Epilogue
TWO YEARS LATER
Jamie
“You know, if you stop getting under my feet, I’d actually be able to make you some breakfast without nearly breaking my ankle.
Or is that too much to ask?” I glanced down at the two tiny lambs tottering around my legs.
They’d been born yesterday evening, but despite the fact it was a healthy birth, the ewe had rejected both of them immediately, so Will and I had needed to step in.
The pair of them had already realised I was the one with the food, but that was probably because I’d stayed up all night with them.
I’d been up every four hours to sleepily make bottles and try not to fall asleep while sitting on the kitchen floor, feeding them.
I was sure one of them had peed on my jeans at some point, but luckily, they were an old pair of Will’s that I’d borrowed during my first lambing season and had never given back.
One of the lambs bleated plaintively and looked up at me with large eyes that melted my heart.
From her place by the back door, Bonnie, my sixteen-month-old sheepdog in training looked up and tilted her head, clearly wondering if she needed to be doing something about the lambs standing in the middle of the kitchen.
“It’s okay, Bon,” I said. “They’ll be fine.”
Bonnie huffed and raised her eyebrow, giving a perfect imitation of the disapproving expression her mother, Moss, often gave me. I chuckled.
A couple of months after I’d permanently moved to Heather Bay, Will had floated the idea of breeding Moss past me, not just so we’d have very well-bred puppies to sell but so I could have a dog of my own. Moss had a good reputation, and she’d had a litter in the past, so she was the ideal mother.
I’d been totally on board with the plan. I just hadn’t realised how nervous Will would be.
If I thought he’d been anxious during lambing season, his worrying during Moss’s pregnancy had reached new levels, and when she’d finally gone into labour, I’d been convinced he was going to pass out. Everything had gone smoothly, though, and she’d had six beautiful puppies.
Will had let me choose one to keep, and Bonnie had been the obvious choice. I’d fallen in love with her as soon as she was born, and then she’d pooped on my hand when she was six hours old, so that was it.
She was the best dog I could ever have hoped for, even if she did have an uncanny knack for giving me the most critical looks ever known to man.
The lambs bleated again, louder this time. I shook my head and smiled. “I’m going. I’m going.”
I finished making the bottles and lowered myself down to start feeding the pair of them, who hungrily latched onto the bottle teats and began sucking loudly.
“Honestly, you’d think they’d get better staff in this hotel,” Will said, leaning over the counter and grinning tiredly at me. “The service is terrible.”
“I know. They need to fire the chef,” I said. “And the beds are definitely not up to par. Two stars.”
“Worst review we’ve had in years.”
I chuckled sleepily. “How was the rest of the night? Everything going okay?”
“Looking good. We had another three births in the early hours—all your triplets within about an hour of each other. Two of them had one each, and one had twins, but everyone looks happy and healthy.”
“Good,” I said with a sigh. “They’re good mums those three. And I’m not surprised they were all close together. The same thing happened last year.”
Will nodded and walked around the counter, bending down to take one of the bottles from me and continuing to feed the larger of the two lambs. “Higgs is going to take the morning shift, and Dad said he’d come down for a bit to give him some company.”
“Are you going to bed, then?”
“Yeah, I was going to. Just to grab a few hours kip. Want to join me?”
I glanced down at the two lambs. They’d soon be ready to go out into the lambing barn, which was warm and cosy, especially because we had a couple of heat lamps strung over a few of the pens.
“Shall we feed these two and take them outside? Then we can crash for two or three hours before they need feeding again.”
I yawned as I spoke. Lambing season never got any easier, and I was already absolutely exhausted after only two weeks.
“That sounds good. I can always ask Mum to come down and feed ’em,” Will said.
“If she doesn’t mind.” Despite the fact they were supposed to be retired, Will’s parents insisted on giving us a hand throughout lambing every year and refused the idea of us hiring an extra pair of hands to take their place.
We were both grateful for their willingness to be involved, even though we both privately agreed we didn’t have a choice.
Last year, Will had tactfully tried to suggest we’d be okay without them, and it had gone over like a lead balloon.
There was almost rioting.
“She won’t. I’ve already seen her this morning and gotten an earful about not sleeping properly.”
“Your mum does realise you’re thirty-five, right?” I asked with a wry smile.
“Apparently not.”
We finished feeding the lambs, then wrapped them in towels to carry them out to the barn.
There was a small, cosy pen at the far end that was perfect for them, and it didn’t take us long to get them settled.
My chest ached as I watched the pair of them curl up together in the straw.
Despite the exhaustion, I wouldn’t change anything about my life for the world.
I wrote down their details, including the time they were last fed, on the little whiteboard hanging from the pen gate before Will and I traipsed back into the house.
Both of us were virtually dropping by that point, and I was surprised we managed to make it up the stairs without falling over.
Once we were in our room, we shed our clothes at speed, dropping them into a heap on the floor before we crawled into bed. Will set an alarm on his phone for three hours later, and I wrapped my arms around him, loving the way his bare skin felt against mine.
It had been just over two years since I’d fled to Heather Bay on a whim and found the home I’d never imagined having.
Things hadn’t always been easy, and Will and I had argued more than once, but we’d always come out of our disagreements stronger.
The first year had been eye-opening in more ways than one, and every time I thought I was starting to understand farm life, something new came along and yanked the rug out from under me.
But Will had always been there to catch me, and I was so grateful for that.
I’d been there for him through all the ups and downs and late nights worrying about making things work.
One of our biggest disagreements had been when I’d wanted to inject some of the money from the sale of the London flat into the farm, and Will had point blank refused to take it at first. I’d won eventually, but it had taken a lot of long talks to convince him.
Despite his insistence that we were a team, Will had struggled with some of the aspects of that, the financial part being the biggest one.
He’d been so self-reliant for so long that he wasn’t used to sharing his struggles with someone else.
And even though he’d wanted to, it still took time to unlearn his need to keep things to himself and figure it out alone.
We’d gotten there, as we had with the things I’d struggled with, because we loved each other, and we wanted to be together more than anything.
“What’re you thinking?” Will muttered sleepily, pulling me closer until I was virtually lying on top of him.
“Not much. Just how much I love you. And that I can’t believe this is my third lambing season already. I’m not sure where the time went.”
“Me either.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “I love you too. I couldn’t do this without you.”
I sighed and buried my face in his chest, letting out a deep sigh of contentment.
“I’ve been thinking,” Will said.
“What about?” I asked, trying to keep myself awake so I could listen.
“This. Us.”
“Aye? What about us?”
“Do you fancy getting married?” Will asked.
It took a moment for the question to sink in, and when it did, I sat bolt upright, looking down at him with wide eyes. “What?”
“Do you want to get married?” He grinned, running his hand over my thigh. “I’ve got a ring downstairs. I probably should have picked a better time, but I just… I’m too tired to think of a plan right now.”
I laughed, throwing myself into his arms and kissing him. “Yes! Yes, farm boy, I’ll marry you.”
“Good,” he said, cupping my jaw with his other hand and drawing me back into a kiss. “Guess that makes you a farm boy now too?”
“Mmm, probably.” I wanted to keep kissing him, but my whole body felt heavy.
“We can celebrate later,” Will said like he could read my mind. Although, I guessed he was feeling the same since he’d been up all night. “Let’s get some sleep.”
“I like that plan,” I said, snuggling down into his arms again and pressing a kiss to his chest. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Will’s arm tightened around me, holding me close as sleep began to pull me under, a smile curling my lips.
I really couldn’t be any happier.
I had everything I’d ever needed.
The End