Epilogue
Pipe looked around the barn with a smile on his face.
It was amazing how having Cora in his life, his cabin, his bed, made him so much more content than he’d ever been.
He spied her standing in a corner with Alaska, Henley, Reese, and the other women employed at The Refuge.
Everyone had worked hard to decorate the barn for the occasion.
Tonka and Henley had secretly gone to Los Alamos and gotten married in a civil ceremony, and to placate everyone afterward, had agreed to let them host a wedding party.
One thing Pipe had learned over the last year was that celebrating the good times in life was just as important as working. And more important than dwelling on the crap that had happened in their pasts.
Alaska had organized everything, and the barn looked like a completely different place than it usually did.
The stalls had been decorated with ribbons and bows, the animals all had colorful bows around their necks, which were already looking a little ragged.
The goats had promptly eaten theirs, and when any of the other animals got close enough, they tried to eat their bows too.
Melba was loving all the people and the attention.
The horses were ignoring everyone, the cats were mainly hiding from all the hubbub, the dogs were looking for any scrap of food that had been dropped on the floor, and Scarlet Pimpernickel, the calf Jasna had named—which wasn’t a calf anymore—was mooing loudly, looking for someone to pay attention to her.
It was chaotic, just like things occasionally were at The Refuge.
But Pipe wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
The women separated then. Alaska went to a table and got ready to start the music.
Reese, who was just beginning to show from her pregnancy, headed for the doors at the end of the barn.
Ryan and Carly handed out champagne glasses filled with Sprite, and Robert and Luna stood by a table heaping with appetizers and finger foods, guarding it from the roving animals and ready to help serve when the time was right.
Robert had even used some of his precious stash of Christmas Tree Cakes to make a sweet dip.
It was the best endorsement he could’ve given Henley and Tonka.
“If I can have your attention,” Brick said loudly, making everyone immediately stop talking and turn toward him. There were a handful of guests in attendance, but mostly the group that had gathered was Refuge family.
“I have the extreme honor of presenting Finn, Henley, and Jasna Matlick!” Brick said, not drawing out the moment. Reese pulled open the barn doors, and Tonka, Henley, and Jasna walked through hand-in-hand.
They were all smiling, although Pipe noticed that Tonka looked a tiny bit uncomfortable being the center of attention. Everyone was aware that this wasn’t the kind of situation he preferred, but for his girls, he’d do just about everything.
Trotting behind the new family were their two rescue dogs. Wally, a beautiful, sleek pit bull mix, and Beauty, a tiny terrier mix.
The family walked over to where a small riser had been created. They stepped up and Tonka immediately wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist, pulling her into his side. Jasna was too excited to stand still. She had a huge smile on her face and seemed to be reveling in the attention.
Everyone in the barn was dressed casually, something Tonka insisted on. Jeans and T-shirts were the norm. It was March, and while there was snow on the ground outside the barn, inside it was toasty warm.
Pipe wandered over to where Cora was standing. She had her phone up and was streaming the ceremony. He wrapped an arm around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder as he cuddled behind her. She turned her head and grinned at him, then turned her attention back to her phone.
Looking around, Pipe saw Brick standing by Alaska at the table with the music.
She was ready to hit play as soon as the speeches were done.
Spike was standing next to Reese, holding her hand.
Stone and Tiny were trying to corral the goats for the couple of minutes it would take for the “official” part of this party to be completed.
The only person missing was Owl.
Everyone knew where he was. He was where he’d been for the last couple of months, since Cora and Lara had joined their Refuge family. In his cabin with Lara.
She was struggling, hard, and it was painful for everyone. It had taken a while for her to fight her addiction to the painkillers she’d been forced to take in Arizona. She suffered from depression, anxiety, and still found it difficult to be around anyone other than Owl.
He knew Cora was devastated that she couldn’t help her friend, that Lara still felt uneasy even around her, but she’d vowed to do whatever it took to help her heal.
