Epilogue
A LMOST A YEAR LATER , I’m pulling my tiny house into the Green Valley campground again.
It’s always a hassle when I first reach a destination. I have to check-in. Maneuver into the designated spot. Secure my house. Unhitch it from my truck. Unfold the deck. Connect power and water. Unshutter the windows and get everything into livable shape inside. Then let Ed and Claude out of the crates they travel in.
It’s not a short process, and today I’m in a rush the whole time.
I haven’t seen Theo in almost a month.
We text throughout the day and talk on the phone at least twice a day. But it’s not the same. I miss him.
I’ve had to adapt my travel routine this year so I’m not away from Green Valley for more than a month at a time. I don’t want to give up that portion of my life completely, and the travel is a significant feature of my identity as an influencer. I don’t want to lose everything I’ve built, even though I’ve started adapting my posts so I can continue with interesting content even when I’m in town.
So this is the second month of travel I’ve spent this year, and this one was harder than the first.
Harder to be separated from Theo.
I’ve arrived this evening two hours earlier than I expected, so I’m hoping to surprise him by showing up at his place. So the normal chores and routines of setting my house up are more frustrating than usual.
I’ve put down water for the cats and am gathering the stuff I need when I hear a car door shut outside.
I peek out the glass pane of my front door to see Theo’s SUV. Then Theo himself, taking both the steps up to the deck at one time.
I swing open the door just before he’s ready to knock on it.
“What are you doing here so early?” I demand, astonished and delighted all at once.
“What kind of greeting is that?” He’s grinning as he steps inside and then grabs me in a tight hug. “Finally,” he mutters. “I’ve been waiting forever to do this.”
I’m smiling sappily with my face pressed against his sweater-clad shoulder. “It’s just been a month.”
“Just a month. It was the longest month in the history of the world.” He pulls back just enough to peer down at my face. His hands have settled on my hips.
“I know. It felt really long for me too. But how did you know to get here so early?”
“I didn’t. I was just impatient, so I figured I’d come over and wait for you here, but then there were you.”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“And I surprised you instead.”
I beam up at him. “You always do.”
Either the words or the expression earn me a kiss. A good one. Long and slow and deep and delicious.
I get so excited I’m in the process of moving us toward the couch when Claude lets out an indignant, extended yowl at the great offense of being so rudely ignored by his second-favorite human.
We break apart, both laughing, and Theo crouches down to greet both cats and give them their appropriate adoration while I grab the bag he was carrying with him and haul it toward the window seat where he normally puts it.
He grabs it from me before I settle it in place.
“What was that for?” I ask with a frown.
“Maybe there are things in that bag that aren’t for you to see.”
“Ooh.” Intrigued, I try to slip past him so I can investigate this new mystery.
He stops me. Of course he does. He gets his arms back around me and holds me in place, shaking his head in mock disapproval. “No peeking.”
“But I want to peek!” I try and fail to free myself from his grip.
He drags me over to the couch and pulls me onto his lap. “No peeking.”
I huff but only sustain the resistance for a minute. I do want to know what kind of Christmas gifts he has in that bag for me, but I wouldn’t actually defy his desire to keep it a surprise.
When I’ve settled and rearranged so I’m more comfortable, I lean against him. “I guess I can wait.”
“It will be worth the wait. I promise.”
This makes me giggle for some reason. Then I think about all the years that Theo waited for me, and my heart overflows. I wrap myself around him and kiss him again.
This time Claude and Ed don’t interrupt us. We kiss with increasing urgency until I’m pulsing with arousal and I can feel a familiar, hard bulge at the front of Theo’s trousers.
“Should we go to bed?” I ask against his lips.
“No time for that.” He’s already hiking up my skirt and moving my legs so that I’m straddling him. “When I said I was impatient, I meant impatient .”
Giggling, I pull my underwear out of the way while he fumbles to unfasten his pants. As soon as he’s freed his erection, I move myself into position and groan hoarsely as I lower myself over him until he’s all the way inside me.
I tilt my head down to kiss him again as we rock our hips together in tight little pumps. His erection feels full and tight and so good—filling me completely—and I start whimpering into the kiss as the pleasure coils tight.
Soon it’s too intense to focus on kissing. I turn my head and huff out soft, high-pitched sounds in time with my accelerated rhythm.
