Epilogue
Maisie
T he leaves on the trees are just starting to change colors and there’s a brisk chill in the air. But the sun shining on the backyard of our house is enough to get me and Audra outside.
Summer turned to fall in the blink of an eye. Nights spent in Harlan’s kitchen, at Hal’s place, family dinners, dates, and laughter. Every day, I fall harder and deeper in love with Everette, its sheriff, and his big, loud family.
Shortly after Sean showing up, he was transferred back to Oklahoma, where the evidence of his abuse was used to file charges against him in addition to the pending assault case. He’s awaiting trial, and I’ve erased him from my thoughts as best I can, choosing to stay in the moment with the new life I’m creating.
About two weeks after moving in with Harlan, I baked Hal a pie as a thank you for setting up the nursery for Audra. We spent the afternoon playing with my daughter while he told me about Harlan’s mom, how they met and how much he loved her and missed cooking with her.
Since then, we’ve been kitchen buddies for family dinners. I play sous chef, and together we’ve figured out a pretty good way to feed the family when we come together.
Lunch dates with him and Jem have brought us even closer, and even though I miss my own dad, Hal’s helping fill the void.
“Come on, baby girl. You can do it.” Audra’s using one of the porch chairs to hold her steady as she scoots her feet around. I’ve been trying to get her to walk for what feels like weeks at this point, but she just plops down on her butt unless I’m holding her hands.
“There are my girls.” The husky rasp is familiar, full of love and the definition of my own brand of happiness.
Harlan comes around the corner, the sexy uniform of his station still enough to get me hot under the collar.
Stable in his position as the sheriff of Everette, Harlan told me about the conversation that he had with Cormac’s dad. According to Hal and the mayor, Cormac lit out of town shortly after the talking to his father gave him and we haven’t seen him since.
And good riddance. There’s only room in this town for one sheriff, and that’s Harlan.
“Hey, babe,” I say, keeping an eye on Audra.
“Da-da!” my girl squeals when she sees him.
The exclamation of my girl’s favorite guy makes me smile. I walked in from one of the town business meetings earlier this summer to Harlan and his brother’s teaching Audra to call Harlan da-da.
“Hey, there, sweet pea. Still nothing?” he asks me, eyeing our walking shy daughter.
It’s not official yet, but Harlan is Audra’s dad in every way that matters. When she started saying da-da to him – to his delight – every time he came through the door at night and holding her chubby arms up for a cuddle, I lost another part of my heart to him. Staying up with her through a nasty stomach bug that took both of us out at the end of summer, and poof, another piece of something that used to be just mine was gone. But it was a happy kind of sad. The right kind of sad. If there was anyone in the world that I’d want to share Audra with… it’s him.
He squats down, dropping to one knee, just out of reach of Audra whose excitement at seeing her favorite guy makes her a little less steady than normal.
“She just needs the right incentive.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small velvet box.
Holy shit.
The air in my lung evaporates. Just dries up, and I can’t catch my breath.
“Har…” I gasp not sure if I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing.
Flipping the top open, fire dances through the afternoon sunshine. A vintage-style gold band nestles diamonds in its curlicues.
Oh my god. My heart feels like it’s going to explode right out of my chest and plop at his feet on the porch deck.
Oh my holy shit.
“Harlan,” I gasp.
“Come on, pretty girl. Come get it.” He smirks at me and waves the box so the light catches on all the shiny gems.
Audra’s face scrunches up, and she turns her body, using the chair to stay steady and like she’s been doing it for months she toddles the three steps between her and Harlan, hands outstretched for the ring in the box.
The ring forgotten, I watch my baby take her first steps toward the man I love. “Oh my god. She did it! She walked.” Tears pour down my cheeks in happiness for my girl and the fact that I think Harlan’s proposing .
Harlan scoops her up in his arms, smacking a kiss against her cheek. “Of course you did. You’re so smart. You can do anything.” He jiggles her in his arms until she’s giggling.
He turns to me, the box still open between us. “Maisie. Sunshine. Your daughter is a lot like you, she gets the best parts of her from you, you’re strong and brave and the best thing to ever crash into my life. I’d be stupid if I didn’t want you to be my wife. And I’m not stupid.”
