Epilogue — Jalen
THREE MONTHS LATER
My rig lives in the craft room now.
I could have set it back up in my old corner by the bedroom window.
I refused. Malachi offered to build me a proper studio two rooms down, soundproofing and all, and I turned him down flat.
My mate spends her evenings in here, and I go where she is.
That’s the whole policy. What good is a perfect sound booth if I can’t look up and see her?
So my boom arm hangs over a desk in the corner of Zuri’s craft room, between a ribbon wall she organized by color and a shelf of paint bottles I am not allowed to touch.
Behind me, my mate sits at her worktable painting a dollhouse.
She’s building it for our daughter, our hatchling. Zuri’s belly has started to round out under her shirt, a few months along and finally showing, and every time I catch sight of it my dragon rolls over inside me.
The spa build is coming along downtown, and she and Renee spend half their days bossing contractors in hard hats. The other half she spends in here, painting tiny shutters a soft yellow, while I sit at my desk pretending my hands aren’t sweating on my own equipment.
Tonight is my first night back on air. The comeback special, announced all week, going out live. A whole season of quiet ends tonight, and every creek baby in this valley is about to find out what I’ve been sitting on.
I sit down at the desk and catch my own leg bouncing.
I look back at her.
The bond probably told on me. Zuri looks up from her tiny shutters. Then she rubs a slow hand over her round little bump and blows me a kiss.
My dragon settles. My nerves don’t stand a chance against that woman.
Her mother is moving to town soon, and baby, I already have STORIES. The in-laws deserve their own episode. That’s a whole other show for a whole other night.
I turn back around and boot up the live. The board lights come up green, the stream counter starts climbing, and I lean into my mic.
“CREEK BABIES. You haven’t heard from me in a while. But guess what? I’m BACK, and it’s LOTS to tell.”
Behind me, the sound of Zuri’s painting stops.
“First up. Stanley’s Diner. Y’all remember Andy. The man who trained half this valley’s waitresses just to lose them to fate, one mating bite at a time. The man we ALL swore was unswoopable.” I get right up on the mic. “Baby. Andy got swooped.”
A little gasp of a laugh comes from the worktable.
I count the next part off on my fingers.
“That’s right. Fated, mated, and grinning over his own flat-top about it, and Stanley’s Diner has itself a brand-new CO-OWNER.
Miss Carissa of the Ironwood clan. And before y’all start up, yes.
A bear. One of the elder bears, on that mountain since before the diner had a roof.
Our Andy has a few seasons on him too, so run the math with me, creek babies.
That’s a second-chance romance for the both of them, and fate keeps receipts even longer than I do. ”
I tip my mug toward the window and the night behind it.
“And thank you for the tea, Soren. It’s good to have friends made of stone.”
I sit back in my chair.
“Now, if you have never been courted by an Ironwood, let me paint you the picture. Them bears? A car breaks down on that mountain, and they come out to PLAY. Every damn time. Flat tire? Bear. Radiator smoking? Bear. Miss Carissa heard one bad fuel pump in the diner parking lot, and the rest is history.”
Zuri snorts, and I grin at my board.
“Now this next one is soft, creek babies, so act right. Our gargoyles are about to be PARENTS. Soren and Treasure’s little one is due any day now, and when he gets here, Shadow Wolf Creek welcomes its very first hatchling.
” I thump my desk. “And I have got ALL the smoke for my godson. All of it. Anybody so much as breathes wrong near that baby, they answer to a dragon.”
I look back at Zuri. She’s smiling over her paintbrush, one hand resting easy on her bump, and she catches me looking and winks. Our own news stays ours a little longer.
I spin back to the mic, and my dragon is right there with me, warm behind my ribs and twice as loud.
“And one more thing before the music.” I quit playing, because this next part I owe.
“Nyra. Marcus. If y’all are listening, and I know this valley, so you are.
” I flatten both hands on the desk. “I was wrong for outing your pregnancy on this show. Flat-out wrong. That news was yours to tell, and I took it from you for an episode, and no download count was ever worth it. You didn’t deserve that, Nyra. ”
The craft room has gone dead quiet.
“It took loving a woman of my own to understand how sacred those moments are. I hope one day the two of you can forgive me. And for what it’s worth, that cherry-wood crib Marcus built is the finest work in this valley. Your little one is lucky in every direction.”
I don’t have to turn around to know my mate’s face. The bond hands me all of it, surprise first, then something so warm it nearly knocks my headphones sideways.
“Housekeeping, creek babies. Stillwater.” I square my notes on the desk.
“Every last bottle, pump, and drum of their product is OUT of Shadow Wolf Creek. Off the shelves, out of the schools, gone from the medical center. We are officially free of that mess, and the business is closed for good. Locked doors, dark windows, cardboard boxes.”
I flip to my next note. “And here’s your plot twist. Millbrook, of all places, seems to be coming around. Folks over there are waving at wolves in the grocery store now. Turns out that whole town mostly had one bad witch whispering in its ear.”
I pull the mic closer.
“But hear me good, babies. She’ll be back. Delilah ALWAYS comes back. And when she does, we do exactly what we did in that parking lot. We stand up, all of us, every clan and every kind, because this is OUR home and we earned it.”
I pull my headphones down around my neck for this last part and say it plain.
“I want to thank y’all. For standing with me when I needed it. Every wing in that parking lot, every paw between those cars, and every stone friend who kept watch over this town night after night. You showed up for the messiest dragon on this mountain, and I don’t take that light.”
I slide my headphones back up.
“And I’m not signing off without one more special gift for all of you.
Y’all know my sister Jules is due real soon.
But it turns out there’s another addition coming to the Carter clan right behind that one.
” I give the mic a beat of nothing. “A girl, creek babies. A baby girl. Your messy dragon is going to be a FATHER.”
I put my hand over my heart for this part.
“So when y’all see me at Shadow Fest next week, show me and my lady some love.
Before that woman came into my life, I was a mess just living up to my name.
She’s the one who showed me that love comes in the messiest times, and that I could be loved exactly as I am.
Mess and all. I would not be the man I am without her. ”
Behind me, Zuri sets her paintbrush down. She crosses the room and puts her hand on my shoulder.
I cover it with mine and look up at her. “I love this woman with everything in me,” I tell the whole valley.
Then neither of us says anything. We stare at each other with all of it in our eyes, long enough that the chat starts asking whether the stream froze.
The chat can wait.
I put my hand on her belly, over our daughter, and turn back to the mic.
“Don’t worry, y’all. I’m back.”
My sniffle goes out live over the whole valley, and I don’t care one bit.
“This is Messy Jay, signing off. Where there’s smoke...”
I pause and pull in a breath.
“...I’m probably the fire.”
I end the stream.
Zuri cups my face in both hands. She’s crying too, and she leans in and kisses my lips.
“You did great, baby,” she says against my mouth.
I sniffle again. “Because of you, Zuri.”
She wipes my tears away with her thumbs. “I love you.”
“I love you, Zuri.” I press my forehead to hers and stay there until I can let her go.
Then I ease her back a step, and I lean in and press a kiss to her round little belly.
“And I love you too,” I tell our daughter.
THE END.