Epilogue #2
“This Saturday?” Now it’s my turn to stare at him like he’s lost his mind.
“This Saturday,” he confirms. “Gives Josie and Tanner and Slade time to book flights. Dad can officiate.”
I stare at him. “You’re crazy.”
He kisses me. “Saturday.”
On Saturday morning I stand in front of the mirror in Rosemont bedroom in my white silk dress and I think about the girl who drove through the gates of Wild Rose Ranch in June with everything she owned in the back of her car.
That girl had a plan.
This woman has something better.
When I appear at the top of the stairs, Walker goes completely still.
He's standing at the bottom with Jonah beside him, both of them dressed to the nines, cowboy style. Jonah looks like a mini-Walker, dressed in all black with his little cowboy hat on, and it might just be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
And Walker… he’s definitely the handsomest thing I’ve ever seen. Black suit and onyx bolo tie, those deep green eyes pinned to me. He looks at me the way he's looked at me since the beginning. Like he couldn’t take his eyes off me if he tried.
I never pictured my own wedding in much detail. I was always daydreaming about everything that came after. But Walker hires an extremely efficient wedding planner who handles everything, and it’s perfect.
Rosemont is dressed up to look like a Western fairytale come to life. And the end of the day, I’ll get to call Walker Rhodes my husband.
Before the wedding, I meet Walker's little sister Josie for the first time. She has the Rhodes green eyes and sable hair but somehow looks totally different from her brothers. Fine-boned where they're big, short where they’re giants.
She pulls me into a hug right away. “Finally,” she says. “I've been waiting to meet you since June. I can’t believe I’m getting a sister-in-law. You have no idea the testosterone levels I’ve had to deal with in this household.”
As we finish getting our hair and makeup done, the smell from the bouquet of lilies starts to become overpowering.
My stomach turns over hard and I clutch the dresser in front of me. Suddenly both Josie and Cassidy are at my elbow simultaneously.
“You're pale,” Cassidy says, going straight into doctor mode, hand on my wrist checking my pulse.
“Are you dizzy?” Josie asks. She’s snapping right into nurse mode alongside. “Is it the heat?”
“It's not the heat,” I say.
“Sit down,” they say, in unison.
“I don't need to sit down. Really.”
“Sit,” Cassidy says.
I sit. They crouch in front of me, two women with medical degrees, both talking at once, running through a differential diagnosis at my own wedding while the hair and makeup people watch with confused expressions.
“Have you eaten today?” Josie asks.
“Are you sleeping okay?” Cassidy asks.
“Any other symptoms?”
“How long has this been going on?”
“I'm fine,” I say. “I'm completely fine. I just need those lilies out of here.”
Josie looks at the bouquet with confusion. “The lilies?”
“It’s the smell.” I breathe through my mouth so I don’t have to smell them. “As soon as they’re out, then I’ll be all good.”
“Sadie.” Cassidy fixes me with her best clinical stare. “Let us help.”
I look at the two of them. On their knees in front of me in their wedding finery, worried and absolutely relentless.
“I'm pregnant,” I say.
Dead silence.
Josie grabs Cassidy's arm with both hands. Then they're both screaming and crying off their mascara and hugging me and it’s exactly the reaction I didn’t know I was needing, deep-down.
When I told Momma a few days ago, she just said, “That didn’t take long.”
I suppose she’s right.
Jonah walks me down the aisle. He’s got his chin up, shoulders back, holding my hand with both of his. He takes his job as the man escorting me with a seriousness that makes my heart swell. Five years old and he already knows how to show up for the people he loves.
He’s going to be such a good big brother.
My mother sits in the front row. Eyes dry. But she came. She's here, which is more than I can say for my father. When I catch her eye, she gives me the smallest nod. I’d like to think it means, I see you. I'm proud of you. You did good.
Josie and Cassidy are both crying, which they warned me they would. They give me huge, watery smiles as Jonah walks me down the aisle.
Maybe this is what it's like to have sisters.
I think I'm going to like it.
When we get to Walker, my soon-to-be-husband’s eyes are bright, and he’s not trying to hide it.
Jonah tugs on my hand, the way he does when he wants to whisper something in my ear. I bend down.
“I heard Aunt Josie say you’re having a baby,” he whispers.
Oh boy. So he heard that scream too. I glance at Walker, who immediately senses there’s a big conversation happening right here, in front of several dozen of our family and friends, and he comes down to one knee by us.
Jonah looks at his dad. “So I’m gonna be a big brother?”
Walker straightens the purple lupine pinned to his jacket. “That’s right, JoJo. You’re gonna have a little brother or sister.”
His eyes widen. Then he looks at me, and there’s a hint of hesitation there. “Will the baby call you mama?”
“When they start learning words, sure,” I say gently.
“Can I…” He takes a breath. “Can I call you mama too?”
My heart melts. “Oh, sweetheart. Yes. I would love that.” I pull him into my arms. “I love you.”
We have a three-sided family hug right there. Four, if you count the baby. Which is an idea I’m still trying to wrap my head around.
Both Walker and I wrote vows. He starts reading from a piece of paper, stops, folds it, tucks it back in his breast pocket.
“I had it all written out,” he says. “But I've been writing songs my whole life and the best ones never come from a piece of paper. They come from here.” He takes my hand and wraps it in his own before putting it atop my heart.
