39. EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE
Colton
6 MONTHS LATER…
T he young kid who’d left town with his life packed into a duffel bag to go and chase a bull riding dream in the United States seven years ago wouldn’t believe me if I told him how our life had turned out. I’d returned to Gumtree Valley. I was back together with my childhood love. The same childhood love who would be painting in the large but old farmhouse, nestled in the valley of the property we’d brought together. Honey McBride. My girlfriend who I hoped would be my fiancé again.
I let my ute idle behind the cattle grid that marked the start of our new property’s long driveway and reached for the glovebox. The leftover condoms from the night Honey and I had sex at View Point were still in there. Now that we had a house of our own, the comfort of fucking on a mattress outweighed the spontaneity of the ute’s bonnet. I dug past them and until I found the small box. Its lid opened with a gentle crack and the faces of the diamond ring immediately dazzled in the sunlight pouring through the windscreen. I could’ve found the engagement ring I’d proposed with years ago but it felt tarnished by memories I didn’t want Honey remembering each time she looked at it. Plus, I had more money now than I did when I was nineteen and the size of this ring showed, not that Honey was the type of girl to demand a large-sized rock. When I got down on one knee in front of Honey with this ring, I wanted her to see that she meant everything to me.
Ellie-May had been the saving grace behind the ring selection, able to coax out what design Honey liked if we were to ever get engaged again. Granny Beauregard had given me her teary blessing, something I hadn’t sought the first-time round which I also apologised for. I’d driven home with two jars of fresh mulberry jam rattling on the passenger seat.
The only other person who knew my plan was Beau. I felt sick revealing I wanted Honey to be my wife again, knowing he still wore the scars of their break-up. Tracking him down had been the hardest part. Since the break-up, then his date with the new vet we could only assume went badly because he refused to talk about it, Beau had become a recluse. He might as well not have a mobile phone anymore and Dad ran all the town errands. I’d found him at the creek, on one of his most trusted horses as they cooled down after a long ride.
‘I’m going to ask Honey to marry me—again.’ I was ready to be dragged down from the saddle and thrown into the dirt. ‘I wanted to give you a heads-up.’
Beau had only stared at me, looking like he’d let himself go to the bushman life as his horse pawed the water. ‘What if I said no?’
‘I’d still do it anyway.’
He’d grinned. Then we’d ridden back to the Double Q Ranch homestead together and that was that.
I sucked in a deep breath, took the ring from the box and stuffed it in my pocket, then put the ute into gear and continued down the driveway. I didn’t know why I was so nervous. Honey and I loved each other. We wanted to be together forever. What if she thought it was too soon? What if it triggered some sort of PTSD of when I’d proposed and left? I was different now though. We were both on the same page on where we wanted our lives to go. I knew that. She knew that. It would be fine.
I wound down the window to let the late afternoon air blow around the cab. We were in the cooler months now. The brown grass was beginning to be overtaken by green. The creek, which flowed through the paddocks, was beginning to fill higher with each rainfall. Soon my new business venture would be grazing down the plentiful feed. The first lot of quality bucking bulls I would breed were due to arrive at the end of the month. I would still teach at the rodeo school full time, but breeding my own bulls when I retired from riding had always been a goal of mine.
The house came into view with our new four-wheel drive parked in front of it. Honey loved her Pops’ old ute, but she’d been dying for something a bit more comfortable. And it was an investment for a future family, whenever that may happen. The big Queenslander was a generous sized home but one that needed some TLC. The previous owner had been elderly, having to give up their beloved home to move into aged care. The interior hadn’t been updated for decades and the exterior paint was peeling. The gardens were unsalvageable, leaving Honey and I to do a back-breaking weekend’s work of slashing and pulling out everything. When the weather warmed again Honey had already employed her Granny to help her establish bright and plentiful gardens. Boxes of our belongings still sat on the wide wrap-around verandahs. We’d plucked the essentials out but between both of us working full-time, the unpacking was slow going until the inside renovations were complete.
I parked my ute alongside Honey’s car and double-checked my pocket for a circle before making my way across the yard. When I opened the door, one with stained-glass panes of a gumtree, which Honey said wasn’t to be touched, I was blasted with the smell of sanded walls and paint. Usually, her choice of music came from her favourite country radio station, but she’d obviously needed a hit of nostalgia to get her through another afternoon of house painting. Duke was on his bed by the fireplace, soaking up all the heat he could get in the cooler part of the year. I grinned as Honey remained oblivious to me, singing out of tune as she pushed the paint roller up and down the wall. We’d decided on a neutral colour for the walls and a light grey for the trims.
