EPILOGUE
Six Months Later
LIZ
The door to my studio is wide open, the noises made by human and horse alike coming from the barn below find their way upstairs almost as thoroughly as the various country scents do.
The spiral staircase not only provides easier access for my models and clients, but also sound, and scented breezes.
Not that I'm complaining. Not even a little.
Especially not since shifting my business from boudoir to cowboy shoots.
Well, that's not how I market them. I use words like country chic and rustically warm and natural beauty, but it all means the same thing.
I take pictures of people in jeans and boots and cowboy hats, the occasional summer or wedding dress thrown in the mix.
It's great. Not just because it keeps me around all the people I love, but because it allows me to share Serendipity with so many others.
Same as we do on rodeo nights, which are still going strong.
So much so, we're talking about adding an 'every other Tuesday night' to the calendar for regular roping practice.
We, as in me, Jovi, Cas and Crow. That's right. The ranch has grown so much we’ve been able to hire a barn manager and a second trainer. That's how magnificent my man is. He turned this blank slate draining money into a business that provides not only for our family, but two others as well.
Since moving into the house with me, we’ve expanded the office in the barn, building out from the main structure to add two more rooms, as well as another bathroom. And since we were already making changes to the plumbing, we added a small kitchen to what was originally office space.
It’s not big, but it’s cozy and functional and allows Cas and Wyatt to live at Serendipity with us. Cas hasn’t given up on his own place, but it’s fair to say that dream has shifted some in recent months.
"You ready?" Jovi asks, poking his head in through the open door. "I’m all done with the horses for the night."
I glance over my shoulder at him, still planted at my desk, editing the photos I took earlier this morning of Holly and Cas.
I may be playing a more active role in the ranch business than I ever expected to, and am finally booking new clients here in town, but I haven't let go of my subscription service. Quite the opposite.
Holly was right when she pushed me to start shooting the boys in all their rugged cowboy glory. Country romance themed images sell like hotcakes. And I'm happy to provide them as long as they do.
"Where are the kids?" I ask, clicking out of the screen to shut things down for the rest of the day. “Shouldn’t they be making some sort of noise right about now? This silence is making me very nervous.”
He rolls his eyes. "They’re fine. Cas made mac and cheese for dinner and lured them away.”
“You didn’t want any?” I ask, walking up to meet him and slide an arm around his waist while his drapes over my shoulders. “No curry, no interest?”
He chuckles. “Mostly, yeah.”
“Mostly?”
He guides us to the stairs and together we start taking the steps down. “I may have already had a little something else in mind for dinner tonight.”
My brow crinkles. “You have something in mind without the kids?”
We still have our weekly check-in nights.
We call them date nights now. And while the trust is still raw between us, we offer those nights to Tammy and Abe for sleepovers.
Provided we can get the kids to give up a night of hanging out with Wyatt.
Not that Cas is our live-in nanny these days.
It’s been a very mutually beneficial living situation. Cas has even started rodeoing again.
But tonight isn’t one of our nights. Not that I’m aware of anyway.
“You don’t know what date it is, do you?
” Jovi teases, nudging my side when we reach the bottom and start making our way to the door leading out from the feed room.
The walkway isn’t as direct from here, but it’s a nice stroll, especially this time of evening, when the sky is painted vivid shades of pink and violet and a crescent moon hangs like a sliver of silver overhead.
But I tear my gaze away from the startling beauty of it all to peer at something even more strikingly handsome.
“Should I?”
JOVI
I knew I would do this the night Liz presented me with all her wishes on the wishing tree. Wishes of me. Of us. Of our life.
Wishes I wish for too.
Wishes I think I’ve been making for far longer than I ever realized.
Wishes I held in a little longer. Biding my time until the right moment.
The right date.
“One year ago today,” I say, drawing the words out slowly to buy the time I need to reach the house, “you and I made a deal.”
I feel her jerk to a stop in my arm, but I chuckle and tug her forward.
“Are you sure?” she asks, and I can practically hear her mind counting backwards.
We survived the first anniversary of Trent and Lena’s passing.
It was messy and painful and about a hundred times worse to witness the children ensnared in their grief as though no time had passed at all.
But we got through it. Together.
We hunkered in the house all day. Stayed in our pajamas. Shared stories and looked through a million photographs. Watched every video we could find. And Liz made all of Trent and Lena’s favorite foods. Had a birthday cake for Lena with a candle that both kids blew out.
It was exhausting and healing and heartbreakingly beautiful all at once.
And after a family sleepover on the living room floor, we woke to the sun shining through the front windows. And life came back for us.
Like I knew it would.
Despite the tragedies we’ve endured, life has held us in so much love and joy and comfort, it’s hard not to come back to hope. To happiness. To dreams for the future.
Since Liz made use of the wishing tree again, the kids have been eager to keep it filled with new wishes.
At least once a week, I take a moment to scan the limbs and seek out the new drawings.
Gavin has his heart set on a bike without training wheels.
And judging by the many hearts I keep finding, of all shapes and sizes, with the initials L.T.
written inside, I’m guessing Remmi has fallen head over heels for her first crush.
I can relate.
I have a similar wish I intend to make tonight.
“And now you want to re-evaluate?” she asks, as we reach the back door and go inside. “I thought we already adjusted the terms months ago.”
One hand slides out to flip on the kitchen light, while I slide the other down her arm to link our fingers. Our walk doesn’t end here. “We did. But I have a new proposal.”
Her brow furrows, but before she can ask another question, I lead her from the room and down the hall. Right to the spot I found her in a year ago. Standing lost beyond the foyer.
Only now there’s something else where she stood that day.
A tree. Not quite like the wishing tree Lena chose, this one is meant to be planted outdoors. A crepe myrtle with bright red flowers. A tree that symbolizes eternal love and marriage. A tree for new wishes. Only this one isn’t covered in pictures.
"What's going on?" Liz asks, knuckles turning white where she's gripping my hand. "What is this?"
"It's a wishing tree," I tell her, grinning, because we both know that it is.
"What are you doing?" she whispers, eyes wide as she takes in the tree and the white gold band adorned with a square cut diamond in a kite setting hanging from a red silk string right at the center.
"I’m making a wish," I tell her. "In the very spot I found you the day our lives changed forever. Because I want to change them again.”
Still holding her hand, I lower myself down to one knew before her.
"I know there was a time that it seemed like loss brought us together," I say softly. "But it was always love, Liz. Always." Tears sparkle in her eyes, but there’s a smile curving her quivering lips as she waits for me to say the next part, "And so, there's something I have to ask you."
She drops down before I can get the last of it out, meeting me at eye level, mouth forming a single word. "Yes."
The emotions in her eyes spill over, leaving glittering trails down her perfect face as she breathes, "With you, the answer is always yes."