Epilogue
EPILOGUE
T he engagement party was perfect.
Harper’s Bar was packed full of Townsends, Morettis, Langstons, Faulkners, the entire weapons class, and half the town. Stone’s hockey game was on the television as drinks were poured and challenges for pool and darts issued.
After complaining for twenty minutes about not being able to understand these New Yorkers, Gator was teaching the Moretti men how to wrestle an alligator. Turtle showed them pictures of his pecker that had been snagged by a snapping turtle. Skeeter had scared them to death with pirate ghost stories. The ghost of Ann Bonney pinching TJ’s ass sent them running out of the bar only to come running back in when Mean Abe was strolling down the street. They decided a horny ghost was safer than an ornery alligator.
Wilder sighed as he approached the bar to get another drink. Kyler, the Gen Z bartender and brother to millennial Timmons, happily flew in to help cover the busy night. Timmons was the house manager at the Bell Landing estate. It had taken Wilder a moment to learn the millennial lingo Timmons spoke in, but Kyler was even worse. Somehow Wilder felt ancient talking to someone who was no more than six or seven years younger than he was. Hell, even Timmons made him feel old, and Timmons was around his age.
“Bourbon, please,” Wilder requested as he watched Maggie and Waverly talking with Bex while Miss Ruby and Miss Winnie were sharing recipes with his future mother-in-law and his future Aunt Julie.
“Miss Mitzi is showing Aunt Gia naughty needlepoints,” Damon said, sighing when he realized their end of the bar got Kyler. “I think she’s going to make one for Gia’s salon.”
“That should be interesting. Miss Mitzi takes on New York.”
“Here’s your bourbon,” Kyler said, sliding the tumbler over to him. “It’s dank. I’ve elevated it so it slaps, no cap. Congrats on the snack.”
Wilder looked around the bar top. There were no snacks laid out. “Um, thanks,” Wilder said, pulling out the rosemary and lavender forest Kyler had put in his bourbon.
“Beer,” Damon said.
Kyler came back with a beer with blackberries in it. “Normally I get your drip, but you need a vibe check, fam.”
Kyler turned and headed down the bar to talk to Jimmy Moretti. Jimmy didn’t seem to have trouble understanding Kyler. Wilder looked down at his phone. “Oh, a snack is an attractive person and drip is your swag.”
Damon shook his head. “I’m too old.”
“Not too old to take a baseball bat to mobsters,” Wilder said to his brother with a wink. “Thanks for that.”
“Anytime. You’re my brother. Sorry,” he said, looking at Kyler. “You’re my fam. And Bex is fam. So, if you need anything while you’re in D.C., don’t hesitate to call me. I’m sure we’ll all be visiting you too.”
“Who knows, maybe I’ll find the perfect woman for you in D.C.,” Wilder teased. His brother really did need a good woman. He was the best big brother and deserved someone who appreciated that.
“A biker and a politician. Don’t see that happening.” Damon rolled his eyes at him and walked away.
“Wilder! What do you think of getting married in New York?” Bex asked from where she, Waverly, and Maggie were now with Miss Ruby, Miss Winnie, Miss Mitzi, and the aunts.
Wilder joined them, wrapping his arm around Bex’s waist and kissing her before facing the group. “I don’t know if New York can handle Miss Mitzi, but I can’t wait to find out.”
“Me?” Miss Mitzi asked. “Go to New York?”
“Of course, you’re going to New York. All of you are. We can’t get married without Shadows Landing there.”
“Maybe not Bubba, though,” Bex added.
Wilder laughed and was swept up in wedding talk. Who knew it was his new favorite thing to talk about and think about? “We could have the reception at WET NYC.”
“Now that is worth putting on my dress uniform for!” TJ saluted with a beer.
Wilder looked down at Bex. His bride-to-be. They’d picked a date for their wedding on the plane home that morning. They’d get married one week after she graduated from the FBI Academy. He’d already started a countdown on his phone.
Damon approached Forrest and handed him the beer with blueberries in it. “I dealt with Kyler to get you this.” Forrest smiled at him and took it with thanks. “Tell me about this trip to the Amazon. Will you be back in time for all these weddings?”
“I’ll leave the day after Kane and Waverly get married and I’ll be back a month later, two at most. Plenty of time before Wilder and Bex’s wedding.”
