Epilogue
EPILOGUE
CARSON JAMES
Two Years Later
I came to a screeching halt and jumped out of the truck. Lennon had called me in a panic and asked me to come down to the house.
It didn’t matter what it was about. The worry in her voice was enough to chill me to the core.
Lennon and I had been married for a year and a half, and we’d lived in the house for most of that time. There were still stacks of lumber in the yard from where I worked on projects like building the deck when time allowed. The ranch’s communal pet cows, Kevin and Mickey, were napping by a mulch pile that I needed to spread in the flower beds.
I jumped over the concrete pavers that had been delivered last week, bolted to the door, and yanked it open.
The light pine floors were marred by a single black chip of wood that had been planted and sealed in the threshold—the burned piece of the lodge that had lived on my nightstand for ages. The inanimate object that used to hold all my anger and resentment. Now, it represented something else.
Our fire line.
The mark on the floor was a daily reminder. Inside these walls, it was to be a safe, peaceful place for both of us to lean on each other. A reminder that we were a team inside and outside that door. And that good things happened when we pushed through the flames, side by side.
But right now, I wasn’t so sure that our sanctuary was peaceful. Not with the way Lennon was pacing in the living room.
“Oh my God!” she shrieked. “What took you so long? I’ve been waiting for hours!”
I checked the timestamp of the call. “It took me ten minutes, slugger. Besides, didn’t you just get back from town?”
Lennon looked a little green. “Uh-huh.”
I kicked off my boots in the entryway and calmly approached her. “Len, what’s the matter?”
She started pacing again. “Um. So, you know how I’ve been kinda sick?”
“Yeah? What’d the doctor say? Food poisoning from that intern you hired? I told you that chicken looked raw.”
Lennon shook her head.
“Becks said that Charlotte picked up a stomach bug. It could be that. Can’t they give you some antibiotics or something?” I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and yanked open the fridge to grab a drink.
“I’m pregnant.”
Those two words stopped me dead in my tracks. Slowly, I turned to face her. “You’re...” I blinked. “What did you say?”
“Yep,” she said with a manic sort of laughter. “Twins.”
The glass fell from my hand and shattered across the tiled kitchen floor.
Lennon started babbling as my world spun. “Apparently, I’m pretty far along too. I told the doctor I thought I had food poisoning, and it wasn’t going away, so she had me pee in a cup, and then she told me I’m pregnant. Pregnant!”
She dug both hands in her black and white hair. “My periods have always been irregular, so it wasn’t weird that I missed a few. But when I told her and she did the math, they did an ultrasound right there and...twins. Twins, Carson. Two babies. Two. At one time!”
I rushed around the kitchen island and pulled her into my arms, kissing her hard and deep. “Two babies?”
Lennon nodded as tears welled up in her eyes. “Oh my god. This explains why I’ve been such a hormonal bitch lately. I have to apologize to everyone at the restaurant.”
I lifted her tank top and dropped to my knees, resting my forehead against her stomach. “You’re giving me twins?”
“Giving you twins?” Lennon shrieked. “I think what you mean to say is, ‘Oh my God, babe. I’m so sorry you have to push not one, but two babies out of your vagina in a few months, even though we haven’t finished the house yet.’”
My God, she was beautiful when she was pissed. Then again, I didn’t think she was mad, just scared. She had a habit of reacting to things that scared her by lashing out. But that didn’t scare me in the slightest. She felt safe enough with me to react however she needed to.
That, or she really was pissed, and we were about to be in for a rollercoaster ride with the pregnancy hormones.
“I’ll finish the spare bedrooms,” I promised as I kissed her belly. “It won’t take long. I’ll get my brothers down here to give me a hand.” I stood and pulled her into my arms.
Lennon collapsed immediately, caving into my chest. “I’m scared.”
“It’s okay to be scared, Len.” My heart raced as I held her and rubbed her back. “You and me, slugger. We’re in this together.”
She sniffed. “I hope they’re girls. Or at least a girl and a boy. I can’t imagine raising Griffith brothers.”
I chuckled. “You know, being the only one out of my siblings to have the next generation of Griffith brothers sounds pretty great.”