Epilogue
JULIE
One Year Later…
“Are you worried about the party tonight?” Jessie asks me, as I smear red icing across a poorly decorated Santa cookie.
“Nope,” I chime, giggling at the hideous cookie. “I don’t really care.”
Jessie laughs. “Good, because let’s be honest, everyone is going to be voicing their jealousy of your boyfriend. It’s not every day a guy ends up featured in three ranching magazines in one month. You think he broke a record?”
“If he did, he wouldn’t care.” I snort, nudging Jessie playfully, causing her to squirt a big blob of green icing onto her Christmas tree cookie.
“Ah, you ruined it,” she says flatly, and then giggles. “Why are we so bad at these? Why does your mom ever entrust us with the desserts?”
“Because I tell everyone every year that they’re made by little kids,” Mom giggles as she enters the kitchen, eyeing the ugly cookies spread out across the island. “But seriously, they don’t look that bad?”
“Oh stop being nice,” I groan. “You know they look awful.”
She laughs, shaking her head. “It all ends up in the same place. But,” Mom pauses, pulling back the sleeve of her white turtleneck under her red vest. “When do you think they’ll be done with feeding?”
I shrug, popping a finger in my mouth to taste the sweet icing. “No clue. They have a few hours before they have to be back.”
Mom and Jessie exchange a look that I don’t miss.
“What?” I demand, grabbing a towel and wiping my hands. “What is it? If this is about Kip being here…”
“No, absolutely not,” Mom says, a sly smile on his face. “Your boyfriend’s cousin is a bit goofy, but we like him. It’s more that you need to meet Tucker at the barn.”
“Why?” My heart drops, and I step out from around the island, smoothing my hair out. “Is something wrong? Did Rudy get out again…”
“No,” Mom says, though I can’t read her face. “Everything is fine, Julie.”
“Okay,” I breathe out, grabbing for my coat. “I’ll just go wait for him then.” I try to ignore my nerves, unsure of what he might be up to. I mean, part of me is thinking of some kind of crazy Christmas present, but then again, that’s not really our style. I slide my arms into my jacket and step outside, seeing Carson, Kip, and my dad heading up to the house.
“Hey Julie!” Kip tips his hat to me, a wicked grin on his face. He’s different from Tucker, a real ray of sunshine in the Madison bloodline. He’s just as tall as Tucker though, his hair a caramel color beneath his hat.
“When is Addy coming?” I ask, thinking of his other half, who I happen to really be fond of. She settles Kip down.
“She’ll be here in about an hour. They got hung up in traffic.”
“Ah, perfect.” As I pass them, Dad grins at me, and Carson squeezes my shoulder. It has me feeling suspicious , though, at the same time, I also know it must be good news. Tucker would never divulge bad news to them before me, even if they all work together out here. My dad offered Tucker the deal on the land before we ever made it to New Year’s last year.
And everything fell into place.
I glance up at the clear skies above my head, not a flake of snow in sight. I frown, thinking back to last year. It was a hard day—and then a really good day. The snow made it all the better, too. As I make my way to the barn door, I stop, realizing that it’s shut.
What the heck? I purse my lips, trying to decide if I should roll it open or go through the walk-thru door. Laziness pushes me to take the easy entrance, and I go for the smaller door, turning the handle and stepping inside… right into the dark.
“Tucker?” I call out nervously, folding my arms across my chest. “Are you in here?” I swallow hard, and just as I’m about to step out, the lights kick on. I’m flooded with the sight of a winter wonderland, complete with fake snow, Rudy dressed as Rudolph and a fake snowman…
That looks just like the one we built last year.
“Tuck,” I gasp, my hands flying up to my face as he stands in the middle of it all, wearing a fresh pair of jeans, boots, and the same green pearl snap he had on last year. “This is so pretty…” I can already feel the tears building in my eyes.
“Well, I thought about taking you back to that parking lot, and we could build another snowman, but you know, it’s Texas. We don’t usually get snow on Christmas, so I had to come up with something else.”
“I love it,” I laugh, choking back tears. I cross the fake snow, rushing to kiss him. He takes my lips with all the familiarity we now have between us, but even so, the sparks are still there. Tucker and I might have the greatest track record, but things just work between us.
And man, do they work well.
“Okay, so,” Tucker breaks his lips from mine. “It’s been one year since we became official—for real.”
I nod eagerly, excitement thrumming through my chest. “Best year of my life.”
“Mine, too.” His voice softens as he grabs my hand. “And we’ve been through a lot of changes. I moved here, and you’re moving here when your lease is up.”
“I can’t wait to see you all days of the week,” I giggle, giving him a flirty smile that makes him blush.
“That will be nice, but…” He sighs, running the pad of his thumb across the top of my hand. “It’s not enough for me, Jules.”
My smile fades. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” he clears his throat and drops to one knee in front of me, “I mean that it’s not enough to just see you every day. I want you to be more than my girlfriend. I want you to be my fiancé, and then what I really want is for you to be my wife. I want to be forever yours.”
Tears stream down my face as Tucker pulls out a small black box, flipping the lid open to reveal a beautiful square cut engagement ring. I’m at a loss for words as my heart beats wild with excitement.
“So, Julianna Marie Cooper,” he begins, smiling with moisture brimming his own eyes. “Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
“Of course,” I choke out, and then fall into his arms, wrapping mine around his neck. I squeeze him, soaking him with my happy tears. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too,” Tucker murmurs into my cheek, planting a kiss over my tears. “And I’m so glad you said yes, because otherwise, I just spent all day working on this in vain. He laughs into me, and I stand up straight, letting him slide the ring onto my finger.
“It’s so beautiful,” I cry, wiping my tears from my cheeks as Tucker pulls me into his arms once more.
“Yeah, you are, Jules.” He plants a kiss on the top of my head, and I lean back to peer up at him.
“So, you spent all day working on this? Who took care of all the cattle?” I sniffle as Tucker thumbs away another rogue tear.
“Carson, Kip, and your dad,” he says. “It didn’t take much convincing. We’ve had this planned for almost four months.”
“ Four months? ”
“Yeah, well, I’ve had the ring since the first month of us dating. I knew it was you, Jules. Maybe there’s always been a part of me that’s known it was you. Oh, and you know what else?”
“What?” I ask, still in a daze of pure joy.
Tucker threads his fingers through my hair. “Nate Roland called me this morning, asking if there was room for him to come and work for me here at the ranch.”
I instantly frown. “Wait… Are you serious?”
“I am,” Tucker laughs, planting a kiss on my forehead. “It’s funny how things come full circle sometimes…”
“Yeah?” I narrow my eyes at him. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him I’d think about it.”
“ Really? ” I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“No,” Tucker snorts. “I told him not to call me again but thanked him for screwing it up with you.”
I kiss Tucker’s jaw. “I guess one man’s trash is another one’s treasure.”
“Nah,” He presses his forehead to mine. “Honey, you were always a treasure.”