“Missed me?”
“I did.” He shifts, reaching to adjust Camdyn’s hat that keeps falling off her head. I love that no matter what’s happening, he’s always focused on the girls. Always aware.
I curl my arm into his, refusing to allow space between us. “I might have missed you more.”
He pulls back, smiling at me, his expression hopeful. “Does this mean you’re staying?”
I don’t even know how to answer it.
My eyes drift over the sparkly frosted field filled with smoke. The moon hangs over the water, the wind slapping our faces as usual, but it’s the one waiting on my words that shines brighter than the stars in the sky above us. Twisting toward him, I touch the side of his face, his jaw, his distinct cheekbones, and smile. He watches me carefully, unsure what this means having me here. We haven’t talked about it yet. “I think a new year deserves a new beginning. And I want to love you in all the ways you believed you were not good enough for. Because you are.”
He swallows, his eyes searching mine, his voice soft like his touch when he takes my hand in his. He looks different than the day I left. I can’t explain it, but it’s there. Happiness. The way he watches me, I feel beautiful and... enough. Leaning in, his breath hits my face when he says, “You did that already by coming back.”
Camdyn and Sev distract us with sparklers. “Sev,” Barron groans. “Don’t point that at your sister.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve had to warn her about this. I’m impressed no one has been burned yet.
While Morgan lights off fireworks, Barron draws me into his chest. “If you stay now, I’m going to marry you someday.”
I smile softly, looking up at him. “If I stay, I want more babies from you.”
I wonder if he’s going to catch onto the way I said more babies. His lips quirk into a smile, drifting to the girls and then back to mine. “Sev really wants a brother.”
“Uh, yeah. I was in the bathroom the other day and she asked for my pee.”
He laughs. “Jesus Christ.”
“Where we’re heading, I think he might approve this time,” I say, winking at him.
And for the first time, I’m kissed at midnight, and by a cowboy who helped me find where I belonged.
“Why can’t you just say ‘Happy New Year’ like normal people?”
“It’s tradition,” they tell me.
Tradition my ass. I nervously bite my lip. They want me to jump into the frozen pond naked. “I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation. I don’t like the cold.” My eyes drift to the water. “I’ve tolerated it since being here, but I’m a warm-weather girl. I am not getting in that pond naked for a year of good luck. My nipple rings will freeze to my tits.”
“I knew you had nipple rings.” Morgan looks up, smiling, his cowboy hat still on but he’s buck-ass naked. I haven’t looked. I swear. Do you believe me?
Didn’t think so. Let’s just say the Grady brothers have it going on in the south.
“Don’t look at her tits,” Barron snaps, tossing his boot at his brother and then falling to the ground.
“If I’m doing it, so are you,” Lillian screams, jumping from foot to foot, trying to will warmth into her body. She’s naked too. I can vaguely make out her skinny white ass in the darkness enveloping the frosty field.
They’re taking their clothes off and I look like the insane one for being dressed.
“It brings good luck,” Barron tells me, stripping down. Fuck. He tosses his shirt at my head, grinning. Luckily, Bishop and Lara Lynn took the girls back to their place so they’re not seeing their dad naked. “Come on, darlin’.” He steps closer and licks his lips, his eyes narrowing in on mine. “Strip.”
I can’t resist him when he talks like that and he knows that Southern drawl in a weapon. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I shriek, removing my jacket, shirt, jeans, all of it landing in a pile next to Barron’s.
Barron reaches for my hand. “To new beginnings,” he says, so quietly I almost don’t hear him. It’s all the encouragement I need though.
Our eyes hold in the darkness. “To new beginnings.” And then we plunge into the frigid waters of the pond. I swear, my life flashes before my eyes the second I’m in the water. “Holy mother of coldness!” I scream.
“Motherfucker!” Lillian yells.
The guys utter their own swear words as we scramble from the water. It’s not like we go for a swim. It’s a quick dip and we’re out, trying not to get hypothermia.
“This better bring me the best luck ever!” My teeth are chattering so hard I can barely get my lips to form the words.
Standing in front of me, Barron brushes my wet hair from my face, searching my eyes in the pale moonlight. “You’re beautiful.”
Together, we exist in this nothingness. The world falls away and it’s just me and him.
Forever.
“And you’re perfect.” Standing on my tiptoes, I wrap my arms around his neck, threading my hands in his hair to pull him down to me. His mouth finds my jaw first, kissing along it until he meets my lips. “Your cracks, wounds… I plan to fill them all with my love.”
He laughs, shivering as he tries to warm me up. “I’d say I could fill you, but I’m gonna have to warm up a bit.”
I grin. “I’ll say.”
I didn’t see it playing out like this.
BARRON
9 MONTHS LATER
“Hand me that hammer.”
“Can I have my own room?”
“You have your own room. You just don’t sleep in it.”
Camdyn hands me the hammer. “Because Sev always wants to sleep with me. I can’t help it; she likes me so much.”
I glance at Sev, who’s sitting in a pile of dirt with her cat, not a care in the world, and I’m pretty sure she’s naked. Also, her hair is black. She painted it yesterday with spray paint, and I haven’t figured out how to get it out, so she has black hair for now. Or maybe we have to wait for it to grow out. We’re not sure yet.
“Sev!” I bark at her. She jumps at the sound of my voice, eyes wide, and drops the dirt in her hand. “Where are your goddamn clothes?”
Pushing her hair from her eyes, she points to the porch where she hung them on the door handle.
Beside me, Camdyn puts her hand on my shoulder. “Toddlers are so much work.”
I smile at her. “And to think we’re having another one soon.”
She shakes her head. “What were you thinking?”
“I’m not sure.” Reaching for the box of nails, I shake it, realizing I’m almost out. “Can you get me another box?”
“I’ll go ask Mommy.”
Mommy. Now there’s a word I wasn’t sure I’d hear my girls say. They knew Daddy, but would they ever call a woman mom? It took all of six months of Kacy living with us when Camdyn asked her if she could call her mommy. After hours of crying, eventually, a “yes” was uttered by Kacy, and soon after, I got down on one knee and asked for a forever. She said yes, and a month later, we were married on the ranch.