Epilogue Three Months Later Jake #2
“I arrived in Abbey Falls to fall into the arms of my family, hoping that they would put me back together. But that’s not what I really needed.
It was to find the woman who would push me with her no-nonsense words and not take excuses for the things I did wrong.
To challenge me to be a better man, every single day.
To open my heart again to not only her but to the animal kingdom as well. ”
Ash lets a little giggle out in between her tears that are falling freely now as I continue. “And as much as I tried to tell myself I wasn’t ready, the magic of this place already had other plans for us.” Taking a deep breath, I’m trying to hold back my own tears now.
“Ashley Alleyne, you complete me, you are my home, and I want you to also be my happily ever after. I promise to be by your side when things are perfect and never to run when things get hard.” I take the ring from the box and place the box down.
“I love you with all that I am and all I will ever be. Marry me so we can live our forever together.” I hold my breath just watching her look from my face to the ring and back again, with a smile so bright it shines through the tears.
“Yes. A thousand times yes.”
She’s holding out her hand and I slip the ring on her finger. I then jump to my feet, wrapping my arms tightly around her. I twirl her in the air, with the beautiful sounds of her happy laughter echoing around us.
Slowing, placing her feet back on the ground, I lean into her, whispering, “You said yes.” The reality of the moment overtakes my emotions.
“I said yes,” she whispers back at me, and it’s the perfect time to kiss my fiancée.
And of all the times I have kissed her before tonight, this one feels the sweetest, filled with such pure love that is binding us as one.
As I open my eyes, it’s then that I see my forever looking back at me.
Sometimes you need to weather the storm to see the stars come out again. But the most important thing is it’s not about the storm or when it’s going to clear, it’s who you choose to ride it out with.
Ashley will always be my storm-and-stars girl.
“Can you let your cousin who’s hiding over in the bushes taking photos know that it’s time to leave now? Because I really want to get naked with you to celebrate.”
Ash’s words hit me exactly as intended, lighting every spark in my body.
“Absolutely.” I start kissing her hard and the electricity is tingling on both our lips. It was meant to be a quick touch, but this is not stopping anytime soon. So instead of yelling to Chase, I just hold my hand in the air, waving for him to go, and thankfully he gets the message.
“Congratulations, and yeah, I don’t need to see this.
I’m out,” he calls out to us as the flashes stop, and he disappears off toward Heatherbrae.
Hearing the gate close in the distance, I pull my black T-shirt over my head and stand in front of Ash, with all the signs of arousal building on her cheeks and the fidgeting movement of her legs under her dress.
“Naked, now!” I growl at her.
“Make me.” The challenge in her eyes is all I need.
“Challenge accepted.”
Eighteen Months Later
Ashley
“I swear if I have to get up one more time to go to the toilet tonight, you are being evicted.” My bare feet hit the floor as I hear Jake’s grumble from the bed.
“You better not be talking about me.” His drowsy voice tells me he’s getting as little sleep as I am.
“No. Your son, that is kicking my bladder like crazy because he’s obviously running out of room. If he lasts another two weeks in there it will be a miracle.” I’m now yelling from the hallway as I waddle in the dark to the bathroom.
When we talked about having kids on our many nights lying under the stars, it all sounded so beautiful and something dreams are made of.
But no one prepared me for this part of the journey, where I feel like my body has been taken over and is no longer my own.
Or that because my husband is a big man that his baby boy will also be a man child before he’s even born.
I swear I will be so much nicer to every pregnant animal I see going forward.
Because these last few weeks have sucked.
We are so lucky that Abbey Falls has grown on Beau, and he’s found a reason to stay.
Jake and I have talked about after the baby is born and my brain is operating at least on some sort of logical capacity that it might be time to sit down and talk to Beau about buying into the clinic with me.
I will never give up my life as a vet because it’s who I am, but I want to step back a little now and add the title of Mom to my name.
And this new job is going to be both the most important and the most challenging I will ever do in my life.
Because let’s be honest, any son of Jake’s is going to be a handful and will want to spend every moment he can outside.
