Epilogue
Delilah dashed to the barn as the sun peeked over the horizon. Surely if she got this early of a start, she’d beat Zero to the punch. It had become a bit of a game over the last few months to see who could get up the earliest and be the first one through the door.
Usually Zero won, but only because Delilah had developed a very bad habit of waking up to the sound of him in the shower, and she liked to lay there in her room on the other side of the bathroom, listening.
Knowing he was close enough to touch. That she could do all of the above whenever she felt like it. Kiss him when she wanted to.
Thank God she’d picked him instead of art. Picked herself. Her life had become very blessed indeed.
Today was her day to win the First Through the Door War, though.
Only it wasn’t. She double-timed it through the door to see Zero already sprawled on the floor, rubbing his eyes.
“Dang, you’re fast.” She pulled her lips into a small pout she could barely hang onto with him looking all disheveled and delicious. “I didn’t even hear you leave this morning.”
“I didn’t,” he corrected her with a tired smile. “I slept in the barn. Norrington was a little off yesterday, and he just didn’t seem himself, so I stayed overnight in case he needed me.”
Delilah’s pulse stumbled as she registered her darling man telling her he’d slept in the barn because a dog wasn’t feeling well. “Is he okay?”
Norrington’s dark snout popped through one of the slats in his stall door, clearly having heard his name.
Zero wouldn’t admit it, but the Rottweiler had become his favorite of the dogs they’d adopted from a shelter in Tyler.
All of the dogs were sweet, but Zero clearly had a special place in his heart for the first one, the one they’d picked to launch their emotional support program.
“I think so,” Zero said and lifted the latch to let the dog come into the main area.
The Rottweiler promptly lay down on Zero’s feet, seeking attention, which he got in the form of his master crouching down to murmur encouraging words as he scratched the top of the dog’s head.
Sheridan had been the one to suggest they start their emotional support dog training efforts at one of the area shelters.
It served several purposes: inexpensive candidates, they were rescuing dogs from the shelters, and it didn’t matter if the dogs did well in the program or not, because it was still experimental.
Once they had proof of concept, they could begin in earnest with clients or by working with other military veteran nonprofit groups.
Zero’s sister had proven to be a great addition to their foundation, and she excelled at the administration side of things. They couldn’t have asked for a more perfect partner.
Delilah tucked her tongue in her cheek. Clearly Norrington wouldn’t be going to another home, ever. “Looks to me like he’s just a big baby who wanted his dad.”
Zero shot her a look. “This dog is not my baby. You know I hate it when you talk like that. Don’t listen to her,” he said to the dog, crooning, “Good boy,” and slipping the dog ever-present treats from his pocket.
Sure. He hated every bit of it. She hid a smile and waited until Zero was satisfied that the dog wasn’t in need of resuscitation or life support or a place inside the house by the fire, which she had a feeling might be coming next.
That would be fine with her. What was one more dog?
Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann had moved into the house months ago.
Zero straightened, wiping the goofy grin off his face, but not fast enough. He did a double take when he saw her staring at him. “What?”
“I love you,” she said, and it came out kind of choked, but who could blame her when this man filled her so much he stole her breath most of the time?
“Yeah, so you’ve said. Many times. What’s different about today?” he asked, genuinely perplexed as he took her into his arms to lay a sweet kiss on her temple, her favorite because it was the kind of thing couples who were easy with each other did.
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Maybe because I see how much Tag is mooning around over Sheridan, and I’m just so happy that I’m not still in that position.”
Zero laughed. “You never mooned around over me.”
“I so did.” She poked him in the chest. “You ran all over this place with no shirt on, fixing things until I thought I would pass out from the sheer stimuli. I never thought you’d even noticed me as a woman until that night on the stairs.”
The expression on his face softened. “That might have been the moment I truly fell for you. Though I think it started when you told me to introduce you to Will Turner.”
“You liked that, did you?” She smiled, her default expression around this man who had given her everything. “I have lots more where that came from.”
“I hope so.” He was looking at her with a glint in his eye that meant she needed to get her A-game ready. “Speaking of which, I wasn’t going to bring this up until later, but it feels like this might be the right time after all.”
Suspicious all at once, she eyed him. “You’re not about to tell me you adopted another dog.”
Nine was enough for now, thank you.
“Not exactly. More along the lines of me thinking that it’s time to do some restructuring.”
He had his boss face on. The one that said he was about to make some decisions she might have to fight him over. She grinned. “Is this like the time you tried to give yourself the title of head dog trainer, when very clearly you are not?”
His laugh had a silky edge that thrilled through her. Sometimes he reverted back to his old grumpy ways, but she mostly knew how to kiss him out of his occasional moods.
“I fronted the property,” he informed her regally. “That should have been a given. But no, it’s not like that. I was thinking more along the lines of making this a permanent partnership.”
A raw ache sprang up in her throat as her lungs forgot to work. “You want to be partners? Officially? Like with paperwork and everything?”
Sure, they’d talked about making their foundation official, but they were still so early in the process.
Not that she minded the idea of moving forward.
They had a name and everything—Operation: Bark.
Nothing would make her happier than to put a legal stake in the ground.
This was it for her. The ranch. The man. Dogs. All of it.
“Officially official,” he said with a nod. “The most official kind there is.”
All at once, he dropped to his knees and pulled out a shiny, silvery, glittery thing from his pocket that looked suspiciously like a ring. But it was too hard to tell through the welling tears.
This wasn’t a conversation about a business partnership. Or maybe it was, but it was also so much more.
“I love you, Delilah,” he murmured. “To distraction. Marry me, and let’s be partners in everything for the rest of our lives.”
“I don’t know,” she hedged, crossing her arms as even more tears splashed down her cheeks. “How will we print wedding invitations? Everyone will find out your real name. Including me. We can’t have that.”
He shrugged, nonchalant. “So we elope. Problem solved.”
Her mouth fell open. “Seriously, Renshaw? You can’t even find it in your heart to confess your real name in the middle of a marriage proposal?”
“Joseph,” he said immediately and winked. “If that’s what it takes, I’ll paint it on the side of the barn. I won’t settle for being without you ever again.”
She fell into his arms, laughing and nodding and repeating yes over and over again.
“But we still have to elope,” she said and wrinkled her nose as she snuggled deeper into his arms. “Because you’re right. Joseph is a horrible name. I’m not printing that on my wedding invitations.”
“We can put Zero on the invitations,” he suggested lightly. “There’s no rule.”
“The day you stop caring about rules—”
And then she forgot all about it as he kissed her to seal their engagement.