Epilogue
Jasper
Five years later…
Orange pumpkins dotted the field. We hadn’t started picking yet, but I watched my kids play with their cousins.
Evander and Violet’s oldest, Willa, was herding my four-year-old, Asher, and his younger sister.
Everly, named after Sheridan’s best friend, didn’t like to listen to her brother. Three going on thirty, that one.
Sheridan wrapped her hair into a bun and secured it. “I’m going to see if Violet and Evander’s mom needs help in the shop.”
“No problem. I’ll watch the kids.” I gave her a quick kiss.
Violet and her mother-in-law never needed help.
This pumpkin-picking event was a well-oiled machine by now.
Sheridan loved my family, and she thrived during the big events.
We’d started hosting our own each winter at the house we’d built when the kids of my dad’s buddy, Gentry King, sold their lake houses.
Sheridan and I had bought a lot and built our own home.
Now we didn’t have far to travel. During storms, I could still get to the resort.
On rare occasions, we got snowed in, and those were some of my favorite memories.
Alder clapped me on the back. “Gonna deck out the resort in pumpkins?”
“It’s expected now.” After the first year we were married, we started a Halloween event to bring people out and to ease Evander’s load of pumpkins.
Alder handed me a beer Isla made with last year’s crop of pumpkins. “I fucking love pumpkin-picking time.”
“Evander’s never going to be able to quit growing them.”
Alder chuckled. “Willa won’t let him. She’s already planning a takeover.”
Lily walked by, her hand tucked into Eliot’s. He nodded at us.
“Tell Cali thanks for watching the kids,” I said. “I’ll give her a raise.”
“She’s hoping for a bonus again,” Lily said with a laugh.
“Worth every penny.”
The bonus of a big family was that I had a lot of nieces and nephews who were willing to help. When my job and Sheridan’s included a big body of water that kids could get into trouble with, we took them up on it all the time.
Poppy and Clover wandered by, heading toward the field to start filling trailers.
Behind them, Jensen and Van chatted. Van had built a booming consulting business, and Jensen and Sheridan had both used him for IT and cybersecurity support.
They were probably some of his smallest accounts, but he always treated them like a priority.
Van and Sheridan were a lot alike when it came to the family.
They treasured this big mess of people who supported each other.
Poppy half turned while she walked. “Auggie’s already got the sled picked out for Bishop’s Winter Fest.”
“He’s not going to keep his title,” I said. “I’m going to grease my sled.”
Clover smiled. “Uncle Jasper’s after all the records.”
“Just because Uncle Jasper has his own kids doesn’t mean I’m letting yours get all the sledding glory.”
When I turned to ask Alder if he was getting in on the sled races, I smirked instead.
His gaze was on Daisy. She was in a small circle with Violet and Sheridan and some of Evander’s cousins.
Our parents were behind them, arranging and rearranging the food just to have something to do while darting to and fro with their grandkids.
“Grandma knew what she was doing,” Alder murmured. “None of this would’ve happened without her.”
“You think so?”
“Maybe. That damn trust certainly expedited the whole process—for all of us. And it got us all back within ten miles of each other. Did you hear Dad talking about moving down here once he officially retires?”
“Good. All the Dukes are back in town.”
Sheridan started walking toward me, and I held my arms out. She was sexier than ever in jeans and a green hoodie that said “Bishop’s Landing.”
“Ready to pick some pumpkins?” I pulled her into me.
“Are you kidding?” Her gaze swept across the lawn where most of the kids played, including ours, then to the orange-speckled field we’d be picking from. “I’ve been waiting all year for this.”
She snuggled into me. Couples were starting to break off and make their way to the field to follow the tractor pulling the trailers.
We did this each year, but it didn’t matter. Each year, the same thought ran through my head. I’d waited my whole life for this. And I got to wake up each morning, surrounded by love and family. A person couldn’t get richer than that.
Thank you so much for joining Sheridan and Jasper as they found love in Coal Haven.