Epilogue #2
“I’m coming!” Maverik said, pausing to watch Cristie and Remi cut their cake. “Y’all gonna make me cry, right there! Damn, I’m happy to be here for this day!” he said. “Cut me a big piece, I gotta go show these kids how to play horseshoes.”
Cristie sliced cake until she was tired of slicing cake, then handed it over to her mother.
She took two plates and went over to where Keegan was now sitting alone since everyone was up and meandering around the dessert table as they each enjoyed a piece of mating cake or a scoop of pudding.
She handed Keegan a plate and a plastic fork. “Brought you a piece of cake.”
“Thanks,” Keegan said, taking the cake from her, but not really taking a bite.
“You alright?” Cristie asked.
“Yeah,” Keegan said, nodding slowly as she picked up the fork and put a little piece of cake in her mouth.
“Liar,” Cristie said.
Keegan looked over at her quickly. “What?”
“Want to tell me what’s actually going on with you?”
Keegan started tearing up, but shook her head.
Cristie looked around horrified that she’d made Keegan cry.
In a spur of the moment decision, she smashed her slice of cake on her shirt and jumped up.
“Damn it! Keegan, come help me, please!” She grabbed Keegan by the hand and dragged her with her into her house.
The minute the door closed behind them, she turned on Keegan. “What the hell is happening?”
Keegan broke down crying.
“Aw, shit. Come on, or they’ll be in here if they hear us,” Cristie said, leading Keegan back to hers and Remi’s bedroom and closing the door. “Now, sit, talk to me.”
“I’m not supposed to,” Keegan said. “And it’s better that you don’t know.”
“You obviously are struggling with something. I know I’m not Alpha yet, but I will be eventually. I am capable of helping you. Tell me what’s got you so upset, or I can’t help you.”
Keegan looked at Cristie, wanting so badly to share what had been weighing so heavily with her. “If somebody finds out, they’ll know I told you.”
“I’m not telling anyone. Not even my father. Not Remi, not anyone.”
“Not even Kaiser?” Keegan asked.
“Kaiser? Why would I tell Kaiser?”
“He’s your best friend, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, but….” Cristie’s eyes got wide and she reached out and held onto Keegan’s upper arms. “Nooooo!”
Keegan started crying again, while she nodded her head.
“And you’re devastated because you can’t stand him!” Cristie whispered.
“No, I’m devastated because I’m sixteen and my mate will never want me because I’m so much younger and he’ll never claim me. What if I never find another?!” Keegan asked.
Cristie sat there, adjusting to Keegan’s point of view. “Oh. Well, no. I don’t think that’s a problem.”
“How can you not see that it’s a problem?” Keegan asked.
“Because I think Kaiser wants you, too,” she said, her eyes looking up at the ceiling as she tried to remember exactly what it was that Kaiser had said to her when she was having her own meltdown over Remi.
“He lectured me a lot because I was avoiding Remi. He even said something insinuating that he could never have his mate, that he didn’t even know if she knew who he was, and I was ruining my chance with my own mate by being an ass.
Now that I think of it, he was having a really hard time of it.
I just didn’t realize it was over a mate. ”
“Really?”
“Yep. And I can do some digging just to make sure, but have you noticed anything about him since he left?”
“Not really, I try not to.”
“He’s not dating. If he was, it would be all over social media. He’s stopped seeing anyone. My guess is that’s because he’s found his mate and doesn’t want anyone else.”
Keegan sat a little taller. “You think so?”
“Could be. Makes sense. But you’re sixteen.”
“I know. And I honestly don’t know how I feel about the whole thing except that I’m so lonely since he left. Which makes no sense because we didn’t even talk when he was here.”
“It’s the bond. It connected you, and now you’re apart.”
“And I’m supposed to start my senior year this year.
I have so much I want to do, and I don’t want to get married and have babies and spend my life as someone’s mate.
I want to get a degree in history. I want to travel and see the world and learn about other cultures.
How do I do that if I accept a mating right out of high school? ”
“You don’t accept a mating right out of high school.
You go about your life, you follow all the paths you want that will take you to what you want to be and experience.
Your mate, whether it’s Kaiser or anyone else will fit into that.
If they don’t and they expect you to give up your dreams to be something they want you to be, they’re not really the mate meant for you.
And there is more than just one mate meant for each person. ”
“There are?”