And on the nights I’m uncomfortable and can’t sleep, I imagine visions of this little boy sneaking over to Heatherbrae to Gran to get a cookie or sweet when I have said no more.
Or following Rosie as she wanders between the two houses.
We gave up trying to keep her at Heatherbrae all the time; she has a bed at both houses now, and the bigger I have gotten in this pregnancy, the more frequently she sleeps in the living room in her spot.
She didn’t just claim Gran as her human—Rosie claimed the whole family, and we love her for it.
I’m waddling myself back into the bedroom and Jake is now standing next to the bed on my side with the covers thrown back.
“Here, baby, let me help you back into bed and try to get you comfortable.” He takes my hand and lowers me, picking up my feet and helping me swivel to lie down.
He then collects all my pillows that I have stuffed between my legs and under my belly to help with the constant backache and pulls the covers over me before kissing me softly on the lips.
He walks back around the bed, climbs in, and wraps his arms around me, running his hand in circles over my swollen pregnant belly.
And there’s something about his touch that seems to soothe his son, bringing calm to him and sending him back to sleep. Which in turn helps me drift off too.
“That first cuddle will make all this work worth it. As much as I love you in all your pregnant glory, I know you are going to be the most amazing mother, and I can’t wait to see it.”
Jake’s soft words fall in the darkness as we sleep, but all I can think is, yeah, well, tell that to my body that is getting ready to push out an oversize watermelon. Thankfully I’m so exhausted that the worry of that disappears as I fall asleep.
But as I wake again with that constant feeling of needing to pee, this time it’s joined by some pain that has me a little worried. I reach back and tap my husband, who’s still wrapped around me.
“Jake, I don’t feel well. Can you help me to the bathroom?”
And he was already moving before I even got the whole sentence out.
“Ash, what’s wrong?” My big strong man is already in panic mode.
“I don’t know, but this pain at the same time as the need to go to the toilet is not normal, and my vet brain is telling me that something isn’t right here.
” And as much as I don’t want to think about my son as an animal, it’s all the same process in theory.
“Either that or my mother’s intuition is kicking in early. ”
And almost like I brought it on by talking about something not being right, my water breaks halfway down the hallway, and the first sharp contraction hits me, almost bringing me to my knees.
“Jake!” I scream as I grab hold of him before I fall to the floor.
“Shit, is it supposed to start that hard?”
He’s worried, but I can’t actually answer him right now as the pain rages through my body and it takes every bit of my energy to keep breathing.
As it backs off, I look up at him and see my poor husband with fear in his eyes.
“No. Get me to the hospital because this little guy has decided it’s time, and he’s not waiting.”
As Jake loads me into his truck, I’m rubbing my belly before the next contraction hits. Talking to my little boy, trying to reassure him it’s all going to be okay, but I think it’s a pep talk for both of us.
“Just hang in there, little one. I don’t want to be trying to talk your dad through delivering you on the side of the road.” Because it’s the problem of a small town. The hospital is thirty minutes away, and full of bumpy country roads.
And as we screech into the hospital, they rush me through triage while Jake is trying to shout details at the poor nurse filling out the paperwork.
But the moment I’m in the labor room and I finally see the doctor’s face, it’s like I check out and let it all just start to happen, because I don’t need to be the medical expert here anymore.
I’m just a woman who’s about to give birth, and the sooner the better, because I feel like I’m being ripped in two.
“Jaaaaaake!” I scream so loud I’m sure they will hear it back in Abbey Falls as my son’s head crowns, and before I can take a breath, his little body follows, and the doctor is lifting him onto my chest.
Tears rush from me as I look down at my little boy’s mushed-up face, covered in muck, and think he’s the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.
Jake kisses my forehead as we both wrap our arms around our son, who lets out his first cry to signal his entry into the world.
“Welcome to the family, our little Brock Noel Davis. We’ve been waiting to meet you.” And looking into Jake’s tear-stained face, the love he has inside him is bursting already.
It’s like Jake can feel his gramps in these ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes, and I will thank Noel every day. We lost a great man, but in turn he brought Jake to me and gifted us the next generation of men to walk the soil of Heatherbrae.
And for that, I’m eternally grateful.