Epilogue
CASSADY
“ M ommy, can we live here?”
I glanced at Dane as we entered the gigantic log cabin near the peak of this part of the mountains. Dane and I had just purchased this property for my business, and I knew how much it would bring in if we could keep it rented. That was a pretty big if, though, as sprawling as this place was.
“This is for vacationers,” Dane reminded our five-year-old, Aurelia.
“But this is perfect,” Aurelia said, pressing her nose to the gigantic picture window that was the entire mountain-facing wall of this living room.
I looked at Dane again. He’d mentioned several times over the past couple of weeks that we could just move in here and rent out our place. We were close to outgrowing the two-bedroom cabin he’d owned when I met him—especially since we were talking about having a second baby.
“Don’t smudge up the glass, honey,” Dane said.
Aurelia had been a surprise. We were married a couple of years when I found out I was pregnant. Dane was worried I’d be disappointed, but the second I took that test—before I even saw the two lines—I was already getting excited about the thought of being a mom. And knowing it was a baby I’d made with Dane made all the difference.
Having one child hadn’t gotten in the way of my career goals. Yeah, it definitely made running my own business challenging, but at least I had flexible hours. And now we were buying properties, fixing them up, and turning them into rentals, paying local construction guys to do most of the work.
The flexibility meant having a second child wasn’t out of the question. And now that I was thirty-one, my clock was ticking.
“Can we see what’s upstairs?” Aurelia asked, already running across the room.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Dane said. “Wait for us.”
As we followed, I fought the overprotective mom urge all the way while imagining what it might be like to live here. I’d been avoiding doing that for days. I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
We had plenty of money now, and we’d been talking about upgrading. My business was thriving, and Dane brought in a good, steady income from his logging work. We could swing this.
If we turned our much smaller cabin into a vacation rental, it was more likely to stay rented. A property with five bedrooms and four baths like this one would only attract large groups, and the demand wasn’t as high for those.
“I want this to be my bedroom!” Aurelia announced as she entered the empty room at the top of the stairs.
“Yeah, I don’t think a room near the stairs is a good idea,” Dane said, looking at me.
I gestured toward the only entry point to the stairs right behind us. “We could put up a gate.”
“I know how to go downstairs.” Aurelia rolled her eyes. “I bottom-scoot.”
I smiled. We spent enough time at our friends’ houses to have encountered stairs more than a few times. The days of two-bedroom, one-story cabins outselling larger multi-story ones were gone. Seduction Summit had enough families now that the demand was shifting.
“Can we please, please, please?” Aurelia asked, pointing toward the huge window in the room. “I want to sleep here.”
“Let’s take a look at the main bedroom,” Dane said.
My husband and I exchanged a glance before we all started walking, Aurelia’s hand in mine. Did that mean he was considering it? I wouldn’t even start thinking about it if there wasn’t a possibility we’d both be on board. Well, all three of us, if we included Aurelia.
“It is getting a little crowded by the pond,” I told Dane as we followed him.
We’d both been talking about moving away from Memory Lane and maybe grabbing a house near the pond where a lot of the other loggers lived. Memory Lane was jam-packed with cabins now—mostly rentals—which was fine, except the motorcycles and loud engines going past the house at two in the morning were starting to get annoying.
Plus, the property next to us tended to attract partiers. I couldn’t count the number of times I’d had to wear earplugs to drown out the sound of loud music next door.
We wouldn’t have that problem here. I could see that as we stepped into the main bedroom, which overlooked the same side of the house as the living room. A big window next to the bed made for a breathtaking view.
“That sun would be a wake-up call in the morning,” I said.
Aurelia pointed to the top of the wall. “Blinds!”
It took us a second, but Aurelia and I walked over to the wall next to the window and found the switch. I pushed a button, and the blinds began lowering.
“Wow.” Aurelia’s eyes widened as she watched. “I want this to be my bedroom.”
Dane and I exchanged a look. “Yeah, that’s definitely not up for discussion,” he said. “This is our bedroom. Let’s pick out a room for your brother or sister.”
That got Aurelia excited. She’d been asking more and more about a sibling. We’d been reluctant to discuss it with her at first, worried that I wouldn’t be able to have one when we were ready, but both of us had gotten a clean bill of health from our doctors. I had a feeling once we started trying, it wouldn’t take long.
“We’d have plenty of privacy,” Dane said, looking over at me.
He gave me a wink, and I knew exactly what he was referring to. That time on vacation when I’d gotten off on the fact that we were doing things in plain view of a large window at night.
It was part of my adventurous side, and that side still existed, even now that we were parents. Dane always made sure we wouldn’t be caught, and I took care of picking the place. He liked that thrill-seeker side of me, and I liked the fact that he always kept us safe. It was the perfect balance.
“Can we put in a swimming pool?” Aurelia asked.
“Swimming pools aren’t safe,” I said.
There. That was where I showed my overly cautious side. I was a thrill-seeker in most aspects of life, but when it came to my kid, safety was first.
“We’ll talk about it as you get older,” Dane said. “But right now, we’ll have to just stick to swimming at Lumberjack Cove.”
That was what they’d named the large swimming spot not too far from this very house. All the families went there with their kids. Dane and his crew had installed a fountain to keep the water circulating, so it was crystal clear. Not that the kids cared about that stuff, but most of the parents did.
“I want to go look at the back yard,” Aurelia said.
She didn’t move to run toward the stairs, though—she knew better. Dane hiked her onto his hip and carried her down, mostly to speed things up. I followed, looking around.
Yes, this definitely could be home. I liked the idea more and more with every second that passed. And with five bedrooms, we’d have plenty of space for our families when they visited. We might even be able to have one or two more kids.
I followed Dane and Aurelia out onto the back patio and inhaled the fresh April air. This was it. We’d found our future. And together, we’d walk hand in hand into it—with an adorable five-year-old clutching each of those hands between us.