‘It’ll give it a classic country, fresh and bright look,’ Honey had said while the tins of paint had been getting mixed at the hardware store.
Honey twisted around to dip her roller back into the paint tray when she noticed me with a startled yelp. I cursed myself for not thinking things through, hoping I wasn’t going to have to do a hospital bed proposal, as I rushed forward to catch her from toppling off the ladder. The roller splashed into the tray. Thankfully the sheets Honey had laid had caught the paint and not the hardwood floors we’d just had varnished last week.
‘Back to where it all began, the second time at least.’ I smirked down at Honey in my arms who was trying her best to give me a glare. ‘Have you even fixed that floorboard yet?’
I let her push away from me to pause the music on her phone. The sounds of outside flooded into our quiet home, the crickets no longer having to compete with the cicadas who preferred the warmth. Misty snorted as she grazed in her night yard next to the house.
‘No, not yet.’ Honey sighed, picking up the roller again and marching up the ladder. I grabbed a spare and began slathering on the paint, enjoying the satisfaction of the colour covering the white primer. ‘Every time I tick something off on my planner, another five things get added onto the bottom. Why did I decide to do the PCOS fundraiser?’
The council had recently approved Honey’s idea to host a mini rodeo with the aim of raising money for the condition she suffered from. The plan was to have the entire main drag illuminated in teal—the official colour of PCOS awareness—and all proceeds from the rodeo were going to be turned to donations. Even all the competitors were going to wear teal.
‘Because you’re a caring person who wants to help other women like yourself.’ The engagement ring felt like it was branding my skin in my pocket. Now would be a perfect opening for my plan. I sat the paint roller back in the tray, pausing in reaching for the ring when I noticed Honey looked to be full of apprehension. ‘Something’s worrying you.’
Honey rolled a few more strokes of paint, delaying, before climbing down the ladder. She put the roller back in the tray and fumbled with her hands before her eyes even glanced at my face. ‘I wanted to ask you something.’
Oh hell. Surely she wasn’t proposing to me. I could feel myself start to panic. I wasn’t against women proposing to men, but I’d been wanting to do this to show Honey how much she means to me. To prove to her that I was committed all the way. No calls away for a glitzy career were ever going to pull me away from her.
‘I want to have a baby.’
My panic came to a screeching halt. Not a proposal. At least, not the same kind I had planned. Honey’s was … bigger.
‘I know this is soon. It’s only been six months since we started things between us again,’ she mumbled, looking down at her again fidgeting hands. ‘While I’ve been organising the fundraiser, it made me think of my own journey. Thirty is usually the age where women can struggle to fall pregnant, especially with PCOS. I’m turning twenty-seven soon and while the doctors are confident I shouldn’t run into any problems, the wondering is killing me. I might be fine, but I might not be, and the doctors always make you do a year wait to try and fall pregnant naturally before—’
‘Okay.’ It came out in a whoosh of breath. I felt like I was on cloud nine. We had the house; one we were both ready to fill with a family. And my fingers were wrapped around the final step in my pocket.
When Honey’s face snapped up to mine, her mouth hung agape slightly and her eyebrows were almost into her hairline. ‘Okay? You know I just asked you to try and make a baby with me, right? An actual baby. A tiny human that’s going to flip our lives on its head with sleep deprivation, poo-namis, spit up, colic—’
‘And big gummy smiles, baby giggles and lots of love. I know what a baby will bring to us.’ The ring was at the edge of my pocket now. I quickly checked to make sure I wasn’t about to take a knee in a tray full of paint before dropping down in front of Honey. Her eyes instantly widened at the ring pinched tightly between my fingertips. ‘I, Colton Hayes, will make as many babies as you want. Just as long as you, Honey McBride, will be my wife.’
‘Is this really happening?’ Honey’s hands came to her face. Her eyes continuously flicked between my own face and the engagement ring. ‘Did you know I was going to ask about a baby? I’ve only been thinking about it for a week. How did you get a ring so fast?’
I chuckled and shook my head, standing to my feet. My bull riding joints protested a little. Damn, I was gonna have to take Riley up on his offer to join him at the gym if I was going to be running after a toddler in the near future. ‘I’ve had this planned for months. Ellie-May was the detective in working out what you liked.’
‘Should I be concerned how well you can hide something like this from me? What other secrets are you hiding from me, Colton Hayes?’
‘It’s probably not a best kept secret, but if you don’t give me an answer soon, I might go into heart failure.’ I smirked.
Honey gave a giddy laugh as her head began bobbing up and down. ‘Yes. Of course I’ll marry you, my broken-down cowboy.’
