Epilogue
Ryan
Two years later
I wrap my arms around Aspen, pulling her back against me. “What do you think?”
“About what?”
“This,” I say, gesturing to the empty land in front of us. “Tell me what you see.”
“Umm, lots of grass. Lots of weeds. Some trees in the distance.”
She tips her head up, giving me a confused look.
“Is that all?” I grin down at her, knowing her patience will soon run out, and I’m right when she frowns at me.
“Why don’t you rather tell me what I’m supposed to see?”
“What I see is a new beginning. Over there,” Her eyes follow to where I’m pointing at a small copse of trees, “a house. Double story with a wrap-around porch and at least four bedrooms on the second story. And over there,” I point to the opposite corner, “a barn. For your horse and the ponies, we’ll have to buy once we have kids.”
She sucks in a breath and tries to turn to me, but I keep her firmly in place.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I bought this. For us. I’m saying these last two years have been tough.”
And it has. Although tough is an understatement.
It started with that call we got from Rose and just got worse from there. It was a dark time for us all. After my fuck up with Hadley, I vowed never to keep secrets again, but this secret, the secret that binds our friend group together, is a secret I’ll gladly take to my grave.
And I know they feel the same. They say secrets have a way to either make you or break you. Lucky for us, it didn’t break us. It brought us closer, close enough that we’re beyond being mere friends. We’re family, our bonds forged in the fires of hell.
“Our lives were put on pause,” I continue. “But it’s been long enough, and I don’t want to wait any longer.”
With my arm wrapped around her chest, I feel her heartbeat picking up. Taking a deep breath, I turn her around and drop to a knee, taking her hands in mine.
“I want to marry you, Aspen, and I know this is not exactly romantic, but I can’t wait any longer. I want to start our life together. One where I go from ‘When can I see you again,’ to ‘See you at home.’ I’m tired of separate houses where I live with Mom and Dad, and you rent from Kallan. I want us to be a mom and dad. In our home. Here. A home we build brick by brick, together, the same way we rebuilt our relationship.”
My heart is a thunderous beat in my chest while I search her face. I feel pretty confident, but you never know. If I’ve learned anything these last two years, it’s that life can throw you curve balls that you never see coming.
Tears fill her eyes, and she drops to her knees in front of me.
“It’s been one hell of a journey,” she says, swallowing heavily.
“It has. One that proves we can overcome anything as long as we’re together.”
Pulling her hands from mine, she clasps my cheeks. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“So…is that a yes?” I ask with my heart in my mouth. Please say it’s a yes.
She nods with a breathy yes, flinging her arms around my neck, and my whole body sags when I wrap my arms around her waist.
Thank you, universe. No curve ball.
She’s so warm and soft in my arms, her scent filling my lungs with every breath, that my need for her that’s always simmering flares to life. Damn, I want to lay her back on the grass and make love to her under the open sky. Instead, I reluctantly let her go when she pulls back.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
I look at her blankly because all the blood in my body is currently throbbing in my dick.
“Something important.” She looks down at her hand, and I want to slap my hand to my forehead. Idiot.
“Shit, yes.” Smiling sheepishly, I pull the ring box out of my pocket. It’s been burning a hole in my pocket for months, while I waited for the right moment to propose. We were cleaning up after dinner at Mom and Dad’s place when it hit me. There will never be a right moment because every moment I spend with her is the right moment. “I had a whole big thing planned. I was going to pick Robbie up and tie a ribbon with the ring around his neck. But he’s a runner, and I was scared he’d vanish into the surrounding forest with my ring, never to be seen again.”
She laughs, watching me slide my ring on her finger. I blow out a shaky breath. My fucking ring. It will always be my ring because she belongs to me, just as I belong to her.
“Robbie would totally have done a runner.”
Robbie was one of Aspen’s first rescues, and he has the dubious honor of being the longest resident. We think he might have run away from home, but nobody claimed him. He’s a scruffy-looking mutt, not even reaching my knee, but he’s got a heart of gold.
Sobering, she looks at me, all the love she feels for me reflecting in her eyes.
“You know I don’t need huge declarations or flashy proposals. I just need you. Always just you.”
