Epilogue
ARCHER
I stood behind Eve as she spoke quietly to her parents.
We’d spent the morning clearing weeds and grasses away from their graves in the family plot above the big house.
The grave yard was a decent pilgrimage and we’d package a bit of food and a few other things.
Eve had taken to wearing sleeveless dresses as the weather warmed.
Though she was out of bandages now, I knew the thin scars on her arms still bothered her.
We had no firm idea of how Simon Haldon’s brother had found Eve, but it wasn’t too hard to guess.
The news reported heavily on his arrest in Texas, following both of us earlier in the year when he stalked her to my place.
It seemed that news had followed her all the way back to Montana, along with Odin.
So, I had a new job at Red Hard—vetting incoming ranch hands, the same way I used to vet rangers.
Apparently I did have some useful skills after all.
Everyone from Joe’s crew had cleared out shortly after Christmas, and Pierce kept to his own side of the fence line.
That was the way it would stay, as far as we were both concerned.
Travis and Jude too, now that they understood the full story—all of it.
The doe still didn’t leave me alone, following me most days. She was pregnant now, had her own boyfriend much to Eve’s hilarity. We’d decided to choose a name together later in the year.
But for now, I waited while Eve had the quiet conversation she needed with her parents each month.
“I’m ready to head back, if you are?” Eve appeared by my side.
I slipped an arm around her waist, drawing her away from the grave sites to a rocky outcrop that looked away from the big house and its fields and deeper into the mountains behind Red Hart.
“Not just yet.” I leaned down and kissed her gently. “How are you feeling?”
She shrugged. “Good, I suppose. Then tight. Panicky. Then I see you, and I’m okay. Then, repeat.”
“It might take a while.”
“If ‘a while’ is a decade or so.” She raised her hand to run her fingers across the garnet and diamond necklace I’d given her when she came to see me in Texas.
The garnets represented red Hart, and the stars were laid out in the shape of one of the constellations above the mountain I’d loved the first time I came here.
“If it takes a lifetime, and me being here helps, then that’s what we do, Evie.” I stroked the back of her neck, my lungs constricting.
She shifted. “What are you up to?”
I grinned. “You should have worked in my office, you little feral.”
“Uh huh. Spill.”
Pressing a kiss to her temple, I extracted the small black velvet pouch from my pocket and placed it in her hands. I didn’t have a speech, and I knew she wouldn’t expect one from me.
Eve’s sharp inhale told me she knew exactly what I was doing.
“Archer…”
“Open it.”
Eve leaned into me as she undid the pouch's strings and tipped the white gold ring inside onto her palm. The Yogo, one Travis gave me a year ago, was set in the middle, the mountain behind the house carved into its surface by Bode Hunter, the artist who lived deep in the mountains we looked at now.
“This is one of ours.” Eve closed her eyes. A shattered breath left her. “You had this made up, didn’t you?”
I hummed. “Bode carved it for me. We talked about what would be the right thing for you for weeks. I’m sorry I didn't give it to you sooner.”
She shook her head. “No. It's perfect. Thank you.”
I slid it carefully onto her finger, protecting her sensitive arms. Eve looked down, and when I couldn’t bear it any longer, I caught her chin between my fingers and tipped her face up.
Tears glazed her cheeks.
“Eve?” I murmured. “I’m gonna need an answer.”
“You haven’t asked me a question.”
I smiled, leaning down to brush my lips across hers. “Do I need to?”
Eve sighed, pulling me down to her. “I’m yours, Rhys. I’ve always been yours.”
I kissed her gently, savoring her cinnamon and gingerbread taste. “Is that a yes, then?”
Yes,” she whispered, melting into my arms. Salt mingled into our kiss, the mountain's chill wind wrapping around us, though its bite never hurt.
I’d chosen a place where the mountain could bear witness to Eve’s decision, what we chose together for Red Hart, its stoic gaze lighting on us as Eve let me kiss her until her hair tangled around my fingers in a knot, weaving us together.
And then I didn’t want to share her with anyone at all.