Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER
DOLLY
For the first time since I was fifteen, I won the blue ribbon at the fair for my cinnamon coffee cake.
Sam commissioned a table to be built in the backyard of our house at Moonlight Ranch. Every time I slip up and call it his house, he corrects me.
The blue ribbon is pinned to my red silk dress. Sam raises his crystal champagne glass, tapping his fork against the glass.
He clears his throat, adjusting the color of his button-down denim shirt. “In honor of my beautiful girlfriend, we’ve gathered you all here to celebrate her incredible accomplishment of being the best baker in the state of Texas. And we have an announcement to make.”
The table hushes quickly at that. Everyone I love is here tonight, except Sterling, who’s in Virginia on official orders since his gunshot wound healed.
Rosie and Holden are on the other end of the table, sitting with Birdie and Bonnie on their laps. The twins are in the terrible twos now, and they get cuter and are more fun to spend time with every day. I’ve had growing baby fever for the last six months.
Duke is sitting beside Holden, smiling at Sam.
He finally got over his petty disapproval of our relationship and is now our official third wheel every weekend.
He’s still a raging ladies’ man with no hint of settling down anytime soon, especially since he’s the only one who lives with Pops now, who’s sitting next to him.
His health has declined even more, to the point that he’s never quite sure where he is.
He’s almost at the stage where he might need a full-time caregiver to move in at Redford Ranch to make sure he doesn’t accidentally harm himself or wander off.
Duke has taken on the majority of the day-to-day load, even though we all pitch in when we can.
Cash and Monroe are across from Duke and Pops.
They flew in last night from an awards show in Los Angeles that Monroe was, as usual, a big winner at.
I tried to congratulate her when she arrived, but she quickly hushed me, insisting that tonight be about my accomplishments.
I’m dying to know if she and Cash are ever going to make pretty little superstar babies, but she keeps saying that with her schedule, it would be too hectic.
Which I totally get. Cash seems content with the uncle life, always bringing home new stuffed animals for his nieces.
Rosie secretly bags up the excess ones and hides them in her attic.
Sam looks at me expectantly. I smile, reaching down to pull out the very first proof copy of the cookbook that will soon be in bookstores around the country.
In the last year, I finally took the leap and started sharing my recipes online through short videos.
At the end of every one, Sam does a taste test and rates the dish, but he gives them all a ten, except my cinnamon coffee cake, which he scores as a million and one.
Half my followers are just women and men who like watching a hot cowboy moan about how good my cookies taste.
But the other half really do love to bake.
After getting multiple requests on social media, I decided to chase the dream of getting my cookbook published.
I really didn’t think it would ever happen because even though I had thousands of people asking for it and telling me that my recipes really were that good, getting a cookbook deal these days wasn’t easy.
After months of making submissions to publishers, I nearly fell out of my rocking chair when my dream publisher asked me to share more information about my pitch for my Southern Sun Butter Baking cookbook.
I hold up the bright yellow book, with pretty lemon slices, sunflowers, and an array of golden-baked goods on the cover.
“I’m a published cookbook author,” I say simply.
The table erupts with praise, gasps of shock, and squeals of delight—mostly from Rosie and Monroe. They both jump up to run over and take a closer look. I’m wrapped in a tight hug instantly by Rosie, followed by Monroe.
“This is incredible!”
“I’m so proud of you!”
“I knew you could do it.”
“Oh, I always knew you could too.”
They talk over each other, voices growing louder and more high-pitched with each statement. My smile is so big; it almost hurts. They ooh and aah over the shiny cover, taking turns flipping through it and asking questions before finally returning to their seats.
Holden, Cash, and Duke each give me a hug too.
“Proud of you, Dolls. This is badass,” Holden says, hugging me with Birdie perched on his hip. His wrist is bandaged from an incident a few days ago, where he fell off his horse and landed on it, fracturing the bone.
My niece wraps an arm around my neck and kisses my cheek.
“Thank you. You’re so sweet, B.” I kiss her back.
They return to their seats.
Sam is bringing over the smoked brisket to set down in the center of the table with all the side dishes that are covered to keep the flies out. Rosie starts uncovering them and serving up the twins some food.
From here, we have a beautiful view overlooking the small lake in the pasture behind the house.
As the sun dips farther behind the horizon, the moon starts shining brighter against the surface of the water.
