EPILOGUE Ginger
Seven years later
“ I don’t like it. I don’t like one thing about it.”
I stare at my husband as he comes in the door, knowing the exact words that are going to come out of his mouth next.
“She’s too young.”
And there we have it, folks.
“She’s fifteen Cole, almost sixteen and they’re just friends. Unless you have something against her being friends with a nice young man?” I say, raising my eyebrow. “A boy she’s known since she was nine? A boy who is your deputy’s son?”
I know he can’t argue with me. Cole’s deputy sheriff, Wayne, who took over when Brent left and was elected again with Cole two years ago, is a great man. He and his wife, Lisa, have become two of our best friends, and Mabel and their son Max have been close since the day we all met. Might they have a little crush on each other now that she’s fifteen and he’s sixteen Probably. But they’re both great kids and I, for one, am not against them spending time together.
I smile at Cole and watch the tic in his jaw as he mentally gives in. Dads of daughters will be dads of daughters, and my husband has three of them to worry about. Thank God he finally got his beloved boy when our son Luca was born.
“Friends isn’t what I’m worried about, Ginger. Max is almost sixteen and I remember being sixteen,” Cole says, running a hand through his hair. I notice the way his arm flexes as he does so. His right one matches his left now with a full sleeve, inked over the years to incorporate all our children’s names. At thirty-seven, Cole has never looked better, and I still often catch myself staring at him.
I laugh off his worry, and pin up another balloon—a red one, because today is Luca’s second birthday and it just so happens to fall during a Reds–Yankees series. Which means, of course, that the entire house is decked out in Reds décor. Advantages of being home during the summer and having free rein to decorate the house with Mabel’s help. She warned me Cole wouldn’t like it if she went swimming at Max’s and came back to the party with him and his parents. I assured her that her dad is just overprotective sometimes. And as much as I worry about Mabel too, I know she’s a trustworthy, sweet girl.
“This is blasphemy, by the way,” Cole says, taking off his badge and pulling out his keys and wallet, then setting them down in the basket in our entryway. I watch him as he takes in all the Reds balloons, streamers, and the customized “ Happy 2nd Birthday Luca ” banner.
“Hard to believe he’s two already,” he continues. “Hard to believe how old Isla and Sofia are too. Soon they’ll be fourteen and bringing home strange men.” He grimaces.
“They’re five and three,” I say with a laugh before walking over to him.
“Sofia is almost four,” Cole corrects me. I have no idea how, but I still get little butterflies in my stomach when he wraps his arms around me like this and drops his lips to mine. It’s probably why we have so many kids.
There hasn’t been one day over the last seven years where I’ve woken up and not felt grateful for my decision to play a drunken game of truth or dare with Cole.
We got married for the second time in front of all our family and friends a year after he proposed. I was pregnant with Isla at the time and our two golden retrievers—Mabel’s babies, Jake and Amy—walked down the aisle with the rings tied around their necks. The wedding itself was simple and Vegas-themed to remind us of where we started. We hosted it at Silver Pines and it was the first wedding to take place in Wade’s pet project: the newly built rustic wedding barn. We had a makeshift casino in the back section of the hall, complete with carnival games for the kids, but left the front candlelit, rustic and beautiful. It was the perfect way to celebrate with everyone we love. Not long after, we announced we were having our first baby. And the rest, as they say, is history.
“Cake cake cake!” Isla squeals, burning through the living room. She runs right between us at warp speed as Jo comes through the door with Luca’s cake.
“Your turn,” I tell Cole.
It’s well known that there’s no stopping Isla. Someone has to wrangle her at all times. And, right now, that’s Cole’s job. He makes his way over to her and scoops her right up, her long dark hair tumbling around him as he tickles her into oblivion. If I thought I loved Cole before we grew our family, I had no idea what was in store for me when he became a dad again. He thrives as a father, and together we make the best team. Our life is hectic, messy and chaotic, and about to get even more so. But we can handle it.
