Epilogue
Caleb
One Year Later
I ran my thumb over Alice’s ring as I held her left hand in mine. It was a habit I’d picked up the moment I’d slipped it on her finger last fall. When I’d added another ring to it at our wedding in the spring, I liked it even better.
“You could tell me where you’re taking me any time now,” she said, without even a hint of impatience.
But that was who Alice was. Her well of patience was bottomless—lucky for me.
If she’d given up on me, we wouldn’t be here, married and finally having our honeymoon in California three months later.
There were reasons for the delay, like ranch business and Phoebe giving birth to our first niece, and the other reasons… well, she’d be finding out soon.
I sat down on the end of the hotel bed, took her by the hips, and pressed my face to her stomach. “Then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?”
“You do have a point.” She stood between my legs, her arms around my shoulders, stroking a path down my back.
I kissed the bump below her belly button before resting my cheek against her. “I like the feel of you, darlin’.”
“He’s getting big already. I’m a little nervous you’ll have to roll me everywhere by the end.”
I tipped my head back to look at my wife. She didn’t look nervous at all, not with the dreamy smile on her lips.
“I think I have a wheelbarrow you’ll fit in,” I teased.
My favorite breezy laugh burst out of her. “If this guy is as big as Shelby said Jesse was, it might come down to that.”
I gave her belly another kiss. “If it does, I’ll toss in a few pillows for you. You’ll ride in style.”
We’d gotten a little bit of a head start at growing our family.
Seeing Phoebe and Deacon welcome their daughter, Abigail Joy Slater, and Hannah and Remi, pregnant with their second, had spurred us on.
Alice had tossed out her birth control pills a couple months before our wedding, and boom, she fell pregnant.
Four months along with our son, she was more gorgeous than ever.
We’d taken our time to begin our journey, but now we were full steam ahead. Married, growing our family, taking our life by the horns and living the hell out of it. We’d had a lot to move on from, but we’d done it.
The piece of shit who’d hurt Alice was in jail.
It wouldn’t be nearly long enough, but that was the way of things.
There wasn’t any amount of time that would satisfy me.
The same went for Kent. He’d be in prison a whole lot longer, and I imagined a guy like him wouldn’t have an easy go of it.
Whatever he got was nothing less than he deserved.
But those things were in the past. I’d done some time in therapy to help me deal with the anger and anxiety almost losing my boy had caused me. Talking it out had done me a world of good. Time and Alice’s steady, supportive presence had done the most to bring me back to myself, though.
Christ, there was no one better than Alice. She was…everything.
A part of me would always regret not noticing her earlier, but it was getting easier to push those thoughts to the background now that we were headed in the direction we were supposed to.
I’d never know if we would have worked out had I paid attention to her when she’d first come to town.
I just knew we were right for the versions of who we were now. Exactly right.
I rose to my feet and touched my lips to her temple. “Think it’s about time to get out of here. Are you ready?”
She practically bounced on her toes. “You know I am. I can barely stand still.”
Chuckling, I pulled her into my arms. “Love you a lot, darlin’.”
She nuzzled against my chest. “I love you too, honey.” Then she gave me a kitten shove. “Now stop delaying and show me my surprise.”
Alice didn’t ask questions, even as our driver meandered through the campus of Savage University. But I could feel her vibrating beside me. I wasn’t sure she’d figured out where I was taking her, but she was excited, nonetheless.
The car stopped in front of Whitlock Hall. I opened the door and slid out, then helped Alice out behind me. Her eyes were bright as she looked around, taking everything in.
“This was one of the reasons we had to delay our honeymoon,” I said as I led her into the building.
“What do you mean?” Her head swiveled around as she took it all in. The students milling around, open classrooms, antique books inside display cases.
“We had to wait for classes to be back in session.” I stopped in front of room 210, our destination. “We’re here.”
Her eyes widened, and she whispered, “Where are we?”
“We’re being college students for the day. I thought you might like this class. It’s called Beyond the Isle: Themes and Worlds in Epic Fantasy.”
She gasped. “No. It’s not…”
I nodded. “It is. And we better get in there, or we’re going to miss the beginning.”
She tugged on my hand. “Caleb, we can’t just go in there. We…I…”
“We can, darlin’. It’s all been arranged. Turns out, Professor Astor is something of a romantic.”
The minute Jesse had mentioned Rhys Astor, the foremost expert on the Shadow of the Isle trilogy, who taught a class analyzing it at Savage U, an idea had sparked. It had taken a few emails and a phone call, then we were in.