My eyes fill with tears even as a watery laugh bursts from me.
“Marry me. Be mine. Keep crashing through life with me.”
I’m nodding before he finishes.
“Yes. Of course, yes. I love you.” I step into him, our daughter pressed between us and kiss him. Pouring the love I have for him into it.
He pulls back and swipes a thumb over my cheek, catching the happy tear.
“I’m sorry.”
I pull back, confused. “What?”
“She said yes!” The excited yell comes from Rhett, and I look over Harlan’s shoulder to see the Calhoun clan converging on us.
“I couldn’t keep the idiots away,” he explains with a wince.
He shoots an irritable glance over his shoulder at his brothers as they surround us in a giant group hug. Everyone talks at once.
“I told you idiots that she’d say yes,” Jedd crows.
“We didn’t think she was going to say no. And the ring didn’t hurt his chances either,” Duke says.
They continue to talk and bullshit around us, and I’m wrapped up in six different hugs, passed around his brothers as they congratulate me on becoming an official part of the family.
Jem and Andy are waiting their turn off to the side, and by the time I get to them, I’m dizzy from elation.
They oh and ah over the ring before Hal walks toward me.
“Hey, Dad,” I say teasingly. “Did you know about this?” We just met for coffee earlier this week and he could have clued me in.
“Who do you think gave him his granny’s ring?” He winks at me.
“You sneak!” I laugh while admiring the ring on my finger.
“Welcome to the family, Mais. Thanks for making my boy happy.” He tries to say it lightly but the crack at the end gives him away. That and the slightly watery red eyes.
“You know...I could use an escort down the aisle, if you’re not too busy?” I say, emotion saturating the request.
Hal wraps his arms around me in a bear hug and these — these bear hugs — are the best part of Hal. “I’d be honored, honey. Absolutely honored.”
I hug Hal back and we both sniffle our tears away.
“Okay, okay, you two. Enough with the waterworks. Let’s get this party started,” Boone crows as the popping sound of champagne rings through the air.
It’s hours later when the party starts to die down. Dawn and the small business girls swung by before the end of the night, and we ended up ordering pizza for everyone to sop up the alcohol .
Another thing to change after I chose to stay, to settle in? Making friends. Pedicure dates and happy hour drinks, discussion about the abysmal dating scene my friends deal with gave me a solid group of girlfriends, and I’m ecstatic having these ladies here with me to celebrate.
“Goddamn it, Mischief,” Jedd cries as he covers the lip of his beer with his mouth trying to get the foam that Andy caused by tapping her beer to the top of his.
Andy snickers as he struggles to drink the foamy beer fast enough. Some of it dribbles down the side of the bottle and onto the grass where we made camp. There’s a fire going in the fire pit. Giselle is cuddling Audra on her lap, her own glass of wine forgotten as she snuggles my daughter.
“Oh suck it up, grease monkey.” Andy laughs.
“You remember in the third grade when I gave you a mud bath on the playground?” Jedd asks when he gets control of his drink again.
Andy’s eyes narrow in his direction. “Yeah, what of it?”
“You’re about due for a repeat.” He launches out of his chair toward her, and before she can make a break for it, he has her hoisted up and over his shoulder.
“Jedidiah Calhoun, you put me down right this minute.”
“No can do.” He marches toward the back of the yard with her in tow, her shrieks of outrage trailing behind them.
We laugh as they disappear through the tree line because this isn’t the first time we’ve been subjected to their antics. They have a running prank war that gets more elaborate with each joke. Andy wrapped Jedd’s truck in cellophane and duct tape earlier this summer, and he retaliated by putting pink hair dye in her body wash. We called her Poppy for a solid two weeks after the dye washed off.
I turn in my seat and cock an eyebrow at Harlan. He shakes his head at me and my silent question.
“They’re just friends, Sunshine. That’s all they’ve ever been.”
Listening to the sound of Andy’s struggling laughter and Jedd’s cursing hilarity, I sincerely doubt they’re just friends.
But I guess only time will tell. I lean down to catch Harlan’s mouth with mine, all we have is time. All the time in the world.