Epilogue
Six weeks later…
Claire
“Mornin’,” Beau murmured against my neck.
His voice thick with sleep. The sun hadn’t even risen yet, but the ranch didn’t wait for the sun to come up to need tending to.
The newest batch of show horses was being delivered today.
The cattle needed to be vaccinated. And Weston’s first bull riding student was coming for his first lesson.
I stretched, turning into Beau’s side. “Morning.”
“You’re goin’ to see Brittany to get your hair done at two. Then Anna’s taking you for a pedicure with Tess after her ultrasound.”
I sat upright, scrubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “What? I can’t. We have too much to do today.” I didn’t even know Beau knew what a pedicure was.
He propped himself up on his elbow. “I’ve got it handled, baby.” He brushed my hair off my shoulder. “You deserve the afternoon off.”
My eyes narrowed at him. “Are you sick?” I put my hand on his forehead.
He wasn’t any warmer than usual. “Are you having some kind of mental collapse? Maybe Delilah can see you.” Her schedule was crammed full now that Freedom Reins was up and running, but once she heard the words Beau and pedicure in the same sentence, she’d squeeze him in.
His laugh was low, blue eyes sparkling with amusement. “I’m fine. But you’re goin’ even if I have to drag you outta here myself.”
I threw the covers off and started racing to get dressed. “Then I needed to be outside like five minutes ago!”
Beau
“She has no idea,” I said into the phone, sitting astride Daisy in the north pasture. I watched Claire cut cattle, mud slung up her legs, her attention laser-focused. “Is Dad gonna be at the house today? I wanna tell him while y’all are gone.”
“Yeah, he’ll be here,” Anna replied. Then she started squealing. “I’m so excited!”
I looked down at the saddle, trying to hide my smile. I was excited, too. More than excited. I never thought I’d be here, that I’d have someone I’d love enough to propose to. Or that everyone we cared about would move their schedules around to help me do it.
“If you don’t start helping me, Beaumont, we’re going to be at this all day!” Claire shouted across the pasture. Some of the ranch hands snickered while a few others pretended they hadn’t heard anything.
“Gotta go,” I murmured to my sister. “Tell Dad I’m coming by.”
“Kay, love you.”
“Love you.” I hung up and rode over to Claire. “If you don’t stop screamin’ at me in front of everyone, they’re gonna start questioning my authority.”
“Thought you liked it when I was mad.” She smirked, looking heaven-sent backlit by the December sun. God, the way I loved her was overwhelming.
I brought Daisy closer to her so our legs were touching. “You know I do, baby, now get over here and kiss me so the ranch hands have somethin’ else to giggle about.”
She chuckled and leaned in, her lips soft and cold against mine. And to think I get to kiss these lips forever—nothing sounded more right.
Savannah
“Hayes and Hollis Law Office, how can I help you?” Levi chuckled across the hall, and I rolled my eyes.
“That rhyme is so dumb,” Wes snickered. “I’ll never get tired of hearing it.”
“Did you seriously call just to hear me say that?”
“No. Can we have a nacho cheese fountain at the wedding?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Absolutely not.” Ever since I first saw him ride and he got hurt, I haven’t been able to look at it without feeling nauseous. But it had been his most tame request so far.
“What about a mechanical bull? Robbie said we could rent Whiplash.”
I leaned forward, resting my forehead in my palm. “Weston, what if someone breaks their neck at our wedding? Do you want that to be the memory that sticks with you from the day?"
“Nothing will top finally getting to marry you, angel.” My heart fluttered. “But Whiplash would be a close second.”
“Oh my God,” I groaned, laughing. “I’ll think about it.” There was no way that was happening. “Remember, if you see Claire after one, tell her to get lost. She has to be gone so Delilah and I can set up everything while she gets her hair and nails done.”
“I know, Sav.”
Levi answered the phone this time, nearly laughing through the greeting. It wouldn’t be Hayes and Hollis for much longer since Wes and I were getting married in three months. Maybe then we’ll finally change it to Hollis and Tate Law Office.
I still couldn’t believe I was about to be Savannah Tate. After all the time we spent apart, finding our way back to each other had been the greatest thing to happen to me. And now we were getting the future we used to dream of under the stars.
Levi waved the phone at me. “I gotta go. Someone’s on the other line for me.”
“Okay, love you.”
“Love you, baby. Text me how your teaching lesson goes.”
“Will do.”
Levi
“There are the toes,” the ultrasound tech said, pointing at the screen.