Sam and I have spent many nights on the porch, watching the moonlight shine on the lake, oftentimes making love, or simply talking about future plans for the ranch or baby names we love.
“Well, you certainly deserved that blue ribbon all those years ago, didn’t you, Doll?” Duke grins, helping Pops serve himself some extra potatoes.
“Yeah, I guess you flirting with the female judges wasn’t the reason I won.”
He throws his head back in a laugh. “I guess not.”
“By the way, Duke, I’ve been meaning to ask if you can take on some roping lessons for a couple of kids over the next month until my wrist heals?” Holden says.
Duke shrugs. “Sure. What days?”
“It’s every Monday and Thursday afternoon.”
“How old are they?”
“Three. They’re Dallas Hayes’s twins.”
Duke perks up, leaning back in his chair. “Is that so? Didn’t she get back with her ex?”
Holden’s gaze darkens as he glances over at Rosie. She purses her lips. “Unfortunately, yes. If I were you, I wouldn’t be flirting with her in front of him. She’ll end up paying for it later.”
Duke’s grin vanishes. He slowly nods, the humor on his face completely gone. The table falls into an awkward silence for a few minutes.
“By the way, how is Sterling doing? I was hoping we’d get to see him tonight. I have a girlfriend I’d like to set him up with. Military cowboys are hard to come by.” Monroe clutches Cash’s arm tighter, smiling.
“Sterling has a wife now,” Duke blurts out.
Six pairs of eyes swing to look at him.
“What?” I gape at him.
Duke waves a hand in the air. “It’s not a big deal. He called me the other day and told me he married her to help her out. She was pregnant and needed health insurance to afford to have the baby.”
“Not a big deal?” I shriek.
“Is she living with him?” Monroe asks.
“How did they meet?” Rosie presses, leaning forward.
Duke looks around at us like he wishes he hadn’t said anything. “I don’t know any more details. He said they got married at the courthouse on his lunch break.”
“Men,” I mutter, shaking my head. “How old is she? How far along is the pregnancy?”
Duke shrugs, throwing his hands up.
Rosie gives me a look. Of course, in typical male fashion, Duke heard the craziest news ever from our brother and didn’t ask a single follow-up question.
“What’s her name?” I ask with a sigh, thinking, surely, he got that.
He frowns, like he finally realizes he should’ve at least asked for that bit of information.
“Ugh! You’ve got to be kidding me!” I feel the urge to throw a dinner roll at his head.
Sam chuckles, tugging me closer to him and pressing a kiss to my temple. “You should just give him a call tomorrow.”
I sigh, nodding. “Okay, well, in other much less exciting news, we’re going on a trip next week.”
“Where to?” Rosie asks.
“To Forks, Washington.”
She smiles, shaking her head. Rosie and I always used to talk about getting to see Forks one day, the city Twilight is based in.
“Well, that will be romantic,” she says, wiping Bonnie’s mouth to clean the barbecue sauce on the corner of her lips.
Sam stretches his arm around my shoulders. “She deserves it. I can’t wait to see where Edward and Bella met.”
Duke chuckles, shaking his head. “Whipped. You’re all whipped. I’m the only one left who’s a free man.”
“Your day will come, little brother. Just you wait.” Cash tugs on Monroe’s hand, pulling her up. “Come on. Let’s dance.”
He leads her over to a grassy area, where the built-in speakers are playing country music.
It’s a slow, sensual song by Riley Green.
Sam stands and grabs my hand, directing me over to the same shadowy area.
He wraps my hands around his neck, pulling me so close that our bodies are flush.
I sigh into him, letting him lead me through the slow dance.
Pretty soon, Holden and Rosie join us while Pops and Duke feed the girls banana pudding.
Sam leans down to whisper in my ear, “I just need you to know that I’m so thankful you didn’t give up on me when I couldn’t get my head out of my ass.”
His warm breath coats my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
“I knew you’d eventually get with the program, Sam Seymour.”
“I want to put a baby in you.”
I jerk back, eyes wide.
He chuckles, tucking me back into his shoulder. “I know. I know you’re not ready. I’m just saying, when you’re there, I’ve been there, baby.”
Holy shit.
SAM
It turns out, Forks is just a tiny town with rainy, freezing cold weather in December. Dolly is obsessed, taking a photo with every single landmark from the movies. She somehow knows them all, even down to the woodsy scenes. I don’t get it, but I’m glad she’s having fun. It’s worth every second.