Epilogue
“This is crazy,” Jory warned, walking to the water’s edge in the new red and yellow bathing suit she’d purchased online after much dithering. It was too ‘vibrant, too plunging,’ but Calhoun had loved it and had threatened to buy it for her if she didn’t get a suit. “I’ve had this fantasy about swimming in Hawaii, never Miracle Lake.”
“I swam in Miracle Lake as a teen,” Willow announced. “It’s cold as a witch’s bottom, but totally worth it if you have a big strong cowboy to warm you up afterwards.” She glanced over her shoulder at Huck who stood with all of his brothers. She winked. “There’s plenty to choose from in the Montana woods.”
Huck narrowed his eyes at her, and she made a cutesy heart shape with her hands and then whispered something in Edi’s ear.
“What’s the plan?” Shane asked. “Are you all going to say a few words? Or just run down to the water together screaming like pillaging Vikings, dunk and then come roaring back out?”
She laid towels over the backs of the Adirondack chairs that they’d brought and set up around a small campfire.
“Plan?” Cross looked up. “Wolf, we got a plan?”
Wolf was still fully dressed—Wranglers, Henley shirt, unbuttoned at the neck and arms pushed up, and military tactical boots. Black cowboy hat like a true Texan, and he wore reflective aviators—his face was less expressive than the mountain behind them. The rest of them were already in their hastily purchased online board shorts.
“I’m not choking on my balls getting in glacier water.”
“You Texas boys are such delicate flowers,” Ryder sang out in a high voice and faux-fanned his face.
“We go in, you go in. That’s the rule,” Rohan said.
“That’s not a rule,” Wolf scoffed. He’d arrived last night and was bunking in town with his sister who was the director of the public health department, which had been the first time any of them knew Wolf had a sister. They’d protested and had wanted him to bring her today, but Wolf was still determined to keep his life and his past private.
Not that any of them had been oversharers.
“The rule was we honor Jace not freeze our nuts off,” Wolf insisted.
“Miracle Lake was one of Jace’s favorite hangouts, Wolf,” Willow said earnestly, her voice as sweet as a chocolate chip cookie just out of the oven. “He often took me swimming here when I was a kid. And he met friends here. Jace loved to swim.”
Wolf glared at Huck. “Your wife messing with me?”
“Wolf, you’re the new team leader.” Willow blinked at him. “Why would you think that Jace’s younger sister would ever mess with you?”
Huck coughed, making Wolf look more suspicious.
Calhoun, despite his nerves of what he intended to do once he and Jory hit the water, nearly bit his tongue off trying not to laugh.
“Is this some Marietta legend, or did Jace really love to swim?” Wolf asked Rohan. “I thought we were going to his mom and aunt’s house for dinner and a few speeches.”
“We’re honoring Jace, not your expectations.” Cross slapped Wolf hard on the back. “Get your suit on.”
Wolf didn’t say anything for a long moment, and Calhoun wondered what the heck the holdup was.
“Didn’t bring a suit,” sounded like it was dragged out muddy and backwards from his throat.
“Swim naked,” Cross said. “It will be so cold we don’t have to worry about our wives being impressed with your manliness.”
Wolf flipped him off, but Calhoun—who had ordered several suits, because he loved to swim and intended to take Jory to Hawaii before the baby came—opened his duffel and tossed some board shorts at Wolf.
“Let’s go, old man. This is step one in the Jace Celebration of Life. It’s a cleanse and purification from the past, so get a move on. I’d like to finish before it’s time for me to sign up for an AARP card and collect my military pension and social security.”
The five of them were going to try to convince Wolf to stay. He still had six months on his contract with the army, and then he’d said he had some unfinished business in Last Stand, Texas, but the Coyotes were determined to lure him back to Marietta.
“So.” Gin slipped her hand into Rohan’s. She was already shivering even though the sun had yet to slip behind the trees. “Do we run in and dunk and then run out? Do we go in together as a group? Couples? Just the boys?”
“Men here, baby. Manly men,” Rohan corrected.
“More like cats needing to be herded,” Gin answered cheerfully, and Calhoun had to stifle another laugh.
His brothers had chosen well. Gin as a middle school teacher was all about keeping them organized and was a bit of a cheerleader. Shane as an entrepreneur was helpful and creative with the business details they were still in the process of ironing out. Willow was a total cowgirl pushing for answers and ignoring obstacles, and she thought Huck walked on water. Edi jumped in to help on every project and Jory was so supportive Calhoun felt like there was no way any of them would fail at anything. They had loving and supportive partners, and they also had each other’s backs. And Calhoun wanted that for Wolf.
