Epilogue
Kayden
Five weeks later
Coming back from the dead wasn’t as easy as it may have seemed. There were pieces that needed to fall into place perfectly to pull this off. We didn’t know who might still be after me. I knew, deep down, that I needed a way to escape if I was ever going to live the life Dani dreamed about.
Axel and Donovan agreed to take over Eden and continue our mission with the money and backing of James and Emilia.
Relinquishing control was easier said than done, though.
I built Eden from the ground up. It was my pride and joy—my purpose—my outlet for the darkness under my skin.
Who knew it would take dying to make me realize I had a new purpose in life?
A purpose that started and ended with Dani.
Keeping Dani in the dark was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
All I wanted to see when I woke up was her face, but I had to refrain.
Emilia and James ensured my “death” went as expected—which at one point in that forest I actually did die.
I owe my life to Donovan and Axel. Without them showing up when they did, my funeral would have been the real deal.
Franklin scrubbed all online evidence of who I am from existence, making me a ghost that people talked about but could never find information on. With that came a new name, Kayden Mitchell. I would always be a Stonewell, but having a new name would allow me to give Dani the life she dreamed of.
Showing up at this house when Dani moved in felt like coming home.
I built this house with my own two hands years ago, before Eden took over my life.
Greeting Dani was the happiest moment of my life.
She had rushed across the room, a sob breaking out from between her lips as she threw her arms around me.
I held her through her tears and only when she eventually pulled back did I see the grief and pain in her eyes—grief and pain that I put there.
I apologized over and over again until finally she told me to shut up and kiss her.
Now, weeks later, we’ve settled in and even had the family visit last week, our lives taking on a new normalcy.
We’ve talked about opening a therapy resort, Granite Ranch and Rehab, a place that victims of trafficking and abuse can stay to decompress and heal through their traumas.
A way to still have a hand in their continued mission back in California, without the added danger.
I’m in the process now of getting a large stable built behind the house that will house our therapy horses for the program.
Dani is excited to start this new adventure—a way that makes us both feel like we are still making a difference.
Dani is taking to farmhouse living pretty well, I think to myself as I look out the kitchen window where I see her feeding the chickens.
She dove headfirst into this new life, and I don’t fault her one bit.
Most days are good for her, but sometimes she struggles with her healing—we both do.
But we lean on each other and we’ve only come out stronger for it.
I lean over the sink and holler for her. “Dani! Come on in, angel. Dinner’s almost done.”
She puts a hand over her brow, blocking the setting sun from her gaze as she looks toward the house, trying to find where I am. I wave through the window and she smiles, setting down her basket near the gate and making her way up to the house.
I hear her footsteps coming up the front porch steps as I dry my hands on a dishtowel. She opens the screen door and squeals as I spin to wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her neck from behind.
“Ready for dinner?”
“You know I am,” she chuckles. “I feel like I could eat a horse.”
“Now, don’t go saying that when the horses get here,” I reply, turning her around and peppering kisses up her neck until she finally pulls me down for a kiss.
“I would never,” she responds as she pulls away from my kiss. “Don’t go getting any ideas, Kayden. I’m famished.”
A meow interrupts us as Amzee winds around our feet where I bend down and give her a scratch under the chin. Never thought I’d see the day that I became a cat person.
I straighten to look down into Dani’s emerald eyes and breathe her in. “We’ll talk about dessert later, then?”
“You know we will. Come on, what did you make this time?” she asks as she pulls me toward the oven. “It smells divine.”
Donning the oven mitts, I tell her to stand back as I open the oven door and grab the baking dish from the rack.
“Oh my god, Kayden, what is it? It smells amazing.”
“Well, figured I would try something new tonight. ‘Cowboy casserole,’ the nice folks in town called it.”
“Did you get another recipe from old Maggie again? You know how the last one turned out…”
“No, no, I’ve learned my lesson there. This one came from that old man at the post office. I forget his name.”
“Peter?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Anyway, I was getting our mail last week and we were talking about dinner and he said I hadn’t had the true Wyoming experience without some cowboy casserole.
Took the recipe card right out of his wallet.
Hank was there getting his mail and he piped in about it, too. Apparently, it’s a popular dish.”
“Well, I’m all for a little Wyoming experience,” she replies with a wink before sashaying her way to the cupboards to get the plates and silverware.
And this is our life. I smile to myself as I plate our food and follow her to the kitchen table. I guess it really took killing the man I was to actually start living for the woman I love and the man I am now.
She soothes my darkness, and I never thought a quiet life would be possible for me, but here I am, the happiest—most content—I’ve ever been.