Epilogue - Lily
Four Years Later
The Blackwater Falls Saloon is packed tonight.
Friday nights always are, but Harper and I have the rhythm down to perfection. Sarah sold us the business eighteen months ago when her arthritis got too bad to work the long hours, and we've kept everything exactly how she liked it while making it our own.
"Two Coors Light, one whiskey neat, and a vodka cranberry!" Harper calls out, her short hair catching the neon lights as she works her section of the bar.
"Got it!" I pour the drinks quickly, my hands moving on autopilot after thousands of nights doing exactly this.
It's strange to think about how terrified I was that first Friday night four years ago. How convinced I was that I'd fuck it up, that Sarah would fire me after one shift, that this fragile new life I was building would collapse.
But I didn't fuck it up. I showed up on time, worked my ass off, learned everything Sarah taught me. And slowly, so slowly I almost didn't notice, Blackwater Falls stopped being a pit stop and became home.
"Mama!"
I look up to see Rosie barreling toward me from the daycare room, her dark curls bouncing. She's six now—six—when did that happen? Emma right behind her, looking apologetic.
"She wanted to say goodbye before the sleepover." Emma giggles.
"It's fine." I come around the bar and scoop Rosie into my arms, even though she's getting too big for this. "You ready for your sleepover?"
"Yes!" Rosie's eyes are bright with excitement. "We're gonna watch movies and eat popcorn and Emma said we can stay up until ten!"
"Ten, huh?" I raise an eyebrow at Emma, who's now eleven and has definitely inherited her father's diplomatic skills.
"Dad said nine-thirty," Emma admits with a grin. "But we're going to negotiate."
"Good luck with that." I kiss Rosie's forehead. "Be good for Mr. Tucker, okay? And if you need me—"
"I know, Mama. Call you." Rosie rolls her eyes with the dramatic flair only a six-year-old can manage. "But I won't need you because I'm a big girl now."
My chest tightens. She is a big girl. Too big. Growing up too fast in that way all parents complain about but nobody believes until it's happening to them.
"Okay, big girl." I set her down. "Have fun. I love you."
"Love you too!" She's already running back to Emma, the two of them giggling about whatever secret plans they have.
Tucker appears in the doorway, his expression warm. "I've got them. You and Mason have a good night."
"Thanks, Tucker." I mean it.
Tucker's been like an uncle to Rosie these past four years, and Emma treats her like the little sister she never had. It's everything I never knew we needed.
I return to the bar where Harper's already covered my section, working both sides like the badass she is. She moved in with Colt three and a half years ago and watching them together still makes me believe in love. The real, lasting kind.
"Rosie get off okay?" Harper asks, sliding a tray of empties toward me.
"Yeah. She's at that age where she's too cool for mom but still wants goodnight kisses."
"Enjoy it while it lasts." Harper grins.
The night continues. Drinks poured, tabs closed, the usual Friday chaos. I'm wiping down the bar around eleven when I feel familiar hands on my waist.
"Hey, beautiful." Mason's voice is rough in my ear, and after four years, it still sends heat straight between my legs.
"Hey yourself." I lean back against his chest. "Thought you weren't coming until closing?"
"Finished early. Missed you." His lips brush my neck. "Also, Colt said to tell Harper he'll be late. Cow in labor."
"Tell him I said he better not come home smelling like cow," Harper calls out without turning around.
Mason chuckles, and the sound vibrates through me. He's aged well—a few more lines around his eyes, some silver threading through his dark hair at the temples. But he's still the same man who offered me shelter when I had nothing. Still the man who fucks me like he's starving for it. Still mine.
"One more hour," I murmur. "Then we can go home."
"Home." He says it like a prayer. "Still sounds good after all this time."
Home is Wade's old cottage, the one we've lived in since Wade and Sierra built their own place on the ranch two years ago.
It's ours now, officially ours, deed and everything.
