Epilogue
Romy
The minute I open the door to the girls’ house, something seems off.
I ran in here to grab a jacket since it’s a little cooler tonight, and Zander and I were walking along the path with Rhodes in a stroller.
We’ve been staying at my parents’ since Rhodes was born, but I’m ready for us to find a place for ourselves.
There’s just nothing on the ranch. We might be renting Brooks’s old house until ours is built.
But Zander seems to love it at my parents’, so I might have to drag him kicking and screaming. My mom babies Zander more than Rhodes.
As I pluck my old jacket off the hook by the back door, I hear a man’s voice. I freeze mid-step. Who would be here? Is Poppy or Scarlett hooking up with someone, and I don’t know about it?
I pause when I hear footsteps coming down the stairs, and the voice carries. He says something I can’t make out to the person he’s here with.
Oh shit. It’s Nash.
I blink and peek around a corner where he can’t see me to double check. He’s running down the stairs, buttoning up his pants.
Oh my god!
What the hell is Nash doing here—upstairs at that—and now he’s buttoning his pants?
I stay hidden, hoping he doesn’t want to go out the back door. He turns and leaves out the front door.
Footsteps on the stairs sound again, and I rush back to the back door, which I open and shut. I don’t have time to slip out without her hearing the door and knowing someone was here, so maybe I can convince her I just arrived.
“Hello,” Poppy calls.
“Hey. Just me. I forgot my coat.” I have no idea how I’m pulling off my casual voice.
She comes into full view. Her hair looks like a bird’s nest, and her shirt isn’t even buttoned correctly.
“Hey, what happened to you?” I ask.
She looks down at herself. “Oh… I took a nap.”
“Just napping?”
“Yeah.” Her eyes narrow slightly, and she turns toward the front door. I have no idea if Nash drove here or walked since I came in the back door.
“By yourself.” I don’t phrase it as a question.
“Who would I be napping with?” She opens the fridge and takes out a water. “Why are you here again?”
“Just grabbing my jacket. We’re doing s’mores if you want to come.”
“Nah, I’m still pretty tired. I’ve had a headache all day. Might just go back to bed.”
I have no idea how she’s playing this off so easily, but she is. “Oh, well, feel better.”
“Have fun and give Rhodes a kiss for me.”
I rush out the back door and practically run to Zander.
His head is buried in the stroller, cooing at Rhodes. “I think it’s too cold for him.”
I look over Zander’s shoulder. Rhodes is bundled up and has two blankets over him. He’s fast asleep. “He’s fine.” I swat Zander’s arm. “You’re never going to believe this.”
Zander doesn’t grant me any of his attention.
“Hey.”
He finally looks up at me. “Let’s get him home before he freezes.”
I roll my eyes. “So, I think I just… I think Nash and Poppy are messing around.”
“Really?” He’s walking a little faster than normal, causing me to double my pace to keep up with his long legs.
“Zan, like sleeping together.”
“Well, I didn’t think you meant they were wrestling.”
“They are, but in a bed during the day!” I draw back as though this is juicy gossip, but he’s busy staring through the little plastic window of the stroller.
“Thought they hated each other.”
Finally, he’s in on this gossip. “It’s complicated. Nash is Jensen’s best friend. It would be like Lottie sleeping with Beau.”
He twists his head in my direction as though that’s the most absurd thought. “What? Brooks would be hella pissed at you for making that comparison.”
“Whoa.” I hold up my hands. “It was so you could understand. I love Brooks, and Beau… I mean, he’s not ready to settle down yet…
” I wave. “Anyway, I want to talk about Nash and Poppy. Her hair was—” I motion with my hands to indicate that it was all over the place.
“And he was doing up his pants. Do you think they’re just friends with benefits or something more—”
“They’ll tell us if they want us to know.”
I stop walking and look at Zander as he continues to walk away. “That’s not the way gossip works in this family. Have you not learned that yet?”
We walk the short path, me arguing with him about how he needs to be just as invested in the fact that Nash and Poppy are messing around and speculating on how Jensen will feel if he finds out his best friend is sleeping with his sister.