“Professor Astor,” she breathed. “He’s teaching this class?”
“Of course.” I took her chin between my fingers. “You ready?
“Oh my goodness, yes.”
We sat at the back of the room, behind students young enough to be my kids.
I held Alice’s shaking hand in mine as the professor strode into class.
In his late fifties, his once-red hair was mostly white.
He wore a crisp button-down, a waistcoat, and pressed slacks.
Wire-rim glasses sat on his nose. I’d skipped going to college, but this guy was who I would have pictured as a literature professor.
As much as I’d enjoyed reading the trilogy, I’d come here for Alice, who’d been so inspired by these books, she’d written her own.
They weren’t published yet, but she’d finally let me read them, and like everything she did, they were incredible.
Now she needed a push to share them with a wider audience. Maybe today would do it.
When Professor Astor got talking, I was on the edge of my seat as much as Alice. She was hanging on his every word, and I was right there with her. My thoughts were provoked as he discussed the symbolism in the story, making me want to read it all over again.
At the end, he waited for us in the front. Alice held my hand with both of hers as I led her to him. She was trembling, and I knew her well enough to recognize it was from both nerves and excitement.
I held my free hand out to him. “Professor Astor.”
“And you have to be Caleb.” He shook my hand. “Call me Rhys, please.”
“Nice to meet you, Rhys.” I pulled Alice in front of me. “This is my wife, Alice Kelly. She’s the one who introduced me to this world.”
Rhys’s eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. “I hear you’re a librarian. I have a special fondness for libraries. It’s where my relationship with my wife, Delilah, began.”
“Books can be very romantic.” Her voice quivered, but she held herself straight and as tall as she could.
Rhys’s smile was kind. “That I agree with. The written word is capable of evoking all manner of strong emotion, and romance is undoubtedly one of them. Now tell me, Alice, how did you enjoy my class?”
“Well, I wish I’d been able to sign up for it when I was actually a student here. As you know, it always fills up as soon as it opens.”
He chuckled. “Yes, I’m quite popular, aren’t I?”
That made Alice laugh. “You are, and for good reason. I’ve read your book, of course, but there’s nothing like getting to listen to your analysis in person.”
It was my absolute pleasure to watch them volley back and forth about their theories and interpretations of the story.
My Alice was a book girl, and right about now, she was in heaven.
Knowing I’d been the one to give her this—to put that smile on her face and light the flame in her eyes—was more than enough for me.
Too soon, Rhys checked the time on the watch he had tucked in the pocket of his waistcoat.
“As much as I’d like to keep this discussion going, I have office hours I need to get to,” he announced.
We walked out of the classroom together, Alice and Rhys chatting all the way to his office. There, we stopped outside his door. He shook my hand again and gave Alice a hug.
“I heard from Caleb the two of you read the trilogy together,” he said.
Alice nodded. “Caleb read it to me. It was kind of how we really started…”
Rhys rubbed his chin. “Another thing we have in common. I wooed my wife by reading to her too.” He circled the air near Alice’s bump. “It seems you’re expecting.”
“We are,” she confirmed.
He hummed. “You didn’t ask for my advice, but I’ll offer it anyway.
Delilah and I have six children. They’re all adults now, and it’s just us again at home, though we have a constantly revolving door of children and grandchildren coming through.
” He waved his hand. “That isn’t the point.
What I’m saying is, I never stopped reading to her.
Even in the thick of parenting our brood, we found time for the thing that helped us fall in love with each other. ”
“Appreciate the advice,” I said, intending to take it.
After we said our goodbyes to Rhys and made our way out of the building, I tugged Alice against me, holding her close. She tipped her head back, smiling.
“This was one of the best days of my life.”
I bent to kiss her happy lips and murmured, “I knew you’d love it.”
“That’s because you really see me,” she replied, her fingers curling into my shirt.
“Always. I see you so damn clearly, Alice Kelly.” I rubbed my nose along hers. “You pick our next story, and I’ll read it to you.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Even if it's a spicy cowboy romance?”
“Even then.” I gave her hair a light tug. “As long as you don’t mind me pointing out all the inaccuracies.”
She giggled. “Maybe we’ll stick to fantasy.”
She got going, listing all the books she wanted us to read together, telling me titles, debating which one we should start with. I just…held her and listened.
Knowing this was going to be my life.
A gorgeous woman in my arms. Our child between us and one back in Wyoming waiting for us. The home we shared. A town wrapped around us. Never-ending stories to read together.
Yeah, that sounded like a fantasy to me. Only this one was real, and it was all mine.