Epilogue
“Love in its essence is spiritual fire.” - Seneca
ONE YEAR LATER
Cole paced in front of the steps, painted a smokey blue, energy pinging through him. It was later than he’d planned, took longer than it should’ve. Cicadas hummed from the trees surrounding him, the constant buzz adding to the unease in his bones.
Natasha had been and gone, helped him set everything up, gave him an encouraging hug before she headed off, laughing about the scowl that haunted his face. She gave as good as Terra, and that was all he needed—more people to bust his balls.
What he had needed today was Natasha’s touch, her eye for detail, for pretty.
When he heard the crunch of tires on the gravel drive, his lunch threatened a reappearance. He swallowed it down and stopped his pacing, trying to school his features as Jocelyn’s car eased up to the small concrete slab he’d had poured in front of the garage.
She got out of the car and turned, the sun painting her hair. But nothing could outshine the smile on her face as she looked at him.
That eased his nerves some, and he grinned. “Hey, Darlin’.”
She walked forward, straight into his arms, and damn if she didn’t smell like his dreams. Her long hair brushed over his arms as he held her. She left it down almost always now because he preferred it.
“Tash said you had somethin’ to show me.” Her accent was thick and strong now, teased out from being back in Cedar Hollow a year.
He let her step back but snatched her hand before she got too far. “Pull you away from anything important?”
She shook her head, a soft grin on her face that lit him up. “I’m glad for it. Nan and Joe were arguin’ about whether to add square footage to the floor plan. County allows half again as much as what was original. Even at their age, they bicker like school children.”
“Siblings,” he said. Not that he knew from experience, but she did, at least a little these days.
She gave her body a quick shake as if to rid herself of the mild frustration. “So what’d you want to show me?”
He tipped his head toward the house. “Inside.”
One dark brow arched up. “You showed me the new counters the other day. You can’t go draggin’ me out here for every update.”
“The hell I can’t,” he said, tugging her up the steps with a grin.
Now that he had her there, the nerves had died down. With her hand in his, all was right in the world, even if everything in it was about to change. Or maybe not. It was just the next step in the line he’d been walking toward anyway.
Jocelyn eyed him with suspicion and even tried peeking through the front window. He’d expected as much and asked Natasha to do up some curtains.
“Cole Hauser, what’re you up to?”
His grin stretched as his hand landed on the knob. “Quit askin’ questions. That’s how pretty girls get themselves into trouble.”
She glared at him. Joke might’ve still been tainted with pain, but his whole plan hinged on turning this time of year around for the better. He’d timed it for redemption.
The damn ring had sat in his pocket for a month or more while he waited to see how Jocelyn’s reconnection with her daddy went. And it was promising. She might very well have someone to walk her down the aisle. Providing she said yes.
He opened the door and guided her inside, knowing he’d nailed it as soon as her breath caught.
More like tapped the right person to nail it for him.
He hadn’t checked it himself, so his own mouth dropped open a second.
Natasha had organized movers to set the dark suede couches, the sleek metal and wood coffee table. They’d hung the black and white stills above the couch, warmed the corner up with a indoor palm plant he didn’t know the name of.
It touched on Cole’s style and added in the soft flavors of Jocelyn’s with the blue-striped throw pillows and tiny bouquets of flowers, tying everything together like he planned to do with their names.
“Cole,” Jocelyn breathed, hands going to her mouth. “You did this?”
He shrugged when she looked at him. “Tash mostly.”
She laughed, though it was breathy.
“It’s just this room for now. But the rest is comin’. We can move in end of the week.”
She gasped. “This week?”
“Aren’t you tired of shuffling between places?”
They’d been bouncing between a hotel room at the Hollow Inn, his folks’, and Natasha’s until he finished the house, until the contractors finished The Hammered Nail rebuild.
Only at the Inn did they get to stay together.
And it’d been hell, though he’d given her the space to build the relationship with her sister because it mattered.
But he was done. Done not waking up to her every morning, done waiting to make her his like he was already hers.
And so, as she turned in a slow circle, taking in the details of what her sister had done up for them, he did the traditional thing and lowered himself to one knee.
She caught the movement and spun to him. “Cole,” she breathed as he dug the box from his pocket, cursing when it took extra work.
Should’ve taken it out before he’d knelt.
His nerves rioted back into his gut, but her smile told him it was a done deal already. He wanted to say the whole thing, anyway. Wouldn't count otherwise, and his mama would ream him if he didn't.
“House is done, Darlin’,” he said, voice jagged with emotion. “But it ain’t home until you’re in it with me, with a ring on your finger tellin’ the world you’re mine.” He opened the box. “What do you say? Wanna marry me?”
She dropped to her knees before him, grabbing his face to plant a kiss on his mouth. “You got it, Darlin’.”
His laugh was damn wobbly, so he focused on taking the ring out to slide it onto her finger. At least his hands were steady.
When he looked back at her, catching that shine in her eyes, certainty solidified in his chest.
“Welcome home,” he said, and a long, slow kiss was her reply.