I leaned closer over Tess, trying to see, but it just looked like a bunch of gray blobs to me.
We were having the anatomy scan to make sure everything was normal.
And while Tess had been calm and assured, I was a wreck over it. I hardly slept last night.
I grinned when I made out five toes and a foot.
“Look at that little foot!” I still couldn’t believe that we were having a baby, and that they were growing inside my wife.
God, she was incredible. Seeing her belly grow day after day, and how she took each new symptom in stride, only made me love her more.
“Do you want to know the gender?”
Tess and I looked at each other. She bit back her smile. “What do you think?”
“It’s up to you, sweetheart. But I know Luke’s dying to know.” I was, too, but I wanted Tess to decide. She hadn’t had any of these sweet, calm moments when she was pregnant with Luke.
Tess looked at the sonographer, her grip on my hand tightening. “Okay. Tell us.”
She grinned, glancing between both of us. “Congratulations, you’re having a healthy baby girl.”
Tess gasped, her hand going to her mouth.
My heart flew to my throat. I lowered my head to our joined hands, fighting back tears.
A girl. A mini Tess. The next twenty years flashed before my eyes.
Pink and glitter and makeup and princesses.
Hormones and bad boyfriends and giving her away at her wedding.
I looked up at Tess and kissed her hand. “A baby girl,” I rasped.
The ultrasound tech printed off pictures after she wiped Tess’s belly off, and my hand shook as I took them. I looked at my daughter’s face, her side profile blurring through my tears.
“I can’t wait to tell Luke,” Tess cried as we walked back to the car.
“Me too.” He was going to lose it.
The family life I used to dream about was finally here—loud, messy, perfect, and built on unconditional love.
Weston
“First rule is never lose focus,” I said. “You can get seriously hurt from not paying attention.” Elliot, my new student, gulped. He was a scrawny kid at only thirteen. A year older than I was when I started learning to ride.
“Okay,” he said.
“But I’m gonna show you how not to get hurt.”
We went over all the gear and what to do if he fell off. But I assured him he wouldn’t be getting on the back of a real bull for a while. I had been chomping at the bit to get slung around, but Elliot looked like he’d run screaming any second now.
I put a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”
“I do.” He sounded like he was reminding himself more than me.
“I really do. And I want to learn from you. I’ve been watching you all my life and have been begging my parents for years to let me.
” He glanced over his shoulder at his mom, who was watching from a nearby bench.
“Finally got my mom on board this year. It’s just a lot of info.
And…being here with you is a lot. You’re like, my hero. ”
“Thanks, kid, that means a lot. Trying something new can be intimidating, but we’ll take it as slow as you need. I’m never gonna push you to do something when I don’t think you’re ready. You wanna try out the barrel?”
Elliot nodded. We got all his gear on and went over to the mechanical barrel that mimics a bucking bull.
Dark red flashed in my peripheral vision.
I looked over and found Claire organizing papers in my office that overlooked the little arena we’d carved out for my students.
I looked at my watch. Savannah was gonna kill me.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I yelled so she could hear me. “It’s one thirty!”
She froze, looking like a deer in headlights. “Shit! I’m going!”
“Who’s that?” Elliot asked, watching as Claire raced back to the house on horseback.
“Claire Hayes,” I told him.
His brows shot up. “The barrel racer?”
I was surprised he knew who she was. She hadn’t been pro very long before she quit to run the ranch. “Yep. My friend is proposing to her later today, so we need her gone to set up.”
“Cool.” We got back to his training, and when it was over, he said, “You’re really good at this. Teaching.”
My chest tightened, and I patted his back. I’d been so scared I wouldn’t enjoy this the way I loved riding—that I wouldn’t be good at it. So I needed to hear that. I cleared my throat. “Thanks, kid. See you next week?”
“Sure thing.”
Tess
“I don’t know how I’m going to keep this a secret all day,” I said as Levi drove me to the nail salon to meet Claire and Anna.
“You don’t have to. Tell everyone. I’ll order a skywriter right now,” he laughed.
“I can’t do that. It’s Claire’s special day.” I glanced over at him. Butterflies swarmed in my stomach. He was so perfect, and the pregnancy hormones made it hard to keep my hands off of him. “I can get pink polish though.”
He brought my hand to his mouth, kissing my knuckles. “That’d be cute.”
“Stop that.” I pulled my hand away, giggling. “We’ll never make it to the nail salon if you keep that up.”
He smirked. “And that’s a problem, why?”
I looked up and we were pulling into the parking lot. “Because we’re here and the girls are waiting for me.”