Epilogue
TRENT
It was one of those February afternoons in Texas that reminded me why I would never live anywhere else.
The blue sky was so clean, it looked like it’d been freshly scrubbed, the sun a massive, glowing ball hanging on the horizon.
Gravel crunched under my tires as I pulled up to the house, even the dust trailing behind me lingering a little in the calm air before it settled.
Charlotte was waiting on the porch, her dark hair tied up into a messy bun right on top of her head and the baby steady on her hip. Honestly, when she held him like that, he looked like an extension of her, both of them so comfortable that it was like she’d had him her whole life.
Tyler had his little face turned toward her chest, half asleep and completely content. That sight right there had become one of my favorite things in the world, coming home and seeing them.
Except today, I wasn’t the only one appreciating the view. My mother was on the porch too and I exhaled a heavy breath through my nose. A small but very reasonable part of me considered staying exactly where I was.
It was quiet in the truck. Peaceful.
As much as I wanted to wrap my arms around my wife and son, I wasn’t much in the mood for Mom right now. She and Charlotte had been two peas in a pod since literally the first time they’d met, though.
If she’d come over from the main house, it was because Charlotte wanted her here, and whatever my wife wanted, I would give. Always.
Both of them smiled as I shut off the engine. My window for avoiding Mom’s rapid-fire chit-chat had officially closed. I climbed out, already being waved at like I was late to my own life by the time my boots hit the gravel.
“There you are,” Mom called. “It’s about time you got here. Charlotte’s arm has been going numb for the last twenty minutes and little Tyler is just as stubborn as his Pawpaw. He’s refusing to come to me.”
Charlotte laughed and extended him toward me before I’d even had the chance to kiss her properly. “Here we go. Your turn.”
Tyler made a soft, offended noise when I took him, but then he smiled when he saw me, just about making me melt right there in my boots. “Hey, buddy. You holdin’ court out here without me?”
He blinked slowly, looking for all the world like he was considering the accusation. My mother stepped closer, grinning at him like he was a prized show calf. “He’s got your jaw.”
Charlotte leaned into my side, pushing herself up on her toes to nuzzle my neck. “Sure, he does, but he has my attitude.”
“That’s unfortunate,” I said, lowering my head to the top of hers. “I love it on you, though. Won’t lie.”
My mother took a step back and smiled at us, apparently still smug about her role in making sure Charlotte stuck around Texas even this long after we’d gotten married. I wasn’t sure it would ever wear off. “Oh, you three. You’re just the cutest darn family ever.”
I grinned. “All credit for that goes to my wife and child.”
She stared toward the porch steps, then stopped and looked back at me. “Before I forget, Theo finally set a date. They’re getting married in Arizona. Late spring. It’s about time that boy stopped dragging his feet, but if you want me to watch Tyler for the weekend, I’ll be more than happy to.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Theo’s actually doing it? He’s getting married? I honestly thought he might just be faking the engagement to get Alex off his back.”
“He wouldn’t have been the first.” Charlotte grinned. “I don’t think that’s it, though. He sounded pretty excited when I spoke to him.”
My mom chuckled. “Well, I’ll let you two get on with things. Don’t forget about dinner on Sunday.”
“I never forget about dinner on Sunday,” I said.
“That’s because I remind you every week,” she replied, walking down the steps. “Have a good one, darlings!”
When her little car finally disappeared down the drive, Charlotte exhaled and leaned fully into me. “Her ability to smell news is terrifying. I swear, seven seconds after I got off the phone with Theo, she was here.”
“She likes you more than she likes me,” I said. “Maybe she’s developed the ability to sense how you’re feeling all the way from the main house.”
She chuckled but shrugged as we walked inside. “That’s probably not impossible. I was pretty excited when I got the call. He sounds so happy.”
As I shut the door behind us, feeling Tyler’s head settling deeper into my shoulder, I smiled and kept my voice down, the way his body was softening telling me that he was probably going to be asleep any minute now.
“I’m glad,” I murmured. “He’s always seemed like the restless one. It’s good he finally found his place in the world.”
“Yeah.”
Charlotte glanced at Tyler, then spun and preceded me upstairs to the nursery.
As I ascended behind her, I looked down at the first floor, the flowers on the kitchen counter and the blanket of the couch.
In the living room, baby toys were strewn across the floor and a play mat sat next to the dining table.
Charlotte had made this place feel like home practically from the day she’d walked in here, but between her and Tyler, it was hard to even remember how empty it had felt before.
When we reached the nursery, I laid him down carefully, then both of us lingered next to his cot a little longer.
Charlotte’s fingers brushed his hair before she turned back to me.
“Let’s go,” she whispered. “I have more to tell you.”
