34. Epilogue-Taylor
Epilogue-Taylor
Nine Months Later
“Twenty-four hours to go.” I whistle, pulling a chair from around the dining table, the smell of fresh coffee and sizzling bacon making my mouth water. “Is anyone as terrified as I am?”
“Nope,” Jude mutters, pouring an unhealthy amount of syrup on a stack of pancakes. “Can’t be terrified when I’m ready. We’re ready.”
Tomorrow we reopen, and guests will start arriving. Silver Sage Retreat will officially become what we’ve spent nine months rebuilding. “I know we’re ready, but it still feels surreal. I can’t believe we’re booked solid,” I say, shaking my head.
Roman grunts around a bite of toast. “You can thank yourself for that.”
I shrug, though hearing him say it gives me a warm feeling. “I just made people want to come.”
“You did more than that,” Jude says, pointing his fork at me. “You revamped the website and our social media accounts, and you got all those travel agencies on board. I still don’t know how you convinced so many influencers to visit for our soft opening last week.”
“My face,” I joke.
Jude grins. “You might have a point there. But this old place now looks like the hottest winter destination in Montana, and it’s partly because of you.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds impressive.”
“It is impressive,” Roman chips in.
Coming from him, those two words mean everything.
A year ago, this place was falling apart.
Now every cabin is reserved through winter.
Every horseback excursion has waiting lists.
The spa appointments are nearly full before we’ve even opened the doors.
People are actually excited about Silver Sage Retreat, and I pinch myself whenever I think about it.
Sometimes I still have to remind myself that this is my life now. I’m the manager of a boutique western resort, not a future attorney forcing his way through law school. I’m not the guy pretending to be someone I’m not because it made my mother’s career easier.
“You son-of-a-bitch.”
I glance up. Roman is glaring at Jude, who asks innocently, “What?”
“I saw that.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Roman huffs. “You snatched the bacon from my plate.”
Jude looks as if he’s about to deny it, but then he shrugs. “Fine, it was lonely.”
“It was my breakfast.”
“Well, it wanted friends.” Jude gestures to the two strips of bacon on his plate.
Roman sighs dramatically, reaching for the platter of bacon in the center of the table. “I’ve somehow fallen in love with two idiots.”
“Hey! Why am I catching a stray?” I protest, chuckling.
“Because you enable him,” Roman grumbles. “Now he’s bothering me.”
Jude flashes him a grin. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. You know you love it.”
The hint of a smile pulls at Roman’s lips as he scoops another serving of bacon.
It still amazes me how much has changed in a year.
There was a time when the tension in this house was thicker than those pancakes on Jude’s plate.
Roman barely spoke, and Jude hid behind sarcasm.
Now, breakfast includes stolen bacon, terrible jokes, teasing, and a professing of love that makes it feel as if someone poured warm liquid in my stomach.
I can’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather be.
Not everything is perfect, though.
My thoughts drift to my mother. Congresswoman Natasha Sanders.
We still talk. Once a month, sometimes twice if our schedules line up.
Our conversations remain polite and safe.
We talk about the weather, the ranch, her committee assignments, but never the issues between us.
Never mind the fact that she tried to make me ruin someone else’s life.
I haven’t told Roman about what she wanted me to do. I’ll take that secret to my grave.
Jude’s voice pulls me back. “I’ve been thinking.”
Roman groans immediately. “Oh, hell, that’s never a good thing.”
Jude slides him a look hot enough to melt the snow outside. “It usually is.”
“For you.”
“No, for everyone,” Jude throws back. “Just hear me out.”
“I’m listening,” Roman mutters, bringing the mug to his lips.
“I think we should renovate the top floor.”
Silence. Roman’s stare is deadpan.
Jude gestures toward the ceiling. “The three bedrooms, I mean. We’d knock down the walls and turn them into one huge living quarter.”
“Like a suite?” I ask.
“Yeah.” His eyes soften as they move between Roman and me. “A place that’s ours.”
I know exactly what he means. Our current bedrooms are fine, but they’re scattered across the second floor.
Most nights, two of us end up wandering into another person’s room, anyway.
Sometimes Roman falls asleep with his arm around me, Jude curled against my back.
Sometimes we all wake tangled together beneath one comforter.
We need a bigger bed. A single suite makes sense.
“And we’d finally have one room designated for...” Jude clears his throat. “...intimacy.”
Roman snorts. “That’s one way to put it.”