I’m not sure what I’ve done in my life to deserve her, but it’s not something I’m going to question. Ever. I’m going to love and cherish the shit out of this woman, and I show her exactly how much with my tongue and lips, with my restless hands roaming up and down her back. By the time we come up for air, we’re both out of breath, and I rest my forehead against hers, just breathing her in.
“Maybe once our house is built Robbie can come home with us.”
“You sure about that? He might be tiny, but he’s a destructive force of nature.”
I hum, looking around the empty piece of land we’re now proud owners of. “Maybe once we’ve fenced it all off.”
“This is perfect, Ryan,” she whispers, looking down at my ring. A ring that she’ll be wearing until we’re both no longer breathing, if I have any say in it.
“I did good?” I agonized for a long time, looking for the perfect ring. A ring that was uniquely Aspen. I finally found it in a little jewelry store three towns over and the moment I saw it, I knew it was the one. The same way I knew Aspen was the one when I saw her. I smile at her enthusiastic nod. “I hope you don’t plan on a long engagement, because I’m locking you down as soon as I can.”
She sighs a long-suffering sigh, but she can’t hide the slight curl of her lips. “I don’t know, Ryan. I’ve told you how I feel about dating a man still living with his parents. Now you want me to move in with them?”
Cheeky shit. Grinning, I get up, holding my hand out and pulling her up.
“I happen to know that Bailey’s tenants will be moving out sometime soon. I might have expressed my interest. You know, in case you said yes.”
“As if there was any question,” she scoffs, slapping at the dust on her legs.
Easy for her to say. She didn’t have to experience the stress of asking. And at one time, the months after what we’ve dubbed BH and AH—because we never mention her name—I thought this was a dream I had lost forever. “What did she say? Because that would be seriously perfect.”
Bailey will never sell the apartment she inherited from her grandparents. When she moved into Kallan’s house after they got married, she put it up for lease. It was snapped up real quick because of its location.
She falls back against me with a sigh of contentment when I wrap my arms around her again.
I don’t want to stop touching her.
I can’t stop touching her.
I have never been happier.
“She said it’s ours if we want it.”
We’re silent as we stare at the piece of land that we’re going to make ours. The piece of land where we’re going to build our dream home. Where we’re going to start our family. Raise our children. Live, love, fight, and laugh till the end of our days.
“We really could have used the money if we’re building a house.”
She sighs, and I hold her tighter. She never used the money I gave her for the rescue. So damn stubborn. And she’ll make a stubborn wife. Fuck, I can’t wait to finally call her wife.
“She needed it more.”
“I know. And I don’t regret it. I just wish, for her sake, that she didn’t need it.” She gives a little shake of her shoulders, as if she’s trying to shake off the sudden melancholy. “So why this piece of land? It’s far out of town.”
“But it’s close to the rescue. I work from home, so it doesn’t matter where I live. It’s you I worry about. Especially when it snows.”
I’m so proud of what she accomplished with the rescue. She might have started it with more heart than cash, but it’s been going from strength to strength. One of the first things she did was launch a website and create media accounts to raise awareness. It’s contributed to a lot of volunteers which she’s never short of. She’s also built an amazing network with other welfare organizations and fosters.
And yes, there’s been a few more fundraisers throughout the years which helps enormously.
She turns in my arms, looping her arms around my neck. “Tonight, when I get home, I want you naked in my bed. Future Mrs. Milligan wants to ravage Mr. Milligan and show him just how much she loves her ring.”
Instantly, my dick stands at attention.
“About that,” I mutter, kicking myself. “The ravaging will have to wait a bit.”
“Why?” She narrows her eyes, suspicious.
Can’t blame her. I’ve never turned down a ravaging. Not once. But I told Carter of my plans to propose today, and before I knew it, everyone but Aspen knew. Which is why they’re waiting for us at Frosty’s for a surprise celebration. Even Mom and Dad.
Carter and his fucking big mouth. I much rather prefer a ravaging.
“I can’t say. It’s a surprise.”
Her eyes narrow further, if that’s even possible.
“You know I hate surprises.”
So do I, babe, so do I.