from the front of the trailer. Doc Evans testified that all of his injuries could definitely be attributed to a fall, so they didn’t believe Dad.”
“Well, isn’t that nice,” Little Grandma beamed.
“Hey, Honey, can I get you a plate of food?” Marlowe asked me as she put her hand on my shoulder.
“I’ve already had one plate… But yeah, I could go through the tables again. Let’s go together, shall we?”
Marlowe smiled down at me, and once again, I thought how lucky I was.
I couldn’t wait until Beau showed up. Everybody was waiting for him. I wasn’t sure how he was going to take to having the whole town officially welcoming him home, but he was just going to have to deal.
“Stuffed jalape?o poppers.” Kai smiled as he put two on my plate.
I waved to Sam who was over at a table with Pearl and some of the other people who worked at her restaurant. She’d closed down for a couple of hours to come to the potluck. Now that I’d been here for almost a year, I was in the know about things. Like everybody else, I wondered when Sam was going to ask Pearl out on a date. The consensus was that after Sam’s stroke, he should have had a little bit of sense knocked into him and would now pull his thumb out.
I waved to the Avery contingent. There was Trenda and Simon, with her sisters Evie, Zoe, Maddie and even Piper was here from San Diego. I needed to get over there before the evening was over and visit.
Kai moved us over to a table where Roberta was sitting with her husband and four boys. Forrest was the top student in my math class. He had shocked himself and his parents. When I had looked at his record in math it had been all D’s and C’s. My guess was nobody had ever challenged him in the past. The kid was a whiz.
“Hi, Ms. Jones. Do you want my seat?” Forrest asked as he stood up.
Kai gave me a hidden wink and I stifled a giggle.
“That’s okay, Forrest, there’s plenty of room,” Roberta said. I noticed that Kai sat between me and Forrest, which made me want to giggle even more.
“Any word on how the lawsuit is going?” Roberta asked.
I shook my head. That was Jasper Creek. Everybody knew everything, and nobody was afraid to ask.
“I won,” I smiled. “Principal Sykes was forced to offer me back my job.”
Roberta looked stunned.
“It’s okay, Ro. She’s not taking it. She’s taking a payout for wrongful termination instead. Ms. Jones is staying right here and continuing to teach at Jasper Creek High.”
Roberta started to breathe again.
“Okay, now that I’m not going to have a heart attack, when are the two of you going to get married?”
“All in good time,” Kai said. “All in good time.”
“We found a house that we’re going to buy, so no more renting. Score one for team Jones and Davies.” I did a fist-pump.
“Where are you buying?”
“Out near Millie and Renzo’s place. I’m going to get goats,” I answered.
“Goats?” Forrest said.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “I just always wanted goats. They’re so cute when they’re little.”
“And so ornery when they’re big,” Roberta’s husband Tom put in.
I scrunched my nose. I looked down and saw I’d finished my plate. I turned to Kai. “Honey, I need to go let Chaos out.” Unfortunately, our new landlord didn’t let us set up a doggie door. But there was a huge space for Chaos to run around in.
“Okay. I’ll go with you.”
“We’ll be back in an hour.”
“Sure, they’re going to go feed the dog,” Roberta whispered to her husband.
I chose to ignore her.
Kai and I walked hand in hand through Lettie’s back gate, promising everybody we’d be back. We also promised to let everybody know when we got word that Beau would be showing up.
Kai and I drove to our rental, which wasn’t that far from the Whispering Pines. Roberta had been right, we were going back to the house for more than just a visit with Chaos. Kai had been on an out-of-town job for Onyx for a week, and had just gotten home last night. He’d been tired, but he’d put in a good effort, but we were both anxious for a little bit more alone time.
We hit the door, and if Chaos hadn’t been right there to greet us, we would have been ripping one another’s clothes off.
“Hi, baby.” I crouched down. “Who’s a good girl?”
Kai got down and gave Chaos a good rub too. Then he whistled, and Chaos followed him to the back sliding glass door. Kai threw out the chew toy and Chaos flew out the door. Nobody could ever know how relieved I was to see my dog healthy and happy.
“You good?” Kai turned around to look at me.
Okay, maybe Kai could. The man seemed to live in my head sometimes.
“I’ll be better when I get you naked in the bedroom.”
“I want to get you naked,” he countered.
He held out his arms and I floated into them. Then we kissed. Kai’s kisses were magical. Every single one of them was better than the one before. When I felt his fingers in my hair, massaging my scalp, another layer of pleasure engulfed me. Layer upon layer of mystical bliss.
He pulled me down until we were both kneeling on the floor, wrapped around one another. I was lost. This man was mine. My soulmate, who had somehow found me, cared for me, protected me, and loved me. As his lips tenderly played with mine I fought tears as I realized the bounty I had found.
He moved our arms until his hands held my hand.
“Look, Baby.”
I looked into blue eyes that were hot like the center of the flame.
“Look down, Baby.” He pulled at my hand.
I looked down and saw an ice-blue diamond on my finger.
“Marry me.”
“God, yes. Forever yes.”
Beau Beaumont
I pulled into the driveway of my house. There were a bazillion cars littering the streets. When I got out of my truck, I could hear the laughter coming from the house on the corner.
“Fuck.”
I knew it was for me.
Why hadn’t Kai warned me?
I watched the house in the twilight and saw the side gate open. Somebody was laughing as they took out a big plastic bag of trash.
“It’s no problem, I’ve got it,” she said.
“Thank you, Maddie.”
I watched as Maddie Avery put the trash into the trash can. She’d grown up. She was my every dream come true.
I was fucked.
If you liked Dreaming of Home, don’t forget to start at the beginning!