Which was why she was FaceTiming with Owl, making sure both he and Lara were there for Tonka and Henley’s celebration, even if it was virtually and not in person.
The only person Lara felt truly comfortable around was Owl.
He’d moved her into his cabin the day they’d returned to New Mexico, and they’d spent the last few cold months hunkered down together.
Lara wasn’t ready to talk to Henley, their resident psychologist, so the woman was giving Owl pointers and tips so he could help her as much as possible.
Pipe hated that Lara was struggling so much.
And he hated even more the nights when Cora cried in his arms because she felt so helpless to do anything for her best friend.
She wasn’t a crier, but the thought of Lara suffering was enough to make her break down.
Despite that, Cora refused to give up. She had hope that one day, Lara would be able to break through the bubble of fear she currently lived in.
Until then, she continued to do everything she could to make Lara feel as if she was just as much a part of The Refuge as everyone else.
Pipe loved her all the more for it. Her stubbornness was one of the things he adored most about her.
“Thank you all for coming,” Tonka told the crowd.
“It feels right to be doing this here, surrounded by the animals who were my salvation when I needed it the most. Before getting my head out of my butt when it came to Henley, I hid out here in the barn, feeling as if the four-legged creatures in the world understood me more than any human ever could. Henley saw through my gruffness, and with her patience and understanding, made me see that hiding wasn’t going to heal my pain.
She shared her love, and her daughter, and helped me understand my past wasn’t ever going to disappear.
It was always going to be there, lurking, ready to try to steal my joy.
But it doesn’t have to dictate my future.
And my future is here. With my wife, my daughter, our friends…
and our new little one, who will be here in the fall. ”
Tonka gently put his hand on Henley’s stomach.
Everyone let out a gasp, then clapped enthusiastically.
“Did you know?” Cora asked as she turned to look up at Pipe.
He grinned down at her, but didn’t respond.
“Of course you knew,” she mumbled with a small smile, turning back to their friends.
“Yup, I’m pregnant,” Henley said when the congratulations had died down. “We’d decided to let nature take its course, and surprise! Now, I’m going to keep this short because if I don’t, the goats are gonna overpower Robert and Luna and eat all our food.”
Everyone laughed as they looked toward the table and saw the chef and his daughter doing their best to protect it with brooms, wielding them as if they were knights of old brandishing their swords.
“Anyway, I’ve worked here almost since The Refuge opened, and I knew from the second I stepped onto the property that this place would make a difference in so many people’s lives.
I just wasn’t expecting to be one of those lives.
When the worst thing in my life happened, you were all there for me and Jasna.
That’s what family is. And I love you all so much. ”
She sniffed, and Pipe smiled as Tonka leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
“And I’m so happy to be a big sister!” Jasna said excitedly.
Everyone clapped again, and when the noise settled down, Tonka made a point of meeting the gazes of his friends and co-owners of The Refuge.
“This is not my thing, speeches, being the center of everyone’s attention, but there’s no one I’d rather celebrate my marriage with than all of you.
Thank you for your patience with me. For your support. For being there no matter what.”
Pipe dipped his head in recognition of his friend’s words.
“Now…let’s eat!” Tonka exclaimed.
He leaned down and kissed his wife. Jasna ignored her parents and jumped off the short riser and headed to Scarlet to give her some attention. Everyone else made their way toward the food, but Pipe’s attention was on Cora.
She clicked off the phone, then turned to face him. She smiled…but he could tell she was sad about Lara.
“She’ll be okay,” he told her. “And maybe Tonka’s words will sink in. About his past not dictating his future.”
Cora sighed. “I hope so. I just…I have so many emotions when it comes to what happened. I can’t believe the FBI still has no idea where Creepy Guy is.”
Pipe’s lips twitched at her insistence on calling him Creepy Guy, but then he sobered. He also wasn’t happy that the man was in the wind. “They’ll find him,” he told her.
“I know. But I think Lara would feel a lot better, safer, if he was behind bars somewhere. She’s terrified he’s going to come after her.”