Epilogue
EPILOGUE
Later that summer
“ F ound it!” Brody entered the living room carrying a box fan and then plugged it into the wall and cranked it on high.
“I can’t believe the A/C is out. Why don’t I know more about HVAC?” It was nearly ninety degrees today. She was dying .
“Because replacing a sink is sexier than repairing an air conditioning unit. Trust me, I have seen you in action.” He waggled his eyebrows, looking sexy in a pair of shorts and nothing else.
She’d returned from running her calls around the same time he’d arrived home from the coffee shop where he’d been writing. They’d opened the front door and were greeted with a blast of heat that rivaled an active volcano.
“I’ve been thinking,” Reagan said, and she had. She wasn’t sure when or if she should share what was on her mind, especially after Brody had been so adamant about them living in Merriweather Springs.
He rolled up the hem of her T-shirt. “About sweaty, no-air-conditioning sex?”
She laughed. He really was insatiable. She had delighted in discovering that she was pretty damn insatiable herself. “What if we live in two houses?”
His lips halted over hers. “I’m listening.”
“You love the city.”
“I love you.”
She palmed his scruffy face. She’d never tire of hearing that, and he’d said it freely since that night on the plane. If there was one thing she knew about Brody, it was that he spoke the truth. Well, when he wasn’t playing down his impressive culinary skills.
“I love you too.” She patted his cheek. “Wouldn’t you rather be in your penthouse enjoying crisp, cool air-conditioning? What about when it’s winter and you have to shovel the walk?”
“I’m kind of excited to try out the snowblower.” He frowned. “What about your work?”
“I hired someone today.” She’d been saving that news.
He grinned. “No shit?”
“No shit.” Since returning from New York with Brody, she had been open to some adventures of her own. Living here was lovely, but she’d bet visiting Paris was lovely as well. “I’ve been busier lately. I can serve more clients with help. And, if I hire enough help, I’ll be able to delegate so that I can do more of what I love.”
“And what would you love to do?” He stole a kiss. “Besides me.”
Her hands on either side of his neck, she locked eyes with him. “Be a mom.”
His smile vanished, his face going slack. “Be a— Seriously?”
She nodded. She’d not only secretly hired someone but had also taken back-to-back pregnancy tests yesterday. It was official. They were expecting.
“I’ve always wanted to try my hand at building furniture,” she continued since Brody was tongue-tied. “I can rent a studio in the city and build a bassinet.”
“You’re pregnant.” He blinked in rapid succession. “With my baby.”
“Well, it isn’t anyone else’s.”
He stamped her mouth with a hard kiss as she laughed against his lips. Then he rested his forehead on hers and promised to build a house wherever she wanted to raise their child. “We don’t have to live in the city. How about we buy a patch of land outside of the city? Somewhere close enough that my family can visit but without spare bedrooms so that none of them can sleep over.”
“Jaylyn is going to be an amazing aunt.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You sure about that?”
“And the baby will give everyone an excuse to be together again. Maybe Dante will visit more often.”
“I’m still wrapping my head around being a father.” He blew out a breath. “I only have nine months to prepare.”
“You’re great on your toes. You’ll be a natural.”
“Me? You are going to be the best mom. I hope we have a girl with your green eyes.”
“I hope we have a boy with your sense of adventure.” She kissed him sweetly. After not making future plans, pregnancy had forced her hand…and on a tight timetable.
“That reminds me.” He pulled a black velvet bag from his pocket.
“What is it?” She loved his surprises. “A gumball machine ring to add to my collection?”
“Something like that. Octavius blew into town to drop it off this morning before he flew to Japan. Took him a hot minute to locate a green diamond.”
Her stomach dipped when he opened her hand and deposited the contents of the bag onto it. There, in the center of her palm, was the ring that Jaylyn had designed. The tree with its upward branches and delicate bejeweled leaves. In the center was a sparkling green stone.
“Green diamonds are real, but rare. Like you.” He slid the ring to its home at the base of her ring finger on her left hand. “What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful.” She stared. Stared and stared and stared . “You planned this.”
“Well, to be fair, I planned to give it to you when we meet up with Zander and Chloe and J for dinner, but then you dropped the bomb about my being a dad and, hell.” A grin transformed his entire face. “I couldn’t wait.”
She sniffled, her emotions getting the best of her. It was all so fast, all so good .
“I’ll live here with you. I’ll live in the city with you. I’ll move to Siberia and raise orphaned tigers with you if you want. You’re my forever, Reagan Palmer. Or should I say Reagan Crane?”
A watery laugh stuttered from her lips.
“I’m not sure what I’ll do next. What if I want to write a book on tantric sex now, and then after the baby is born write a parenting book? I like the idea of researching one of those more than the other, but I’m sure I’ll grow to appreciate both.”
He stopped teasing her and pushed the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit. “It’s unique. Like us. I like to think it represents the tree you wouldn’t let me chop down. Our meet-cute.”
“I love that tree.”
“I love you.”
“I love you.” She leaned in for a kiss, but he pulled away.
“You didn’t answer me.”
She blinked at him. “You didn’t ask me anything.”
“Shit. I didn’t, did I? I knew I’d botch this. I should have hired a band or a skywriter or a?—”
She pressed her finger over his lips. “Ask.”
“Reagan, will you be my wife and the mother of my unborn child?”
“Yes. I will.”
He kissed her again, pushing her to her back on the couch. The same couch where they first kissed. Before she knew that her dream to live in this house would come true. Before she’d known that dream held within it an even bigger dream: loving and living as Brody’s wife as they built a family together.
A family like neither of them had known.
As he stripped off her T-shirt, she realized that he was right. Home was impermanent. But she was right too. Home was also a sanctuary, made more precious because nothing lasted forever.
Except for us , she decided. On that, she wouldn’t compromise.