When we get to Mom and Dad’s, everyone’s already gathered outside, so I have to shut up about it. I don’t need to warn Zander because he doesn’t seem to care.
Mom comes off the porch and picks up Rhodes.
“I think he’s cold, Darla,” Zander says.
“He’s fine,” I mouth, but my mom coos at Rhodes and takes him inside.
“You’re gonna have to let the kid live a little.” I arch an eyebrow at Zander.
Wren and Leia run over and ask Zander to twirl them around, which he goes out to the grass and does without objection.
I sit down next to my dad. Lottie is on Brooks’s lap. Mack’s at Beau’s feet, probably recuperating from whatever workout Wren and Leia just gave him. Bennett and Delaney are inspecting the flower boxes, his hand on her back.
My mom comes out to hand me Rhodes, but Lottie snatches him up as Mom says, “I put him in a warmer onesie.”
“You said it was my turn,” Brooks argues as Lottie stands and walks away with Rhodes.
“Fifteen minutes,” Lottie says, nuzzling her head into Rhodes’s.
“Is this how it will be when our baby arrives?” Brooks asks us.
“No. When she has one all to herself night and day, she’s going to be happy to pass them off to you, Brooks,” my mom says.
“Just so you know, I’m the number one uncle,” Beau says before sipping his beer.
I laugh at Beau and Brooks, going back and forth over who’s the better uncle.
My mom walks over and hands me a large roll of paper. “A present for our peach.”
“Um… thanks.” I frown, having no idea what this is about.
“Don’t thank me. Thank him.” She nods toward Zander.
He stops spinning the girls, and Bennett calls them over. Zander walks up to the porch. He actually looks nervous, which is odd for him.
“What did you do?” I ask.
“Just open it.” He nods toward the paper in my hands.
I slide the rubber band off, and the paper unfurls. It’s a blueprint. “Zan?”
He chuckles.
The top reads Romy Owens’s House in big black printed letters.
Everyone suddenly finds an excuse to leave. My dad claps Zander on the shoulder and corrals the kids to go inside.
My mom kisses my temple and tells me, “Just look,” before disappearing with the rest of them, including Rhodes.
The door creaks shut, leaving me alone with Zander.
“It’s your house,” he says simply. He steps closer, then sits beside me, hand touching my leg. “I’ve been working with Darla. The land—your piece of land. These are just blueprints. Four bedrooms. Big kitchen. Wraparound porch. Rhodes deserves a real home. And so do you.”
Emotion hits me so hard I can barely breathe. “You deserve one too.”
I should be mad. Really, I should. He didn’t ask. He didn’t consult me. He just did this.
But looking at him, I see that it’s not arrogance that made him do this.
“I should be furious with you. It’s pretty presumptuous of you to do this.”
“I know.” His voice is quiet, lacking any of his usual swagger. “And if you want to be, I’ll take it. But I did it for you. And Rhodes. You needed the security—whether or not I was part of your life.”
“You did this before…”
He nods. “The day after you showed me your parcel. I just… wanted you guys to have somewhere to be a family.”
“And what about you?”
He drops to one knee and pulls a jewelry box from his pocket, lifting the box and opening it. The descending sun catches the huge diamond on a gold band.
“I’d like to share the primary bedroom—as a married couple?”
I laugh, tears toppling down my face.
“I’m hoping that’s a yes.”
“Of course it’s a yes,” I say, the word bursting out of me.
He takes the ring out and slides it on my finger before pulling me up to stand. His mouth finds mine in a too-short kiss before I throw my arms around his shoulders and hug him tightly.
Then everybody comes out—congratulating us, hugging us, welcoming Zander to the family. Although he was already part of it in all the ways that matter.
My dad makes a joke about how Zander Owens has a good ring to it.
Somebody hands me Rhodes at some point, and I nuzzle him as Zander pulls us into a small huddle.
“Our family,” I whisper, staring at my soon-to-be husband.
“Um… you’re forgetting about us,” Wren says.
One by one, everyone swarms us in a giant family hug.
Happily ever afters really do come true. Maybe I do believe in fairytales after all.