I thought my grin would split my head in half when I slid the ring onto Honey’s finger. At least I hoped it was the right finger. The way she didn’t protest and admired it on her hand told me I got it right. I felt like rockets were going to burst from my boots as I hoisted Honey onto my waist. When she pressed her body against me, smelling of sugar soap and paint, and pressed her lips against mine in a passionate kiss, I felt like the two of us had launched up into the sky.
‘Maybe we can start making that baby right now, fiancé,’ I murmured against her lips in a brief pause.
Honey kissed me a little more, her arms draped around my neck. I could feel the warm band on her finger as her hand rested against my cheek. ‘We’re not married yet.’
Honey broke into giggles when I walked us to the bedroom. Duke watched us from his bed before giving a loud groan and flopping back to sleep.
‘We weren’t married when you asked me to make a baby five minutes ago.’
‘Touché.’
We tumbled onto the bed, one surrounded by half-unpacked boxes. I’d just found the sweet spot on Honey’s neck when she began squirming beneath me, and not in a horny way.
‘Let me just get my phone out of my arse.’
I sat back to let her wriggle her phone from her back pocket. ‘Making room for me?’ I gave a smirk.
But Honey ignored me, or didn’t hear me at all, because her eyes were snagged on her phone screen while her fingertips tapped across it madly. ‘It’s Kimberley Sparks.’
My erection was starting to shrivel just at that name. ‘If this is some role-play thing, then sure we can experiment later, but I don’t think I can come to the party if that crazy woman is there, if you catch my drift.’
Honey swatted at my chest. With a huff, I flopped down onto the mattress next to her. Her phone screen was showing an email from Kimberley. This was not how I’d imagined things going after getting engaged. So much for making a baby.
‘Kimberley sent me an ARC of her new book. The one she came here to research.’
I groaned, rolling onto my side and nuzzling into Honey’s neck. But whatever hocus pocus Kimberley had put into that email made Honey immune to my advances. ‘Can’t this wait? We just got engaged!’
‘Stop sulking!’
‘We’ve been engaged for five minutes and you’re already speaking like a true wife— ow !’
Honey didn’t even look a smidge sympathetic as I rubbed my nipple, which had been crippled. ‘It’s about two childhood sweethearts who broke up and find their way back together again when she leaves the big city to come home to her small hometown. Hey, he’s a bull rider like you!’
‘Did we sign a release form?’
Honey suddenly gasped, shooting upright. ‘There’s a dedication to us!’
‘To us ?’ I echoed.
‘ Honey and Colton—the definition of true love. ’ Tears were blurring Honey’s eyes now and I internally cursed Kimberley bloody Sparks.
‘Well that’s nice, and a little weird of her.’ I pushed myself up onto my elbows. ‘You do know this is the crazy girl who came onto me, right?’
Suddenly, Honey tossed the phone away and I was being shoved into the mattress as she straddled me. My shrivelled dick was suddenly working again beneath my fiancé’s body and the wicked look in her eyes.
‘Now I’m going to be the only crazy girl coming onto you for the rest of your life.’ Honey pressed gentle kisses along my jawline.
‘I’m more than okay with that.’
Honey gave a giggle when I flipped us back over, not hesitating to get cracking with the baby making.
Six months ago, I’d come home planning to jet back to the US within two weeks. My career had been everything—and all—I’d had. All I thought I’d wanted. Beau had Honey. Dad still resented me for abandoning my family. There’d been nothing for me in Gumtree Valley.
Turns out, it had my everything.
While the riders I’d competed against were falling apart within broken bodies, signing divorce papers and scrambling to stay out of retirement, I was living the life of a man we’d once rolled our eyes at. A home with dogs, horses, chooks and cows. A wife. A steady job, one working with kids of all things. Hopefully a baby of our own on the way. I was settled. Secure.
Sometimes I wondered what life would have looked like had I not up and left her, if we’d started this life of marriage and babies all those years ago. Maybe it would’ve been easier. Maybe we wouldn’t have lost our angel baby, or we still would’ve. Maybe we would’ve grown apart and ended up with a broken family.
‘I love you, Colton,’ Honey whispered against my lips.
Our clothes were long gone. It felt strange not having to reach over to the bedside drawer and find a condom. The enormity of what we were committing to hit me then. I waited for the nerves to make me back out, to tell Honey that maybe we should wait. But I didn’t feel an inkling of doubt. I wanted to marry Honey. I couldn’t wait to see her become a mother, because I knew she would make the most amazing one. We would make a beautiful baby, one who would will always have their sibling watching over them.
‘I love you too, Honey. So, so much.’ I placed a soft and lingering kiss on her lips.
I wouldn’t change how we got here.
Not a damn thing.
Honey and Colton—the definition of true love.