Epilogue
Ivan ran his nose along Rory’s neck, pressing a kiss against his skin every few inches until he reached Rory’s ear. “Do you know what today is?” he whispered.
Rory squirmed on the blanket Ivan had laid out in the center of his high school’s football field.
They’d been in his hometown for two wonderful weeks, giving his family the chance to fall for Rory the way Ivan had.
He’d never brought a boyfriend home to meet them, so he hadn’t been sure what to expect.
His mama had been smitten with Rory from the start, and Innes, Sarah, and baby Claire were big fans too, but Ivan had to wrestle Rory away from his mother every time he turned around.
“Friday night,” Rory finally said. “A few weeks from now, all the lights will be on in this stadium and people will fill the stands. Do you miss playing?”
“I played at the highest level I wanted to achieve,” Ivan replied.
“The camaraderie on the ranch surpasses the bonds I made playing football.” Ivan tugged Rory’s earlobe between his teeth and pulled until the flesh popped free.
Rory shivered and wiggled closer to Ivan. “That wasn’t the correct answer.”
“What do I get if I guess correctly?” Rory asked.
“I won’t pull out after I come, and you can fall asleep with my dick in your ass.”
Rory turned his head in Ivan’s direction so fast their foreheads nearly collided. Ivan was used to his reactions and had already eased back. “That’s new.” Once they stopped pretending their relationship was temporary, they got tested and tossed the condoms.
“A first,” Ivan whispered.
The past two weeks had been a sequence of new experiences.
To say he’d lived his best life was an understatement.
In the quieter moments, Ivan could almost hear the younger version of himself weeping in jubilation at the love he’d found.
Adult Ivan got to hold his boyfriend’s hand in the center of town, make out with Rory in his old bedroom, and cop a feel under the football bleachers.
Those weren’t the moments both versions of Ivan loved the most, though.
Earlier that morning, Mama had taken Ivan aside while Sarah distracted Rory and handed him a ring box.
“For when you’re ready.” Mama’s voice was thick with tears, but her eyes had radiated joy.
“You’ll know when the time is right.” The box contained his father’s wedding band.
“Your dad didn’t want me to bury it with him.
He wanted you to have it for your special someone so you’d know just how much he loved you. ”
Ivan struggled to find the words to express how much the gesture meant to him.
He flipped open the box but only saw a gold blur through his tears.
His father had never taken the ring off, even when wearing the band created a potential hazard on the farm.
It was too easy to snag on machinery and lose a finger or worse.
But the band represented something far more important to him than his safety.
After falling in love with Rory, Ivan finally understood his dad’s insistence on wearing it.
The thing was, Ivan hadn’t told Rory he loved him…
yet. And since that seemed like the most important first experience, Ivan had brought Rory to this very special place.
Rory pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes in concentration. “August thirty-first.”
Ivan kissed his pouty mouth. “Yes, but that wasn’t the answer I was looking for.”
“Damn it. I really want my prize.” Rory chewed on his bottom lip, and Ivan was too charmed by his determination to intervene. “Let’s see. It’s the last night of our vacation because everyone knows travel days don’t count.”
They’d have over eight hours on the road, and Ivan couldn’t agree more. “Also true, but still no.”
“Damn.”
Ivan was just as desperate to fall asleep with his dick inside Rory, so he gave him a hint. “An anniversary of sorts.”
Rory’s eyes widened, and he rolled onto his side to face Ivan. “We met five months ago today.”
“Ding, ding, ding.” Ivan’s game show noise wasn’t all that impressive, but Rory’s smile was. “And I love you more and more with each new day.”
“Damn, you’re such a poet.” Rory’s eyes widened when Ivan’s words fully penetrated. Ivan decided he loved those blue eyes in the moonlight best. Rory’s mouth opened, shut, opened again, and then spread into a smile that was bright enough to make the moon jealous. “You love me,” he whispered.
“I love you.” Ivan kissed Rory’s trembling lips. “I’ve never told a guy that before.”
“Another first. I’ve never said it either,” Rory said, still sounding dazed.
Then he blinked the world back into focus and smiled again.
“I love you, Ivan. So damn much.” He expelled a long, shaky breath.
“God, I’ve been holding that in for what seems like forever.
” Rory laughed and pressed a kiss to Ivan’s mouth. “We’re in love.”
