Epilogue
Iris
Fourteen months later
It was almost time. Travis’s flight had landed an hour ago. Jackson had gone to pick him up from the airport, so they’d be home any minute, and I was driving myself out of my mind making sure everything was ready.
When tires crunched on the autumn leaves outside, I flew out the door, and my arms were around Travis before he’d even gotten out of the car.
My big brother. Safe and sound on solid ground. His arms wrapped around me for a long moment before we pulled back.
Behind me, Butterscotch gave all us humans a skeptical look before trotting back under the porch. I’d tried to offer him a place indoors, but he refused to be confined.
“You should shave that,” I said, nodding to Travis’s thick, dark beard. “You look disreputable.”
“Maybe I am disreputable,” he said with a cocky grin.
“You shouldn’t advertise it.” I turned on my heel, leading him inside, humming with anticipation.
Jackson trotted along beside me, his hand slipping into mine. It was a little damp.
“So, where’s my room?” Travis asked, looking around as if he didn’t know every nook and cranny of this house.
“At your old house.” Jackson rolled his eyes, but the set of his shoulders was oddly tense.
Travis turned to me. “I told you to sell that place.”
“Then where are you supposed to stay when you’re home?” I wasn’t having my brother stay with us for months at a time, between trips out to sea. I loved him, but no thanks.
“Here, with my two favorite people?” Travis said with a shit-eating grin.
“I’ve lived with you long enough,” I said.
“Fine, I can tell when I’m not wanted.” He sighed dramatically. “But if no one’s in that house, we should sell it. I can make other arrangements when I’m in town.”
“You might want it one day,” Jackson said. “Maybe settle down, quit the seafaring life.”
Travis snorted. “Nah. Like that old song says, my life and my love is the sea.”
The timer I’d set earlier went off, and Jackson scrambled for the oven. “You put it in for sixty minutes, right?” he asked, looking at the top.
“Yes, I followed your instructions exactly.”
He mumbled something unintelligible and pulled it out. “Dinner’s ready.”
“Wow, who knew you’d make such a good househusband.” Travis settled into a chair at the kitchen table.
“Iris does most of the cleaning. The least I can do is cook.” Jackson plated up the steaming lasagna for us, the dishes clanging to the table with more force than usual.
We split the household maintenance, too. Though we sometimes argued about the best way to do something.
When we’d settled in a bit more, I asked Travis, “Are you planning to visit Sue while you’re in town?” She was doing time at a minimum-security women’s prison a few hours away.
Apparently she and Joel had been mixed up with some motorcycle club. She’d turned state’s evidence on both Joel and the club—which ran meth along with other drugs—and gotten herself a cushy deal.
I’d thought about writing to her but hadn’t been able to. Not after what she’d been prepared to do.
“Fuck no. I hope to never lay eyes on that bitch again.” Travis stuffed a bite of food into his mouth.
That was about what I’d expected Travis to say, but I had to ask anyway.
Jackson shifted in his seat and turned the conversation to pleasanter topics.
By the time dessert rolled around, Jackson’s nervousness had worn off on me. I didn’t know what his deal was—this was far from Travis’s first visit home since we’d gotten together—but he kept shooting Travis these looks, and Travis would just give him a smug little smirk in return.
“Babe, what’s going on?” I hissed at him when my nerves couldn’t take it anymore.
He coughed into his fist and shot my brother another look. Travis shrugged.
“I wanted to do this on our one-year anniversary, but Travis was still at sea…”
My heart rate kicked up.
“So now that your family’s home, I want to ask you something.” He fumbled around in his pocket while knowledge and intuition collided into joy inside me.
Out came a small jewelry box that he popped open. Inside was a solitaire ring. “Iris, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I croaked, flinging my arms around him. “Of course I’ll marry you.”
I couldn’t have said if he kissed me or I kissed him; our mouths simply fused together.
Travis coughed, interrupting the moment. “Gross, guys. Congratulations and all, but I’d better not overhear anything while I’m home.”
“You’re staying at your own place,” Jackson reminded him, his hand running up and down my back. Somehow, I’d ended up in his lap. “We washed the sheets for you and everything.”
Travis made a face. “As long as I don’t have to watch you two anymore.”
He might like to razz us, but I didn’t care one bit. Everything was exactly as it was supposed to be.