Mason proposed there eighteen months ago, and we got married at the courthouse six months later with all the ranch brothers and their women present.
Simple. Perfect. Ours.
The hour passes quickly. Harper and I close up the saloon—money counted, floors mopped, chairs on tables. Sarah taught us well.
"See you tomorrow?" Harper asks as we lock up.
"Noon for inventory," I confirm. "Don't be late because Colt kept you up all night."
"No promises!" She's already walking toward Colt's truck in the parking lot, and I can see him grinning at her through the windshield.
Mason and I drive home in silence, his hand on my thigh the whole way. The ranch is quiet when we arrive. Everyone in their own cottages and houses, living their own lives.
"Rosie really gone all night?" Mason asks as we enter our cottage.
"All night." I kick off my shoes. "Tucker promised to call if there are any problems."
"Good." Mason's already pulling me toward the bedroom. "Because I've been thinking about you bent over the bar all night, and now I finally get you alone."
My body responds immediately—nipples hardening, pussy getting wet. Four years and he still affects me like this. Still makes me feel desired, wanted, beautiful despite all the ways I'm not.
We're less frantic than we used to be, but no less intense. Mason strips me slowly, his hands relearning curves he knows by heart. When he finally pushes inside me, it's with a groan that sounds like coming home.
We fuck slow and deep, his hands gripping my hips, my nails scratching down his back. He makes me come twice before he finishes, filling me with that familiar warmth I've grown addicted to.
Afterward, we lie tangled together, sweaty and satisfied.
"I love you," he murmurs into my hair. "So fucking much, Lily."
"I love you too." I trace the scar on his shoulder. The one from the horse accident, the one he showed me that first day. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For finding me that night. For not driving past. For giving me a chance when you had no reason to."
"I had every reason." He tilts my face up to his. "You were exactly what I needed, even if I didn't know it yet. You and Rosie both."
Rosie. Our daughter. Not biologically his, but in every way that matters. He adopted her legally six months after we got married, and watching her call him Dad for the first time made us both cry.
"Think she's having fun at Emma's?" I ask.
"Definitely. Probably plotting world domination with that eleven-year-old mastermind."
I laugh. "Emma's a good influence."
"Tucker's a good dad." Mason's quiet for a moment. "Think we should give Rosie a sibling?"
My heart stops. "What?"
"A sibling." His hand slides to my stomach. "I know we talked about it before, but I'm serious now. I want another kid with you, Lily. Want to see you pregnant. Want to be there for all of it this time."
Tears prick my eyes. "You really want that?"
"More than anything." He kisses me softly. "But only if you do. Only if you're ready."
Am I ready? To be pregnant again, to go through labor, to have a newborn while running a business and raising a six-year-old? It sounds insane. Impossible.
But looking at Mason, this man who saved me, who loves me, who became the father Rosie needed, I realize I am ready. Ready to build even more with him. Ready to expand this beautiful, chaotic life we've created.
"Yes," I whisper. "Let's have a baby."
His smile is brilliant. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." I pull him down for a kiss. "Let's make our family bigger."
He makes love to me again, even slower this time, like he's already imagining me round with his child. And maybe I am too. Maybe I'm imagining another little one running around the ranch, growing up surrounded by aunts and uncles who aren't blood but are family anyway.
Later, as we drift off to sleep, I think about that night four years ago. Sitting in my beat-up Honda, preparing to sleep in a parking lot with my daughter, convinced we'd never have more than this.
And now look at us. Look at what we've built.
A home. A business. A family. A life worth living.
Mason's arms tighten around me, and I know he's thinking the same thing. How close we came to missing this. How grateful we are that we didn't.
"Love you, Mrs. Reid," he murmurs, half-asleep.
"Love you too, Mr. Reid."
And I do. With everything I am, everything I have, everything I'll ever be.
This is home. This is family. This is the life I never dared to dream about.
And it's perfect.
Thank you for reading it!