“We’re in love,” Ivan repeated.
Rory abruptly sat up, tilted his head back, and shouted, “We’re in love!” The words bounced off the empty bleachers and made dogs in the nearby neighborhood bark.
Ivan snagged his arm, pulled him down, and rolled him onto his back. “We’re in love.”
The time to give Rory the ring would come later.
Ivan had it tucked away in his luggage until he could place the precious symbol in his safe at the old homestead.
Right now, he just wanted to give this moment the attention it deserved.
They lay beneath the stars for a long time, kissing, touching, and repeating those three sacred words.
“Is your dick going to camp out in my ass right here in the football stadium?” Rory asked.
Ivan snorted. “We’ll wait until we get back to my old bedroom.”
Rory purred. “Dirty boy.”
Ivan snorted. They’d crossed that milestone off the first night in town, albeit more quietly than the shenanigans they got up to at home.
With Dylan and Finley officially moved out, they had the old homestead to themselves and took full advantage.
“We better get going. We have a long drive tomorrow.”
After one last kiss, they folded the blanket and headed for Ivan’s truck.
His childhood home was dark when they pulled in, but Ivan hadn’t expected his mama to wait up.
He knew damn well she’d get up early to make them breakfast before they hit the road.
They tiptoed up to Ivan’s old bedroom and they made sweet, quiet love and Ivan kept his promise.
It felt like the next morning arrived as soon as Ivan closed his eyes, but the smells wafting up from the kitchen encouraged them to get up and moving.
The first thing he noticed when he came downstairs was that his mother had clipped his interview and photographs from Roberto’s magazine and hung them on the refrigerator. “Where’d you get that?” Ivan asked.
“Rory brought me several copies so I could share them with special people.”
Innes, Sarah, and Claire showed up too. His younger brother held up his copy. “I’m special people, and I’m going to hang your photo in the barn to scare the mice away.”
Ivan responded to the comment with playful roughhousing that made baby Claire giggle and clap. “I took it easy on you in front of your kid,” Ivan said as he straightened his hair.
They lingered over the meal longer than Ivan had planned. He wouldn’t regret the extra time with his family, even if it meant they got caught up in heavy traffic during peak times.
“Uncle Ivan loves you so much,” he told Claire as he cradled the sleeping baby against his chest. “She’s going to have changed so much by the next time I get to see her.
” He looked up and met Innes’s smug smile.
Arrogant bastard knew he had the prettiest baby ever.
Rory said all parents thought that, but Uncle Ivan’s sweet little angel wore the true crown and carried the title.
“Why don’t you all come to the ranch after harvest? Maybe for Thanksgiving.”
“That sounds like a lovely idea,” Mama said.
Ivan gave the sleeping baby back to Sarah when he couldn’t delay their departure any longer.
The long hugs he shared with his family were bittersweet.
As much as he hated to say goodbye, the ranch was his home now, and he was excited to get back.
Ivan grinned when his mama held on to Rory even longer than her oldest child.
He finally had to extricate himself from her clutches. It was the Rory Effect.
They took turns driving the eight hours back to the ranch. They stopped at a huge truck stop before leaving Kansas, and Rory had insisted on buying everyone silly souvenirs. Just before sundown, Ivan noticed a trio of hawks soaring in the air.
“I thought of a conversation thread for you and your dad,” he told Rory.
“What’s that?”
“Would you rather soar like a hawk or swim like a dolphin?”
“That’s a good one,” Rory said. He started to debate the merits of each, but Ivan reminded him to save that for his dad.
The pair started each morning with a humorous debate, taking turns at posing the question.
The change in Rory after reconnecting with his father had been immediate and beautiful.
Rory vetted the new manager and had helped a little with Charles’s new campaign strategy, and the latest poll numbers for Charles showed he’d made a good choice.
As for the leaks, they miraculously stopped when Fossy left the campaign.
They couldn’t prove he was the source of the information or his motive for the betrayal, and they didn’t dwell on it.
The conversation had pivoted to the important issues facing Coloradans and that’s what mattered most. Ivan hadn’t met Charles in person, but they’d chatted over FaceTime a few times.
On one occasion, Charles was trying to make one of Dinah’s recipes while Rory mitigated the damage from a few hundred miles away.
