Epilogue
Ledger
“Alright, that’s the last box,” I grunt, setting it down at the base of the stairs.
Shiloh stands in the middle of the half-done living room, looking around.
The couch and chairs are placed, but everything else is in boxes.
After we finally admitted everything to each other I asked her if she wanted to help me with some of the options for the house, and she was so excited about it I sort of let her make all of them, as long as it made sense.
With one on the way and a hope for more, this place needs to be functional.
We’re going to be here for the rest of our lives.
I watch my wife look around and into the kitchen. It’s mildly an open concept house. We decided we didn’t want doors between the living room and kitchen. I didn’t want a dining room, but Shiloh insisted on it. She claimed my man cave could go down in the basement.
Her eyes finally find mine, and a tear slips from them.
I frown, closing the distance between us and brush the tear from her face. “What’s wrong?” I ask her.
She shakes her head and won’t look at me.
I clasp the back of her neck so she can’t avoid me. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing really … I feel like I’m home.”
I consider her words as her pretty eyes look up at me. “I mean you were home in the other house.”
She shakes her head and wraps her arms around my waist, resting her head on my chest. “It wasn’t like this,” she rasps. “This is ours. Home isn’t a place. It’s you, it’s us. But … I finally feel like I belong.”
I take her face between my palms and kiss her briefly. “Of course you do. You belong with me, and you always will.”
She nods and purses her lips, asking for another kiss. I give it to her and she hums against my lips, and right as we get into it, someone clears their throat.
I pull away to find our family smiling at us, surrounding us.
“We’ll take that as our cue to leave. Dinner is at the house in thirty,” my mother says, and walks out of the open front door, my dad a few steps behind her.
Shiloh grumbles, and the rest of my siblings are still grinning at me.
“What?” I ask them.
Cooper has Mae tucked into his side.
Fletcher stands behind Tatum, sitting in a chair, with his hands on her shoulders.
June, Sterling, and Gracie are all grinning at us.
“What?” I nearly yell.
They all burst into laughter, and I look down at Shiloh. “What are they laughing about?”
She smiles and shakes her head. “You have no sense of humor, my love, and in this case are as dense as an unbaked pound cake.”
I frown. “What?”
“It’s nice to see you like this, brother,” Fletcher says.
“Like what?” I ask him. “Like my little brother is capable of a smile,” June says.
“Of course I am,” I mutter.
Shiloh throws her head back on a laugh. “We’ll keep working on it,” she says to the rest of the family.
They all chuckle and see themselves out. “See you at Aunt Dixie’s, don’t get too carried away,” Cooper says with a wink and closes the door.
“What does that mean?” I ask Shiloh as I come back into the living room.
She grins and taps her lips.
I kiss her, and she pushes me onto the sofa before crawling on top of me. “It means sheriff, we have to start christening the house.”
“Why would — oh,” I mutter, blood pumping hotter.
“Yes, oh,” she grins and kisses me.
“I’m going to have to put those curtains up sooner than later, aren’t I?”
She smiles and kisses my cheek as she toys with my belt buckle. “Yes, unless you want your siblings or other ranch hands to see your wife naked.”
I gently throw her off my lap and start looking for my box labeled tools, it’s probably in the garage. “I’m getting started on those right now,” I mutter.
She snorts and lies back on the sofa. “At the very least, can you do this shirtless, with your cowboy hat, and a tool belt around your waist?”
I frown. “Why would I do that?”
She groans rolling her eyes. “So I can watch Ledger, duh.”
“Um, okay.”
Shiloh shakes her head, and the soft smile that stays on her lips makes my heart grow wings and lift out of my chest. Home may be a place built on a foundation, but it’s more than that.
This is ultimately a box. What she and I have is forever.
It’s a foundation built on the rocks of blood, sweat, tears, and commitment.
Nothing worth having ever comes easy, and yet she was easy to fall in love with. There was simply no other option.