Epilogue
Pace
One Year Later….
Watching the love of your life risk her life is a hell I wish on no man.
Watching Piper try and fail to get up the rock face, I stifle a chuckle. My woman does try her damndest at all she does. But being on the mountain is dangerous enough for her. Sometimes she grows a little adventurous and tries hiking or, like today, something dangerous. Rock climbing is the last thing Piper should be trying, but I am here to save her if she needs saving.
Besides, the view of her plump ass in those tiny shorts is beautiful. I smack her ass, the crack echoing through the woods. Piper giggles and my heart swells inside of my chest. Jesus, I love her. I never had a clue I could feel the things she makes me feel.
“Come on down, sweetheart. Think I’ve had enough of you just about giving me a heart attack,” I call, laughing when Smokie barks at her as if agreeing with me.
It’s a beautiful day on the mountain and we’ve just begun an extended vacation. With it being storm season, we want as much time together as we can get. It is our favorite time of the year. Even with gray skies and torrential downpours, we’re happy as can be.
“We both know you love playing my hero, doc,” she calls back.
Laughing, I pull her off the rock, dragging her against me with a huff. I love that she still calls me Doc. She ought to, as often as I have to tend to her wounds. Piper has grown more daring and will gleefully come home with any number of wounds I have to bandage up.
“You’re right, I do. But we came here for a picnic with our girl, come on now,” I remind her, setting her down on the blanket I spread out earlier.
Piper beams up at me as I call Smokie over, laughing as she bowls her over with slobbering kisses. They’re the two most important things in my life now. Smokie is my reminder of the family I lost, and for a while that hurt. But now she serves as the best thing to come out of an awful situation. Also, she loves Piper something fierce, and is there to take care of her when I’m down at the station.
I still volunteer at the fire station, and I’m thankful for the place. I’ve grown closer to the other guys since we went on that fishing trip last summer. We go twice a year now, spending a whole weekend at another cabin by the lake. It’s good for us all to take a break from putting out literal fires and saving lives. We smoke cigars, drink a tragic amount of beers, and talk about our old ladies.
Glancing over at Piper now, I feel the weight of the box in my pocket once again. It’s been there all day, but I want the moment to be perfect. This is just the first day of our vacation together and I want it to start off with a bang.
Piper has been working so hard lately on Bettie Button’s stories. They don’t parallel her own life the same way anymore. But she does write about a mountain-man firefighter who Bettie fell in love with. Now that she lives her own adventures, she doesn’t feel the need to hide behind her creation.
“I love you,” she breathes the words as she falls back on the grass, her skin glowing in the sunshine. “You will always be my hero.”
“I hope so. I love being your hero, sweetheart. Love you too.”
Lying on the grass beside her, I hold the box in my hand. It almost seems unnecessary to take this step. We’ve been inseparable since that very first night after I saved her from being stuck in that tree. And to hear her tell it, an honest-to-God jackalope. But I want it to be legal, I want her to be tied to me on paper, for the rest of my life.
We’ve found a perfect life up here on the mountain. We talked about babies and forever together a hundred times. Both of us want the forever. Turns out neither of us want babies. We’re a little selfish and we don’t want to share each other with anyone, not even children. It took a lot of talking for us to agree that we weren’t costing each other anything.
I want a thousand more days just like this. The two of us in the sun, with Smokie there too, laughing and focusing on each other. It might be selfish but I am ok with that. I love her, I love our life, and I do not want anything to change. Well, except for her last name.
“Marry me, Piper,” I whisper, wishing immediately I could take the words back.
I planned this picnic out. It will start raining in just a little while and she loves the first rain of springtime. I would get the ring out, go down on one knee, and propose proper. But sitting here with her, I just can’t wait another moment. I want to get to the happy ever after as soon as possible.
Piper sits up, eyes wide as they lock on the ring. “Do….you…do you mean it?”
“Hell, yes, I mean it. I love you, Piper. You’re my entire world. Finding you in that tree was the best thing to ever happen to me. I want to be your hero for the rest of our lives. Save you as many times as you need saving. Because I told you before, you saved me.”
Piper smiles, tears shimmering in her beautiful eyes. “Yes. Yes, I love you, Pace. I want to be your wife. It’s all I want.”
Rolling her beneath me, I slip the ring on her finger, and she meets me halfway, our kiss hungry, hot. I cradle her close as the kiss deepens as it always does. Just as I start to pull at the buttons on her shirt, it starts raining. Perfect timing. I strip us both down and she laughs as I shove the picnic aside, deciding we can do the romantic stuff later.
“I love you, Piper. Love you so much,” I whisper as I rise up over her, thrusting once to get inside her. To get home.
“I love you too, doc. I love you too.”
We don’t need a romantic picnic to make the moment perfect. We’ve always been more of a near-death experience sort of couple. I let her get herself into trouble and she lets me save her. It’s a win-win and maybe no one else thinks so, but being her hero? It’s sure romantic to me.