Rory was a natural problem solver. His talent extended beyond marketing tactics and reading a room.
His campaign to thwart Salvation Anew through positive community interaction was a massive undertaking, but so far, it had been a tremendous success.
He’d created a softball team and a charitable foundation, and the Redemption Ridge YouTube channel was a smash hit.
As they predicted, Rue and his blacksmithing received the thirstiest comments.
Salvation Anew stopped making trouble in Last Chance Creek, at least for the time being.
They hadn’t packed up and moved on yet, so the community wasn’t quite out of the woods.
The group could be hunkering down while they planned something bigger, but they’d cross that road if they came to it.
They didn’t turn the truck onto the ranch’s long drive until nearly ten. There had been a terrible accident on the freeway that reduced traffic to a crawl for almost an hour. Rory had dozed off and on since surrendering the wheel to Ivan, but suddenly sat ramrod straight in his seat.
“That’s Nick’s car parked by Cash’s truck,” Rory said, pointing to a sleek black sedan. “His personal car. Something must be wrong.”
“Or very, very right.” Ivan waggled his brows. Rory had confessed he didn’t think his brother’s feelings for Cash were purely platonic.
Rory shook his head and vaulted out of the truck as soon as Ivan stopped. Ivan scrambled to catch up to him.
“You’re just going to crash into the house like the Kool-Aid man?” Ivan asked.
Rory grinned at the reference but kept walking. “Something is wrong. I know it.”
“Nick or Cash would’ve called you,” Ivan countered.
“We were on our first vacation together, and I was meeting your family,” Rory said. “They would’ve only called if it was life-threatening.”
“All the more reason we should head home and visit in the morning,” Ivan suggested.
“I won’t be able to sleep until I know he’s okay. Something has been off with Nick for a while.”
Ivan hadn’t seen him since he’d dropped Rory off at the ranch, but he had looked rough then. “Okay, but I’m not busting down Cash’s bedroom door. If they’re not in one of the gathering rooms or Cash’s office, we’re heading home and returning in the morning.”
“Fine.”
The front door wasn’t locked, so they stepped into the foyer.
“Should we call out?” Rory asked.
Ivan shrugged. “This is your mission. I’m just along for the ride.”
Rory sighed and rolled his eyes. “I don’t want to wake them if they’re sleeping, so we’ll do a quick check in the main rooms.”
The dining room, kitchen, and great room were empty, but a light spilled out from the library.
“I’m not sure about this,” Ivan whispered.
“I don’t hear any grunting, moaning, or other sexy sounds,” Rory whispered back.
They eased down the hall and stopped outside the library.
Nick lay on the sofa with his head in Cash’s lap.
His arm was in a sling, and he appeared to be sleeping.
Cash must’ve been lost in thought because he just stared down at Nick while carding his fingers through Nick’s hair.
It would have been a gorgeous picture of domestic bliss if not for Nick’s injury.
Ivan expected Rory to rush in and demand to know what happened to his brother, but he eased back from the doorway and reached for Ivan’s hand.
They exited the house as quietly as they’d entered and walked back to the truck to get their luggage.
“I saw everything I needed to,” Rory said with a soft smile.
The cats met them at the door with a chorus of outraged protests over their absence.
“Shameless liars,” Ivan said. Rueben had been taking care of the cats while they’d been away and had sent many photos and videos of the felines cuddling up to him and eating.
Ivan picked Scruffy up and smiled when the old boy headbutted him repeatedly.
“You got roasted chicken for lunch today.” He glanced over at Rory and caught him staring.
He usually reserved those heart eyes for watching Ivan with his niece. “What?”
Rory set Tux on the back of the sofa and said, “Those brawny arms were made to hold the people and things you love.”
Ivan flexed a little just to watch Rory’s eyes glaze over. Scruffy must’ve sensed a shift in the air because he jumped down and fled. “You were made for me to love, hold, honor, and cherish.”
Rory sighed. “My poet.” His eyes rounded slightly as he recognized snippets of the wedding vows Ivan planned to exchange with him someday. Ivan opened his arms, and Rory stepped into his embrace.
“I love you,” Rory said.
“Love you too.”
Love and a happily ever after were things Ivan never thought he could have, but the Rory Effect made him believe anything was possible.
The End!