“Okay, y’all.” Willow stood in front of them, hands on the narrow hips of her sky-blue bikini with a stylish little ruffle, and her tummy was just starting to round a little again with Huck’s baby. “Jace was my brother, and he would say ‘get on with it, girls.’”
‘Girls,’ Wolf mouthed.
Ryder laughed. “He would have said that. Exactly that in that exact tone. Thank you, Willow. Let’s go.”
They all ran into the water. Some dove, some stood, some dunked themselves. Calhoun had been braced for cold, but Jory hadn’t exaggerated. It was breath-stealing, bone-numbing cold, and for a moment, he contemplated waiting. Taking a saner and definitely warmer approach. But he’d jumped into his relationship with Jory, and he didn’t want to wait a moment longer to ask her to be his wife.
Jory dove in. Her body was like a sleek otter gliding past him, and then she surfaced.
“This is insane! We are insane.” But she fell back into the water and did a backstroke shouting: “Whoohoo.”
He caught her feet and pulled her to him.
“I need you to be insane a little longer and say yes,” he said, pulling her in to his body with his left arm while with his right hand he fished around in his pocket for the ring.
“Yes,” she said automatically and then smiled at him. “Yes, to anything and everything with you, Calhoun. I love you.”
“I love you too. Marry me?” He held her left and slipped the ring on her third left finger.
Jory caught her breath and stared at the rose gold, twisted in a Celtic knot and inlaid with Montana sapphires.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. “You’re beautiful, Calhoun.” She met his gaze.
“That’s one of the first things you said to me,” he remembered. “Is that a yes?”
His throat and chest felt tight, and it had nothing to do with the chilly lake. By now everyone realized something was up, and they’d all shut up and ringed them, looking happy or serious, but a little blueish.
“Yes, one hundred percent yes,” Jory launched herself at him and practically climbed him, wrapping her legs around his waist. “And get us out of here because I’m flirting with hypothermia.”
“Are we cleansed? Or was freezing our nuts off another chance for Big O to mess with us so he could have a dramatic proposal story?” Ryder demanded.
Everyone cheered and beat a hasty retreat to the shore. They toweled off, slipped on sweats, and the women all gathered around and admired Jory’s ring.
As they sat by the fire to warm up, Shane had made two large thermoses of tea, which she poured out for her ‘sisters,’ and Calhoun saw Jory wipe away a tear. He loved that she had friends now, and he intended to see that she’d never feel lost or lonely again.
Rohan pulled out a six-pack of Moose Drool beer.
Calhoun would have expected everyone to groan and Ryder to make a joke, but the moment felt sacred.
The beer was handed around and caps popped.
“To Jace,” Rohan said. “He was a hell of a leader and an even better man.”
They drank.
“To Jace who made us a team, but made us better friends,” Huck said, and they repeated the ritual.
“To Jace.” Ryder’s face was tight with emotion. “He accepted all of us as we were but pushed us to be better versions of ourselves because he believed in us.”
“To Jace.” Calhoun held Jory’s hand. “Who gave us a new purpose and futures.”
He drank deeply and waited for Cross to speak.
“To Jace, who brought us together in life and kept us together in death,” Cross said after a long pause.
They all looked at Wolf. He’d pulled on his shirt but still wore the board shorts that were plastered to his body. His long, dark hair had been impatiently pushed away from his face, giving him a feral look in the glow of the fire. His eyes were midnight blue and seemed to be gazing at something in another world. The sun’s warmth slipped away across the forest and peak of Copper Mountain.
Wolf held his bottle up and out and they clinked cheers this time.
“To Jace, who had a plan and kept it in motion even from the grave.”
He didn’t yet drink and everyone waited.
“Jace left one last task,” Wolf said, sounding reluctant.
That caused an electric charge to zip through the group.
“He said something to me before he went out on the mission.”
Everyone was so quiet. Even the fire seemed to stop crackling.
“I intend to do right by Jace. He deserves my best, all of our bests, and you have honored him, and next Christmas, I too will honor his last wish.”
Willow was curled up on Huck, softly crying, but she took his beer bottle and waved it a little wildly in the air.
“To Jace, the best brother and biggest, controlling busybody alive and dead, and thank God for that.” She handed the beer back to Huck.
“Amen,” Huck said reverently, and for a moment Calhoun felt that he was back in the field, about to go on a mission with Jace by his side, reviewing the plans, giving them orders and Huck saying a prayer for them all.
“To Jace,” Wolf said softly. “Let’s go home and get some supper.”
“Amen indeed,” Calhoun said, rising and reeling Jory in for a kiss before dousing the fire and heading back to where they all belonged.
The End