“Oh, this man must love you,” Nash says as he comes through the door eyeing up all the Reds décor. He’s carrying my almost six-year-old niece, Ruby, and CeCe follows with my brand-new nephew, Rex.
“Please. He couldn’t live without me,” I smirk.
“I’m thinking about making her sleep in the garage,” Cole cuts in with a laugh before setting Isla down. Her and Ruby scamper off to find Billi in the backyard.
All the girls are so close in age, they’re almost always getting up to mischief. Their main past-time is tormenting Wade and Ivy’s three-year-old, Wyatt, and our younger kids.
There’s a large, loud group outside, and Cole greets everyone after changing into his civilian clothes. He carries out the meat ready to be grilled, and it’s in this moment that he realizes not only did I decorate the whole house in Reds paraphernalia and dress our three kids in Reds jerseys, but I decorated the entire backyard too, and made the whole family wear their Reds gear.
“ Motherfucker ,” he mutters under his breath.
“I got you, Dad,” Mabel says, coming out behind him with Wayne, Lisa and Max.
All four of them are wearing Yankees jerseys or t-shirts, and they stick out like sore thumbs in the crowd of red. Cole’s grin spreads across his face as he shakes Wayne’s hand.
“You’re the only ones I trust,” he says. “The rest of these assholes are traitors.”
“Hey, I’ve always been a Reds fan,” Nash calls out. “It’s the one thing in sports that your dad and I ever agreed on.”
“I was forced into this,” Wade adds with a shrug as Ivy nods, bouncing little Wyatt on her knee.
Cole and I make our way to the grill.
“I’m liking Max a little more now,” he says.
He starts cooking up a storm and the smell of food fills the yard. The chatter is loud around us, accompanied by the sound of laughter and water splashing as the kids jump in and out of the pool.
Papa Dean prepares buns for Cole to toast as I talk with Glenda while rocking baby Rex in my arms to give CeCe a break.
“Does he have any idea?” CeCe asks me in a whisper as Glenda heads off to talk to Olivia and her man.
I grin. “I don’t think so.”
“This is going to be fun,” she giggles.
Cole calls everyone to eat with a whistle and we all seat ourselves around the giant outdoor harvest tables he built three summers ago. They each seat sixteen people, and Ivy says that, at the rate we’re all going producing offspring, he’ll need to add to it within a year. She might not be wrong.
“Who wants presents?” my mother calls from the patio door. I turn to see her holding a giant stack of gifts, way more than warranted for Luca, which tells me she’s done it again.
“You don’t need to bring presents for all of the children every time someone has a birthday!” I say as I get up to give her a squeeze.
“I keep telling her we’re on a budget now that I’m retired,” my father jokes, carrying his own stack of gifts. He kisses the top of my head. Things have been so much better between us during the last few years. He’s been enjoying tinkering on a project car and spending every winter in Florida with my mother. I finally feel that, after years of not really knowing my father, I now understand him as a person. I’m grateful every day for the relationship we’ve developed.
“And he still supports me,” my still-vibrant nonna says with a giggle, turning to give Papa Dean a squeeze.
“They forget we supported them their whole lives. It’s about time they give something back,” he jokes.
“We really are just a trio of freeloaders, aren’t we?” she says to him and my granny with a wink.
I hug my nonna before turning to pull Granny Dan close.
“Don’t think you’re going to keep the only eligible man in this place to yourself,” she says to Nonna, wagging a finger with a grin as she gives Dean a hug after me. We’re all used to the friendly flirting between them.
“Alright ladies, no need to fight over me. I’ve got a chair on either side of mine. Let’s get a drink and give these grandkids presents and way too much candy,” Papa Dean says with a mischievous grin.
“Pop …” Cole warns. “They’ll be up all night.”
“Payback, son.” Pop winks and Cole rolls his eyes.
“Let’s eat, before the kids have no appetite left …” Cole says to me, loud enough for the grandparents to hear, before turning to shake my dad’s hand and help my mom with all the gifts.
“We’ve got bookings every weekend for the entire summer,” Wade tells us as we eat.