“There are. My grandfather was mated once and it almost destroyed him. He left to build another life and found my grandmother and has been deliriously happy ever since.” Cristie leaned close to Keegan and whispered very quietly.
“My father felt the bond with my biological mother, but she couldn’t handle the truth of what he was, what I was, and deserted us. ”
Keegan’s eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth with her hand.
“But it was the best thing to happen for all of us. Because then my dad met Maia, and she’s my rightful mother. She’s my dad’s mate, the one he’s supposed to be with, the mother I was meant to have.”
“Oh, wow. I didn’t know. My parents are all about the one soul mate meant for you and all that.”
“And some have it that way. But it doesn’t mean it has to be.
The mate bond popping into place doesn’t mean it has to be lived that way.
My advice to you is that you go about making Keegan happy.
You’re not ready for a bond now anyway. Kaiser left, knowing him, it wasn’t just for him, it was for you, too.
Take it as a gift and go about your life.
If he’s meant to be in it, he’ll come around when the time is right.
And even then you can say no. If he never comes around, the right one will. On your terms. On your time frame.”
Keegan nodded and lurched forward hugging Cristie tightly. “Thank you, Cristie.”
“You’re welcome. And I’m always here no matter what you want to talk about.”
“Thank you.”
“Cristie! You okay?” Remi called out as he started down the hallway toward their bedroom.
“I’m fine. I just got cake all over me and Keegan! We’re changing shirts and will be out in a second.”
“Oh, good! I was worried when I couldn’t find you.”
“I’m just clumsy,” Cristie said.
“I’ll wait outside,” Remi said.
Cristie tore her shirt off over her head and held out her hand for Keegan’s shirt.
Keegan hesitantly took it off and gave it to her.
Cristie smeared part of the frosting from her own shirt onto Keegan’s, then tossed them into the bathroom, and dug around in her dresser for two more tops for them.
They quickly got dressed then made their way out of the house, both laughing as they went, though Keegan’s eyes were a little puffy from her tears.
“There y’all are!” Remi said. “Everything good?”
“Really good,” Keegan said, smiling at Remi, then hugging Cristie. “I’m going to get another piece of cake.”
“I’ll see you over there,” Cristie said.
She and Remi stood just off their back porch, watching Keegan go.
“You going to tell me what that was really about after everybody goes home?” he asked.
“You going to tell me why Kaiser really left here after everybody goes home?” Cristie asked.
Remi raised an eyebrow. “I guess I need to now.”
“Same,” Cristie said. “But I would have told you anyway.”
“I love you,” Remi said.
Cristie paused before she answered, smiling softly as she felt the words Remi had just said. “I love you, too,” she finally answered.
“First time you’ve ever said it,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose.
“Yes, but it’s not the first time I ever thought it.”
“You ready to join our party?” he asked.
“Let’s go,” she said, slipping her hand into his as they started around their home to where the party was taking place in the driveway between all the houses.
She was pulled to a stop because Remi had stopped.
She looked back at him and watched as he picked up a rock from the driveway and slipped it into his pocket.
He smiled at her. “Some people remind themselves to stop and smell the roses, appreciate the important moments in life; our family will always stop to pick up a rock instead on the happiest days, so that the memories of the day are never forgotten.”
“I love you,” Cristie said, leaning against him as they walked toward their family and Pride.
“That’s two times,” Remi said.
Cristie laughed, as Remi made it clear he was going to keep count of the times she told him she loved him.
“We’re going to need more space for all these rocks,” Remi said, as he leaned over and picked up another one to put in his pocket.
~~~
Harper backed out of her parking spot and prepared to pull out onto the highway, but just as she began to lift her foot from the brake, somebody stepped into her field of vision.
She shielded her eyes from the glare of sunlight with her hand, trying to focus on the person’s face.
“Clay?” she asked, rolling down her window.
“Hey. I saw you leaving, thought I might tag along.”
“Why?” she asked.
Clay shrugged. “Because being around so much family gets to be a little much sometimes. And I heard your parents giving you crap, and I just thought it might be nice to meet some of your horses.”
Harper smiled. At least somebody was interested in the work she did at the arena. “Sure, why not? Get in,” she said, unlocking her doors.
Clay walked around her car and got in the passenger side. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“So, how did you get started working at the arena? I know you’re always there, but I don’t know how it started.”