I swiped my tongue across my lips and nodded, wondering if I should be bracing myself for yet another shock. Moments of peace were rare when one was part of the Westwood clan, and we’d been in a season of peace for a while now. We were probably due another media storm.
“Wine?” I asked as soon as the nursery door clicked shut behind us. “I feel like we’re going to need it. Do we?”
“If I say no, does that mean I won’t get any?”
“Nope.” I reached for her hand, tugging her into me and finally pressing a long, slow kiss to her mouth and moaning softly now that her body was pressed against mine. “I missed you.”
She smiled against my lips. “You were away for three hours.”
“I know. It was a lifetime.”
For a few seconds, I just held her, finally letting her go only when I heard the kitchen timer buzz from below.
Although it had been a couple of years, I still couldn’t get enough of this woman.
I just wasn’t desperate enough to let the oven set the house on fire with our child sleeping soundly in his room.
She pulled roasting dishes overflowing with chicken and vegetables out of the oven. I poured us each a glass of wine, handing hers over once we were seated at the counter. She took a sip, smiling at me as I dished up.
“Jane called today,” she said. “She’s sending Alex down here to Texas.”
My eyebrows hiked up. “Why?”
“To get his mind right.”
I snorted. “His mind is always right. It’s the rest of him that’s the problem.”
“You’d think so, but apparently, he’s been talking about setting up the Thayer brothers with wives now that all our own brothers are married.”
“Fuck.” I laughed, rolling my eyes. “He really is a sucker for punishment, isn’t he? I can definitely put him to work, though. Maybe we’ll be able to satisfy his matchmaking tendencies with the next batch of cows.”
Charlotte pointed at me with her glass. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. You encouraging him.”
I shrugged. “He’s actually pretty good at it.”
“At matchmaking?”
“At working people until they figure out what they want,” I corrected gently. “It’s a useful skill to have in your family’s world.”
She sighed. “That man does not need encouragement and Jane’s brothers aren’t Westwoods. They have no obligation to let Alex makes moves in their lives like they’re no more than glorified chess pieces.”
I shook my head. “I disagree. I’ve talked to Colin a little bit at all the family events and I think he’s ready for a wife and a family.”
Charlotte arched an eyebrow at me, an amused grin ghosting across her lips. “That doesn’t mean he’s one good dinner away from proposing to whoever has crossed Alex’s desk.”
I laughed. “Neither of us actually know him well enough to say that with confidence.”
She studied me over the rim her glass. “If Alex keeps going like this, he’s going to end up with his own dating reality TV show.”
“I’d watch that.”
“Not if it’s hosted, produced, and judged by him,” she said, waggling her eyebrows at me. “They’ve got another baby on the way. That’s what he should be focused on.”
I smiled and reached for her hand across the counter. “Give him a break. That’s probably why he wants to set up the Thayers, to keep himself busy until the baby arrives. It’s either that or he drives Jane crazy for the duration of the pregnancy.”
“That’s going to happen no matter what,” she joked. “You might be right, though. He really can’t sit still.”
A small, unmistakable whine carried through the baby monitor on the counter and Charlotte groaned, her head dropping back. “Oh, come on.”
Tyler’s fussing escalated into a proper complaint when a wail came from the baby monitor and upstairs at the same time, so enthusiastic now that we heard it in stereo. Charlotte slid off the stool. “I swear, he waits until the exact moment I sit down?—”
“I’ve got it,” I said, stepping in before she even finished the sentence and dropping a quick kiss on her forehead when I passed her. “Sit. Eat. Drink your wine. Just relax, okay? I’ll be right back.”
I headed upstairs, not really minding the disruption. This was just life now, even if I happened to agree that he could sense when she finally relaxed.
Tyler was shifting in his crib when I walked in, his little hands curling and uncurling until I scooped him up and cradled him against my chest. “What’s up, little buddy? Why are you complaining, huh? You hungry or did you just want some cuddles?”
He quieted almost instantly and I smiled down at him, moving over to the window as I rocked him gently and looked out over our property. “All this is for you, you know. Who knows? Maybe someday soon, your mom and I will give you a sibling.”
Tyler made a soft sound against my shirt and I shifted him a little higher, my hand steady on his back. “One, or two, or maybe even five. There are a lot of bedrooms in this house. We might as well use ‘em.”
I looked back out the window, only a sliver of sun still visible across the fields. “You’ll always be the first, though. The one that made me a dad.”
Tyler yawned, his body stilling as I stood there with him, thinking back to the days when I’d been convinced that I’d be alone forever.
I honestly hadn’t thought that love was waiting for me out there, and I definitely hadn’t expected to find it in the little sister of one of my best friends, but I had.
Somehow, thanks to Alex’s meddling that no one else seemed to appreciate as much as me, I’d found her. I owed the guy, and if he really wanted to start setting up the Thayers next, then I would have his back.
All the way down to Jane’s very last brother.