Jude kicks him under the table. He doesn’t even flinch. “You know what I mean,” Jude says.
“I’m just messing with you. I do.” An uncharacteristic smirk settles on Roman’s lips as he addresses me. “What do you think?”
I shrug. “Sounds good to me. We basically sleep together every night, anyway.”
“Exactly.” Jude snickers. “I don’t think any of us remembers whose room is whose anymore.”
Roman nods thoughtfully. “We’ll start making plans once the season settles down.”
He squeezes my knee under the table. It’s such a small gesture, yet I can’t help but compare him to the man I first met.
The grumpy asshole who glared at my suitcases as if they’d insulted him, and then avoided me like the plague.
Now, he’s still quiet. Still rough around the edges.
But there’s a warmth beneath all of it. He jokes and teases, and smiles without realizing he’s doing it.
But the biggest change isn’t something anyone else would notice.
It’s the way he loves me. There’s no hesitation anymore, no fear holding him back, no invisible wall between what he feels and what he shows.
When he wraps his arms around me, it’s with his whole heart, and he kisses me as if he isn’t afraid of needing someone anymore.
There’s tenderness in him I never expected to find.
And when we’re having sex, he loves with that same fierce devotion. Passionately. Slow enough to make me fall deeper, and rough enough to leave me breathless. I love every version of him, just as I love the new version of Jude.
He’s changed, too. It’s not dramatic. He’s still impulsive and sarcastic, and he still desires sex almost as much as he needs air.
But therapy has given him something he never really had before—peace.
The nightmares don’t control him anymore.
He still has difficult moments; we all know that, but now he talks about them.
He allows us to help him carry that weight.
Looking at the two men sitting across from me, I realize how unbelievably lucky I am. Roman grounds me. Jude challenges me. Both of them love me with everything they have. I love them just as fiercely, and honestly? I couldn’t ask for anything more.
We’re finishing the last of breakfast when Roman’s phone vibrates across the table.
He glances down, and the warmth disappears from his face as his shoulders stiffen.
My mind immediately conjures an unforeseen issue that might dampen tomorrow’s opening.
It’s the only thing that would explain the tightness in his expression.
“What is it?” Jude asks.
Roman reads the screen again before looking at me. “We’ve got an early guest.”
I frown. “But check-in isn’t until tomorrow.” Our receptionist won’t arrive until tonight.
“Yeah, I know.” Roman slides the phone away from him. “Would you mind heading over to the lobby and greeting them?”
Of course, I can’t refuse since I’m the manager, although I didn’t sign up to handle a guest who clearly set the wrong date in their calendar.
The housekeeping staff is still putting finishing touches on the rooms. I rise from the table, already thinking of options to keep the guest occupied until a room is ready. “Fine. I’ll get them settled.”
Roman offers a small smile. “I appreciate it.”
The cold bites at my face the moment I step outside.
Fresh snow crunches beneath my boots as I make my way across the new courtyard.
I pull the lobby doors open, warm air hitting me with a soothing blast, and my eyes immediately land on the woman near the fireplace.
She’s wearing a caramel-colored coat and standing with perfect posture.
Her blonde hair is also perfectly wrapped into a soft bun.
My breath catches. “Mom?”
She turns. The moment she sees me, her face lights up, and before I can react, she crosses the room and wraps her arms around me.
For a second, I freeze, then I hug her back. “What are you doing here?” I finally ask.
She pulls away just enough to give me a cautious smile. “I hope this is a pleasant surprise,” she says.
“It is, but…” I glance at her luggage. “This isn’t exactly your ideal vacation spot.”
“You’re right, but I wanted to see where my son has settled.” She takes my hand, and a remorseful look fills her features. “I also need to make amends. Not only with you, but also Roman.”
And it’s now that I realize why Roman looked so uptight. He knew the guest was Mom.
“What I tried to do was heartless— I see that now,” she says. “Apologizing over the phone wasn’t enough and, seeing as I’m on a break, I thought it would be the perfect time to come here.”
My mouth hangs open. I can’t recall Mom ever being sorry for anything.
She sighs. “Honey, I’m not asking you to sweep this under the rug. I know it’s going to take time. Just meet me halfway, that’s all I ask.”
In response, I hug her again. As she snuggles into my chest, I see Roman and Jude standing a short distance away. Their defensive stances make me smile, but I don’t need protection. What I need—what I’ve been craving for the last year—is closure.
And finally, it feels as if I’m about to get my wish.
THE END.