Damon frowned as he picked up the beer he’d left at the table. He was proud of Forrest, but it always made him nervous when he disappeared for long stretches of time in dangerous locations. “Will you have the ability to reach me if you need help?”
“Yes, Damon.” Forrest rolled his eyes, but Damon was serious. His little brother was going to be in the middle of the rainforest with an indigenous tribe. What if he needed a doctor? What if he got lost? “I’ll have my satellite phone with me and my solar powered generator. This is a really big deal. If my invention works, it can help millions of people.”
“I’d feel better if you weren’t alone.”
“I won’t be alone. I’ll have an entire tribe with me.”
“A wife to help with your research and inventions would be nice too.”
Forrest rolled his eyes. “Worry less about my love life and more about the fact that Pen is sitting with the women but not saying anything. She hasn’t looked up from her drink in twenty minutes.”
Damon watched as Gage, Maggie’s brother, tried to flirt with Pen. Pen just nodded but didn’t flirt and didn’t talk back. She just sat and listened as she stared into her drink. “She’ll be okay. She just needs to get back to work.”
“I’m going to check on her,” Forrest told him.
“See if she has any single friends who would find traipsing about in the jungle fun,” Damon called out as Forrest walked away.
“Bro,” Rowan groaned as he approached. “What’s with the matchmaking? Are you secretly in love with someone, and it’s some promise you made not to get married until we’re all married?”
Damon’s brow furrowed. “No, that’s stupid. I’m your big brother. I only want to see you all happy. Don’t you see how happy Stone is?”
“Yeah, he just body-slammed his rival into the boards and made him bleed. He’s very happy.”
Damon narrowed his eyes at his brother. “And did Stone Townsend, feared hockey player, just blow a kiss into the stands for his wife?”
“Yeah. He did.”
“And look at Hunter. He’s never been happier. Same with Kane. And look at Wilder. He can’t stop touching Bex and smiling. Even Olivia, God help us all, is so happy she’s starting to mention the F word.”
Rowan’s eyebrows shot sky high. “She’s talking to you about fuc—”
“No!” Damon interrupted. “Well, I mean, kinda. She’s saying ‘family’ a lot. I have no doubt she and Granger will have a baby soon. That’s all I want for you and Forrest.”
“But not Pen?”
Damon grumbled. “Even Pen. Eventually. Just not to a mobster. A nice Midwestern boy maybe who is in finance.”
“Or a southern gentleman in business?” Rowan asked, looking to where poor Gage had obviously been shot down.
“It doesn’t matter. She’s not ready for love yet. However, you and Forrest sure are. Don’t twins do things together all the time? Any nice single women at the hospital?”
Rowan shivered. “I don’t date anyone in the hospital. That’s just messy. I appreciate you want to see us happy, Damon, but maybe this desire to see us married really goes back to your desire to be married. To have a partner. You’ve taken care of us for so long, and you mostly did it on your own. I think this is your subconscious telling you that you want someone to share your life with.”
“I should never have paid for medical school for you. You had one psych rotation, Ro. One.” This time Damon did roll his eyes. Because it was so crazy or because it was so close to the truth, Damon didn’t know which.
“Forrest, Rowan!” Wilder called out. “Come on. Us against PJ, Ray, and Jimmy in darts.”
Forrest looked up from his phone when Wilder called out his name. He’d just gotten notice from the trip coordinator that they recommended hostage and ransom insurance. The political climate around the jungle was getting dangerous. Developers wanted a piece of it, farmers wanted more land, and drug runners wanted to stay hidden. Basically, it was becoming volatile. And Damon wanted him to bring a woman with him?
Forrest looked to where Wilder was kissing Bex—again. He did look really happy. Forrest would talk to Kane about insurance. Well, once Kane stopped kissing his fiancée. Love was all around him for sure. At least in the middle of the Amazon jungle he’d be able to focus on his work. Not a single woman in sight. Heck, not a single person in sight. Yeah, he’d told Damon he would be with people, but he’d stretched the truth since Damon was a worrier. The tribe would be almost a mile from where Forrest was setting up. At least he’d have a month of peace and quiet and the chance to change the world. Who needed love when you had that?
THE END
What happens when Forrest finds a woman running for her life in the middle of the Amazon? And what happens if it’s not just Jordana the people are after, but Forrest too?