“He’s going to have to hire someone to either run the ranch while he handles the hospitality side or vice versa. It’s getting too much,” Ivy adds.
“I’ve offered multiple times!” Liv pipes up. “The moment I can find a buyer for my shop, I’m all yours.”
“Why do you think I haven’t hired anyone yet? Will you get on that?” Wade says with a grin before his attention is diverted to Billi beside him making a mess with Ruby and Isla.
“I’ve offered my services too, but for some reason he doesn’t take me up on it,” Papa Dean sighs.
“Yeah, ’cause you’ll be making inappropriate cracks at all the brides and their friends,” Cole chuckles as he sips his drink.
CeCe smirks. “Besides, you’re too young and carefree to settle down to one career.”
“That is the truth.” Dean grins. “Gotta decide what I want to do when I grow up first.”
“Alright, let’s get this cake show on the road,” Mama Jo says, coming out from the kitchen with the slab cake in a box. Behind her trails my second-best PIC, Mabel, with a little surprise cake for me to share with everyone. She winks at me and I her. After seven years together, our mother-daughter relationship has blossomed into something so special. Her own mother still comes around—I will say, a little more now than before—but I sometimes feel like I know Mabel better than even Cole does. Our late-night chats about boys and school, talks about her future and what she wants to do—it all just flows so easily between us, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
The whole crew sings happy birthday to my dark-haired, amber-eyed little man, who claps his hands and shows off his adorable dimples as we all cheer. Ivy takes photos of all of us together, and Cole, Sofia, Isla and I help Luca blow out his candles. They girls must, at all times, be involved in everything we do.
“This cake has your name on the box, Dad,” Mabel says with a grin.
Cole looks around the table, and then at me.
“What is this?” he asks. “Should I be opening this?”
I shrug. “Yes. In fact, I dare you to, baby,” I tell him with a grin.
Cole’s eyes narrow and he makes his way to the end of the table to pop open the lid of the box. I move to stand beside him.
There, written in pink and blue icing are the words: “ Boy, Girl? Maybe both? ”
Cole looks down at the cake, then back at me, as our family clamors to see what we’re looking at.
“Both?” Cole asks with a gulp.
I nod.
“Twins?” he croaks out as the tables erupt in a chorus of cheers. I look at my husband and smile. I didn’t even know they ran in our family until my nonna told me her mother was a twin.
“Might be time to add on to this house,” I giggle.
“Would you take it easy on the woman? Jesus, Cole,” Papa Dean calls from his seat.
“Six kids?” Cole asks.
“You wanted a big family.” I shrug and kiss him.
Cole laughs. “Well, we’re on our way to that now, aren’t we?”
The moment his initial shock wears off, he’s scooping me up in his arms and spinning me around as Mabel laughs.
“You knew about this, didn’t you?” he says as he turns to face her.
She nods and he kisses the side of her head.
“Just don’t expect me to babysit them all at the same time!” she replies with a wide smile.
The sound of our family and friends laughing and talking fades into the background as that hazy kind of bliss I only get when Cole dips his lips to mine takes over.
“So that add-on to the house … can we consider that a favor? Add it to my tab?” I whisper into him.
He kisses me gently.
“A whole house addition?” he responds, moving his lips to the spot on my neck he loves. “You’re gonna owe me big-time for that, Mrs. Ashby,” he says. “Get ready to take it all.”
“Title of your sex tape,” I reply with a soft laugh as he kisses my lips, my shoulders, anywhere he can. I hug him tight.
Is having five kids under six scary? Hell yes. But attempting anything in this life with Cole Ashby by my side is okay by me. Nothing can really be considered a risk when everything we do together makes me the happiest I’ve ever been.
And every bit of my history with Cole from the kiss in his truck to that chance game of truth or dare in Vegas that led us here? It all just reminds me why I always take the dare. Because you can’t always wait for the perfect time to risk it all. Sometimes, you have to just close your eyes, slide over to the boy in the front seat and kiss him like your future depends on it, because maybe someday it will.