“I’ve made a career out of finding the right words for things.
Love songs, heartbreak songs, all of it.
I thought I knew what I was writing about.
I didn't have the first clue, as it turned out.
Because you showed up. And suddenly all those words I'd been reaching for my whole life just made sense.
Like they'd been waiting for you the whole time.”
He takes a breath.
“I love you. I’m going to keep telling you every day for the rest of our lives. In every song we write. In every kiss we have.”
He kisses me softly right then and there. There’s whooping and cheers from the crowd.
“You’re supposed to wait to do that!” Tanner yells good-naturedly.
Walker shoots him a glare before turning back to me with a tender smile. “I love you, baby. And I thank my lucky fucking stars every day that you love me too. “
“Language, Dad!” Jonah sing-songs.
I try to get through my vows. I really do. I make it as far as “I knew from the moment you called me copperhead” before I completely lose it. By the end I'm crying too hard to say mine properly and Walker just laughs and kisses my forehead.
“Close enough,” he says.
Daryl officiates and reads the words that I can barely concentrate on enough to repeat. Walker slides a diamond wedding band on my finger, and I slide a simple gold one onto his.
When my now-father-in-law says you may kiss your bride Walker takes my face in both hands and kisses me while everyone we love and no one else in the entire world is there to witness it.
The rest of the day is a beautiful blur.
Daryl's toast, which makes everyone cry.
Slade’s toast, which makes everyone laugh. Kind of surprising for someone who looks like they last cracked a smile about a decade ago.
Tanner dancing with Cassidy before she pulls away and leaves him looking wrecked for a good while after that.
When I come around the corner, I see Josie and Rafe sitting on the back porch steps, a bottle of champagne besides them. She’s kicked off her heels and he’s giving her a leisurely foot rub. She takes a drink directly from the bottle and passes it to him, where he takes a long pull of his own.
They’re not talking. Josie’s just gazing at the moon rising over the mountains. And Rafe’s gazing at her like she’s the one who hung it.
Talking to Walker or any of the Rhodes boys, you’d think Rafe was as good as their blood brother. But the way he’s looking at the baby sister of the family, not to mention touching her, is anything but brotherly. Those two are mighty cozy with each other.
I back away, unseen.
Everyone deserves to have some secrets.
At some point Walker dances with me in the golden hour light, one hand at my waist, his forehead dropped to mine, both of us barely moving. Later, Jonah sits on my lap and insists that Walker play a song on the guitar for everyone.
He does.
One of his own songs. One of our songs.
As the day fades into the low, golden light just before sunset, the wedding party goes on. And I find myself drifting away from the hubbub, taking a moment to look at it from the outside in.
This is my life now. These people. This valley. This sky going amber and rose over a place I've known my whole life and never really seen until this summer.
Walker comes up on my left. Jonah comes up on my right, tucking himself under my arm.
“How’s my beautiful bride?” Walker murmurs in my ear.
“Happy,” I say simply. “Really…” Making sure Jonah’s not looking, I mouth the word “fucking” at Walker, grinning. And continue in my normal voice, “Happy.”
He grins, pulling me tightly to him. “I think I’ve thoroughly corrupted you, my sweet wife.”
“And you don’t even have the decency to look ashamed about it,” I tease.
“Never,” he agrees. He kisses me softly. “Not when I get to spend the rest of our lives doing it.”
He takes us both to the cottonwood tree and produces a small knife from his pocket.
“Whoa!” Jonah exclaims. “Cool knife, Dad!”
“Thanks. Never know when I’ll need to protect my loved ones from a deadly serpent.” A wink. “Or carve our family crest for all to behold.”
Jonah and I hold hands, watching as Walker starts carefully carving into the cottonwood tree trunk in front of us.
WR
+
SR
+
JR
4EVER
I think about the heart he drew on my ribs in sharpie under the Fourth of July fireworks. WR + SS 4ever, he wrote then.
This one’s got my new initials. This one’s got our whole family in it.
This one's permanent.
Jonah claps with delight as Walker starts drawing a big heart around the letters.
“Dad,” he says, “You’ve got to make the heart even bigger.”
“Why’s that, JoJo?”
He stares at him like it’s obvious. “To make room for the baby!”
Then his big green eyes turn to me, very serious. “There might be more than one in there, you know. It sounds crazy, but it’s true.”
Walker and I start laughing, and Jonah doesn't quite know why, but he starts laughing too.
I look at Walker over Jonah's head. He's already looking at me.
And that's all there is. That's everything.
Our family.
Thank you so much for reading! If you want to read the bonus epilogue of Walker and Sadie with their new addition(s)—spoiler alert, Jonah was on to something when he said there might be more than one in there!—you can sign up for my newsletter at
And if you’re in the mood for a super-sweet and spicy quick read, “Cowboy and Candy Hearts” is a Valentine’s Day novella with a 6’4 sweetheart obsessed cowboy hero.
He’s got a soft heart and a dirty mouth and he totally rails her in his truck…
and might just have put a baby in her. Oops.
Friends to lovers, workplace romance, surprise pregnancy.
If you enjoyed this book, I would be honored if you left a review or rating! Even a few words help other readers discover the story and keep me writing more for you.
xo,
Kes