He leans back, holding my hips tightly so I don’t get so enthusiastic I cause him to slip out. He’s gazing at me with hot, naked adoration, grunting every time he thrusts up into my bouncing.
He’s never been a talker—in bed or out of it—but as he nears climax he starts rasping, “Love you, Maya. Love you, love you.”
I come with the absolute certainty that he means it. He means it so deeply. He’ll mean it for the rest of our lives. I shake through my release, and he falls out of rhythm right after me, jerking up a few last times until he lets out a loud, satisfied sound and releases inside me.
I slump over him, and he gathers me in his arms again, mumbling again, “I love you.”
“I love you too. So, so much.”
We hug each other until the wetness between my legs becomes too uncomfortable. Then I untangle myself from his body and go to the bathroom to clean up.
When I return, he’s standing up, having a private conversation with Ed about how he understands the neediness, but priorities have to be followed, and Ed will get petted again soon.
I’m giggling as Theo disappears into the bathroom.
I check the couch, pleased I spread out a throw blanket earlier. We have sex on the couch a lot, and it sometimes gets messy. No reason to mess up my couch, which was specially designed to fit into this space.
I’ve bundled up the blanket to wash when I remember the surprise in Theo’s bag. I’m standing over the window seat when he comes out of the bathroom.
“Hey, hey, hey! I said no peeking.” He strides over and drags me away.
I haven’t actually opened the bag. “But I want to know what it is!”
“Fine. I was going to wait until tomorrow and give it to you on Christmas Eve, but I’ll do it now if you insist.” He leans over to pull a small, wrapped box out of the bag.
It reminds me of the box he gave me last year with the beautiful necklace I still wear every single day. I resist the urge to snatch for it. “If you want to wait, that’s okay. I don’t want to mess up your plans.”
“I didn’t have big plans. I just thought that would be a good time to give it to you. But now is good too.” He clears his throat. “Just as well to do it now.”
“Why is it just as well?” I peer at his face, trying to figure out why he suddenly looks slightly stiff.
Nervous.
Shy.
I recognize the signs now when I never did until this past year.
He’s almost never shy with me anymore—now that he’s secure in our relationship—so my heart starts racing in response.
“What is it?” I ask softly.
“Open it.”
I do.
When I’ve undone the paper and lifted off the lid, I gasp and freeze, staring down at the most beautiful ring, gold delicately wrapping a large central diamond. It looks almost like my pendant. He must have had it designed special. For me.
He reaches to pick up the ring, and then he lowers himself to one knee in front of me, gazing up at me with his heart in his eyes. “Will you marry me, Maya Alexander, so our hearts can keep shaping themselves around each other for the rest of our lives?”
I make a choked sound. Then nod urgently. Then finally burst out, “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you, Theo Humphrey!”
There’s no use asking me. I have no idea why I use his first and last name.
His expression shatters for a moment. Then he’s grinning as he stands up to pull me back into a hug.
It’s a minute before we can separate so he can slide the ring on my finger.
It fits perfect. It is perfect.
I burst into tears.
Theo is concerned for a minute until I explain it’s because I’m so happy. “I never... I never thought I could be this happy again.”
His face softens. “And I never thought I could be this happy... at all.”
So we end up on the couch again, this time just to cuddle. We admire the ring and talk about when we want to get married and start to make plans for further out than the next six months.
Theo has already arranged things at work so he can travel with me this spring for a month. And he offers to give up his apartment and move in with me, Claude, and Ed full time after we get back to Green Valley.
“I don’t have that much stuff anyway,” he says.
I giggle and rub my cheek against his shoulder. “That would work for a while, if you really want to do it. But it might be a better idea for you to keep your apartment, just so we have some extra room. After all, it may...”
“It may what?” He angles his head down so he can see my face.
“There may be more of us eventually. And any more than you, me, Ed, and Claude in here would get unmanageable.”
He squeezes me tightly. “Right. Good point. I’ll keep my apartment. Anytime you’re ready for there to be more than the four of us, just say the word. I didn’t think I could get any happier than I am right now, but maybe there’s no limit after all.”
“Maybe not. Maybe it’s another one of those mysteries.”
“Well, we have the rest of our lives to solve that one.”