Asher
Even fucking Olivia senseless in the tack barn didn’t help me like I thought it would. I’m still nervous as hell.
Since the moment Calli was born—hell, even before that—I’ve planned this moment. And though I’m sure I know the answer, my palms are still sweaty, mama’s spaghetti, nervous as fuck.
The big house living room and kitchen are jam-packed with everyone we know and love for my cub’s first birthday.
Myself, Nash, Wade, and Haden are on the floor with Billi, Ruby, and Calli, playing with Calli’s big barn set and munching on finger foods, while CeCe, Ivy, Liv, and Cassie chat in the kitchen, each of them drinking a glass of wine while Ginger stands idly by, holding her and Cole’s baby, Isla.
She’s only ten months old and not quite able to chase the older ones yet.
Little Billi is two and a half now and Ruby is eighteen months.
They play like sisters and Calli just follows them around, but Mabel is the queen of all the girls, watching over all of them like a little mother badger.
“Think you can get us a boy next time?” Nash asks Cole as he joins them on the floor and takes over the role of the horse.
“Can you?” Cole chuckles. “It would be nice to add some Tonka trucks to the mix.”
“Wait till this is all Barbies.” Ginger nods to the pile of toys.
“We like Barbies, don’t we, half pint?” Cole asks Mabel.
“Yup,” Mabel says. “Even if the next baby is a boy, I’m still making him play with Barbies.”
“You boys used to play with CeCe’s Barbies all the time,” Jo pipes up to Cole and Wade from the kitchen where she’s standing with the girls.
“Yeah, we did.” Wade grins. “Barbie Olympics.”
“Yep.” Cole huffs out a laugh. “Used to slide them down the stair railing or toss them off the back deck to see whose could go the farthest.”
“Wrecked every single one of my Barbies’ hair,” CeCe adds. “By the time they were done with them, they were all matted and impossible to brush through.”
“Classic.” Haden chuckles. “I could go for a game of that. What d’ya say, Mabes?”
“Can we make sure the next baby is a girl too?” Mabel asks Cole, anxious about the state of her Barbies.
Everyone laughs and I turn to watch Olivia.
Her smile is so big today with everyone here to celebrate a year of Calli.
Watching Liv grow as a mother has been the greatest honor of my life, and I have no fucking clue how, but it makes me love her and want her even more.
This woman—who can still be so damn clumsy—has so much grace as a mom it blows my mind.
I can’t get enough of her. And no matter how close I am to her, I always want to be closer. Which is why this velvet box is burning a goddamn hole in my pocket.
I clear my throat and pick up a plastic knife from the kitchen island, tapping it on my can of Pepsi. “Can I get everyone’s attention for a second?”
The room immediately stops their chatter and Nash smirks at me from his side of the space. He’s been my sidekick, my voice of reason, and my ride-or-die when it came to redesigning Olivia’s nana’s engagement ring.
Olivia looks up at me and I know this is it. Time to make her mine for eternity.
Olivia
We don’t ever say goodbye; we say see ya later.
“Thanks for coming to celebrate our little bear. Christ, I can’t believe she’s one.”
Asher says as Mabel gives him the two-finger sign for money for swearing. He chuckles and raises his drink to her.
“This last year has been one of change for all of us. Kids, weddings, hell, I’ve lost family.” He looks down. “Gained a family.”
Asher looks to my parents and my father nods. I swear they’re the best of friends and it gives me so much joy that he has my father to fill the void of his own. They’re even rebuilding an old Ford Model T together in Asher’s shop.
“Through all the change, I’ve been honored to watch Liv become a mother.” My heart clunks as he looks at me. He’s beaming. “It’s made me fall in love with you a thousand different ways, Livi girl. And I know I’m gonna keep falling in love with you every day for the rest of my life. So …”
I watch with tears in my eyes as he crouches down and picks up Calli. He turns his back to me, and I hear him whisper, “Give this to Mama.”
Then he kisses her chubby cheek as he comes closer, opening the box. The second I see the ring in the open box in Calli’s chubby hand, everyone in the room disappears and I see only the three of us.
“Waking up to you two every day feels like the kind of dream I never thought I was worthy of,” Asher says in a low voice.
I swallow down the lump in my throat. “I don’t know how I got this lucky, how fate found us the way it did.
But I want you to know, Liv, I’ll never take what we have for granted.
Not for one second. Because every time I look at you it’s like the first moment I fell in love with you all over again. Marry me, Livi girl.”
The first tear falls down my cheek and my whisper is so quiet. “Yes …”
I don’t even get the words out before he’s kissing me.
“What was that?” CeCe calls out, laughing with the rest of the group.
“Yes!” I exclaim louder so the room can hear before jumping into his arms. Our friends and family explode into loud cheers and applause. Calli giggles and squirms, so Asher sets her down and she goes running off to my mom as Asher takes me properly into his arms.
“You and me, yeah?” he whispers so only I can hear as he pulls the ring from the box and places it on my finger. “Forever.”
“It’s my nana’s ring,” I gasp, looking down at the two-carat marquise diamond with a new white gold band and two blue diamonds flanking the original.
“It is, redone,” he confirms. “The blue diamonds I added to make it yours. They’re almost the color of Calli’s and your eyes, don’t you think?”
I nod, too overwhelmed by emotion as I kiss him. “I love you so much, Ash.”
“Aye.” He grins. “And me you, Livi girl.”
Chatter continues around us as we kiss and our friends mumble things like “get a room” and “this is a family event.” We laugh with them and I look deep into the eyes of my future. To the man who gives me everything without hesitation, even though he never knew love.
I see our whole future before us. I see us getting old together, on holiday, at baseball games, watching our kids play in the yard. I see loving him, laughing with him, and all the things in between. Good or bad, we’ve got this together. Always.
And it seems the man who thought he’d always be in the shadows, who thought being loved was a curse, has found a sense of peace and harmony. Somewhere out there, I know his mother is smiling down on us. Because she got her wish after all.
We’re pulled apart by our friends hugging us as CeCe and Ginger take turns fawning over my ring.
As I look around, I see a family that once seemed small but now takes up almost the entire main floor of the big house at Silver Pines.
We’re loud, we laugh like crazy, and hell, we’re certainly not perfect.
But one thing no one could ever doubt is how hard we all love each other, how we’ve been there for each other through thick and thin, and always will be.
The Ashbys are as much mine and Asher’s family as my own mom and dad, and it proves to me over and over that family doesn’t have to be bound by blood.
My mom and dad hug me last, and I squeeze them tight, so grateful they gave their lives to me, and brought me the rest of my family: Jo, Wyatt, Dean, CeCe, Wade, Cole, Nash, and Ginger.
And the ones we’ve added to our crew because of them: Ivy, Glenda, Haden, and Cassie, plus our giant mess of kids.
This family is filled with love. So much love that will always be found at the end of a long gravel drive in southern Kentucky.
Through all the change, the love remains as steady as the silver pine trees swaying in the breeze.
Ours is a place where food, dancing, and cookouts are practically religion.
In this big white house overlooking the craggy peaks of Sugarland Mountain, there’s a solemn promise.
Love is abundant, advice is always free, everyone is family, and the porch light is always on.
Silver Pines.