Epilogue
Duke
Two Years Later
Wade sits in the recliner by the fireplace holding his newborn granddaughter. She’s three months old and looks just like her mother.
Ariella, our baby girl.
“You have an extra blanket?” Wade grumbles. “She’s cold.”
Kit smiles sweetly and grabs a fuzzy pink blanket off the arm of the chair where I left it last night after a late feeding.
It took years for us to get to this place with Wade.
In fact, almost two to the day. Sure, he still talked to Kit, though never about me, and he showed up to our wedding after the first thaw.
He had to walk her down the aisle and that meant coming onto our property, but he wouldn’t look at me.
Hell, we even went back to working together, but he did nothing more than grunt in my direction.
Nothing did the trick like Ari.
Her arrival was like magic. Suddenly, Wade was back to fishing on Sunday, calling me about random projects, and stopping by just to say hello. He even acknowledged me as her father, which is pretty shocking considering the track record we’ve had the last couple of years.
“You want to feed her, Dad?” Kit hands Wade a bottle half filled with breastmilk. “She’s probably starving. She slept through her last meal.”
He nods and takes the bottle, moving the nipple toward her lips right away. Good thing too. She’s starting to fuss.
“You used to do the same thing,” Wade says, glancing toward his daughter. “Your mother would hand me a bottle, and I’d sit by the fire with you will you gulped down every ounce.” He chuckles under his breath. “She’d always take you back for burping, though. I couldn’t do the trick.”
Kit smiles and sits next to her dad on the arm of the chair, her arm around his back. “I’m glad you’re here, Dad. Ariella is very lucky to have a grandpa so close by.”
He glances up first at me, then toward Kit. “I’m sorry. I should’ve tried to be more understanding of this whole thing. I just,” he lets go of a breath, “it doesn’t matter. Duke takes good care of you. You love each other and this little miracle is here. Your mother would be so happy.”
Kit’s mom passed away a few years back when she was coming home from the Springs during a winter storm. Kit misses her constantly, and I know she still feels her mom’s love. I’m so happy about that. Ella loved her daughter with everything she had.
“Mom would be happy for you too, Dad. She’d be so proud of how far you’ve come.” Kit smiles.
“Well, there are some things that only a grandpa can teach a little girl.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Fly-fishing to start. Then I’ll take her hunting, show her the ropes. Gotta introduce her to a hammer young, and maybe how to check her oil too.”
Kit kisses her dad on top of the head and glances toward me with a grin that spreads ear to ear. “Can’t wait to see all those things. She’ll be the most capable little girl on the mountain.”
“Right after you,” Wade says, squeezing his daughter’s hand.
I know how important this relationship is to Kit and I’m so thankful that everything is finally falling back into place.
“Well,” Kit says, standing from the chair, “I guess I’ll go get dinner started while you’ve got this one busy.” She glances toward me. “You mind starting the grill up for me? The ignitor was acting weird the other day and—”
“Of course, I’ll help with dinner.”
I follow my girl to the kitchen and grab the lighter out of the drawer by the sink. “I didn’t realize the ignitor was messed up again. I’ll fix it tomorrow.”
“It’s not messed up.” She grins and tips up onto her toes, planting a kiss on my lips. “I just wanted an excuse to be alone with you. Can you believe Dad? He’s being so sappy.”
“I guess that’s the magic of babies. We should have more.”
“I’m glad you say that because,” her cheeks pink as she smiles wide, “I’m pregnant.”
My eyes widen. “Pregnant? Again? Already? How is that possible?”
“I took the test this morning. Two pink lines. I guess it’s really easy to get pregnant again after birth. I don’t know how. My period hasn’t even come back yet, but here we are, most definitely pregnant.” She pinches her lips together. “You’re happy, right?”
“Fuck yeah! I want ten more of your little clones in this place. Heaven knows we have the space.”
“I thought you’d say that.”
I land my hand on her stomach and lean down to kiss her lips. “I’m so glad we went for it, Kitten. You make me so damn happy.”
A tear rolls down her cheek as the oven beeps and the scent of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies fills the room. “You make me so damn happy. One might even say you make me the happiest.”
I always considered myself a rough sort of guy. A man’s man. The kind of dude who’d rather go fishing than fall in love. Turns out, I hadn’t fallen for the right girl, ‘cause this one, this one I’d do anything for.
THANK YOU FOR READING.