Epilogue
Six months later
So much had changed over the last several months. Charlotte was serving time in prison for arson, defamation, and attempted parental alienation. Grant had been successful in requesting a restraining order during the whole process. Charlotte wouldn’t be allowed to have contact with any of them from this point forward.
Thankfully, Eli was able to find a replacement cook without too much trouble. Grant had been offered his job back, but he’d refused. Currently, he was working remotely until he sold his company. Transactions of this magnitude didn’t happen overnight so he’d make do until it was finally done.
He’d made the move to Rocky Ridge permanently. In fact, he had just made an offer on a nice piece of land complete with a small barn and a decent-sized house. All he needed was a special someone who wanted to spend her life with him there.
Grant watched Nick run with a group of boys toward the hay maze he’d put together. Some of the children belonged to the other ranch hands, while some were Nick’s friends from school. It was Nick’s birthday, and Grant had gone all out.
There was a bouncy house, squirt guns, games, and of course, the food. He’d hired a couple superheroes to come in the next twenty minutes. From the looks of it, everyone was having aa blast and that was the most important part.
Bella sidled up beside him and nudged him with her hip. “I think you overdid it.”
He huffed. “You can’t overdo it on a birthday.”
She lifted a brow. “You realize these kids would have been thrilled to go on a horse ride or swimming in the creek, right?”
Grant rolled his eyes, chuckling when Bella gave him a mock irritated look. “Okay, okay. I might have overdone it a little. But this is the first birthday I’ve been able to have with him.”
“And you don’t have to make up for all the other ones with this one. There will be several more.”
“He’s only going to be seven once,” Grant argued.
Bella sighed, though her smile indicated that she wasn’t really judging him. “Don’t blame me when your son expects you to go all out every single year. One day, you’re going to realize that you can’t go back. And what’s gonna happen when you have another kid? There will be plenty of firsts.”
He shot her a look out of the corner of his eye. He had already thought about that. One day, he wanted to plan a first birthday—and he wanted to plan that baby’s party with Bella.
She glanced at him and made a face. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Do you know how beautiful you are?” he asked.
Bella snickered. “No use buttering me up. I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Do you know what tomorrow is?” He faced her and pulled her close, his hands at her waist.
Her eyes darted around them. “I hope it’s garbage day, because all this stuff isn’t going to last a week in those bins.”
“No,” he drawled. “Tomorrow is our six-month anniversary.”
She tilted her head, her eyes sparkling. “Really?”
He nodded. “And it’s been the best six months of my life.”
Bella laughed, looking away.
“I mean it.” He hooked his finger beneath her chin and forced her to look at him again. “I can’t remember a time when I was happier—and it’s because I have you. I love you, Bella.”
“I love you, too,” Bella whispered. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”
“I hope you mean that.”
She smiled. “With all my heart.”
Grant studied her for a moment and then threw caution to the wind. After brushing a quick kiss to her lips, he pulled out his phone and opened up the real estate app where he’d saved the property. Once he opened the listing, he held his phone out to her.
“What do you think of this?”
She took the phone and glanced at him with curiosity. “This is that cute cottage on the edge of town that just went on the market, right? Five acres is a lot more than you might think.”
“I know,” Grant said. “But what do you think? A good place to raise kids, right?”
She swiped through the pictures. “It’s lovely, Grant.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?” Bella handed the phone back to him.
“Because it’s going to be ours.”
Her mouth fell open. “What?”
“That is… if you’ll have me.” Grant dropped down onto one knee, taking her hand in his. This wasn’t exactly the most romantic setting for a proposal nor did he find the most eloquent words, but he couldn’t wait a second longer. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
He chuckled. “You don’t know how many times Nick has asked me when I’m going to marry you. I guess that’s a good indication on how ready he is.” He peered up at her. “What do you say? Marry me? Spend your life with us? Raise a family with me? Just think, one day we”ll have half-a-dozen kids running around that all belong to us.”
A soft cry burst from Bella’s lips. She threw her arms around his neck, nearly causing them both to topple to the ground. She kissed him first, then pulled back with a wide smile, eyes sparkling. “Nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“I can”t imagine a better way to spend the rest of my days.”