“You’ll never lose me.”
“I believe you’d never willingly leave me but—”
“Bri—” He tries to cut me off, but I put a finger over his mouth so he stops talking.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m too far gone already. There’s no leaving you because I was past the point of no return when you walked into the store.” A smile pulls at his lips. “Grams also reminded me that my parents taught me what great love is. To walk away from that kind of love is a smack in the face to everything they spent their lives showing me. I am their love.”
“You are.” His hands cup my face. “Add now you’re my love, and I need you, Bri.”
“You have me,” I tell him. “I’ll never walk away again. I shouldn’t have. You lost your father so you understand my pain, and I know your parents loved each other the same as mine did.”
“Yes, but you lost both your parents. I still have my mom and my twin and Connor. I get why you were freaked out, and I’ll never hold that against you because I’m not that kind of man. I’ll always give you what I think you need because I love you and vow to always take care of you.”
I wrap my body around him and hold him close. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He presses his mouth against my neck, trailing kisses along my jaw before he turns and washes every inch of me. I do the same for him, showing him that I can be the best lover and partner ever.
“I’m starving,” I say when we’re done in the shower and searching for clothes—something we haven’t been wearing much of lately.
“Sorry, you distracted me this morning.” He nips at my bottom lip before he pulls one of his sweaters down over my head. “I’ll be better.”
“Why are you sorry? You’re going to feed me now, and I enjoyed my orgasms.”
“Because I take care of what’s mine, and you’re mine.” He leans in and brushes his mouth against me. His hand slips up under my sweater to rest on my stomach. “You also might be eating for two.”
“Wilder.” I grip his arms to brace myself because my knees feel weak. I know it would be way early, but I can’t help but hope.
“You want that? To have my baby?”
“Yes, so much. I want it all with you.”
“Then I’m going to give it all to you.” Tears slip down my cheeks. “Baby.”
“They’re happy tears, and I love every one of them.” I beam up at him. I feel so light and free for the first time in a very long time.
“Wilder!” We both freeze at the sound of a woman calling his name.
“Bri!” My eyes widen at hearing my grams’ voice.
“Maybe we should have knocked,” my grandpa says.
“We did!” Grams responds.
“Louder. I don’t want to hate Wilder because I see him doing something with our sweet innocent grandbaby,” he grumbles, and a giggle bubbles free from me.
“She better not be innocent anymore. We’re getting old. I want to be able to chase babies.”
“Clothes,” I whisper to Wilder.
He hops around and throws some on quickly.
“This is why we need to be here so we can get these wedding plans finalized,” the female voice from before chimes in.
“Mom, wait in the living room!” Wilder calls, and I guess she’s okay with me if she’s here to plan a wedding.
I pull on a pair of yoga pants Natalie gave me, but before I can try and head out, Wilder sweeps me off my feet into his arms and carries me out of the bedroom. He walks into the living room where Grams, Grandpa, Wilder’s mom, and Natalie are all standing.
“We’ll give you a month to plan the wedding,” Wilder declares as they all turn our way.
“But we’re getting married at the courthouse first thing,” I rush to add in. “I’m not waiting. I want to be Wilder’s wife, but we’ll do the wedding to celebrate.”
They burst into screams then congratulate us as Wilder puts me on my feet. Everyone engulfs us in hugs, and then there’s another knock at the door before it swings open.
“We have another wedding to plan?” a pregnant girl asks from the doorway, and I see a giant mountain man standing behind her. I quickly put together it’s Connor and Evie because I’ve seen them in town a few times in passing.
“Yes!” Natalie squeals, but I don’t miss the longing in her eyes before Evie and Connor come over to hug and congratulate us too.
I glance around the room, taking in that all these people are now my family. Loss brought me to Wilder, and it gave me so much more than I ever could have imagined. This family is only going to grow, spreading the love all around us.
There’s a blizzard of love still to come.
Epilogue
WILDER
Fifteen years later…
* * *
“Did you pack bug spray?” Bri asks as we come out of the general store.
“Yes, I double checked.” My wife turns to me and narrows her eyes. “Stop stressing, they’ll be fine. It’s camp, not outer space.”
“I’m just not used to being without them.” She huffs as I pull her in my arms. “Or at least not having them with family.”
“Just think of all the fun we’re going to have with an empty house for a whole week.”
She softens when I say this and looks up at me with sultry eyes. “You know, I might have bought a few things for us to enjoy since we’ll have the house all to ourselves.” Her hands slide up my chest, and I lean down to kiss her.
“Gross,” our oldest son Dean says, and I ignore him as I kiss my wife.
“Don’t embarrass us,” our daughter Jess hisses at us before poking me in the back.
“Fine,” I sigh and grin at Bri. “Later.”
She nods and bites her bottom lip, letting me know we’re on the same page.
Just then I hear the sounds of the camp bus pulling into the parking lot, and I turn to see it coming to a stop. It’s not too far away, but I release Bri and grab the kids’ bags.
“All right, slow down,” I tell them as they try to run straight for the bus without a backwards glance.
“At least they aren’t sad to leave us,” Bri says, and I want to laugh.
Our kids are great, and we have a lot of fun, but they have been looking forward to this for months. It will be their first big trip away from us, but if running in the opposite direction was an indication, they’re ready.
“I’ll go check them in with the counselors,” Bri says, and I nod as I go to the back of the bus where they’re loading luggage.
It takes a few minutes for me to hand over the bags and check that everything is labeled correctly, and by the time I’m finished, I can’t find Bri. Looking around, there’s a group of counselors in a huddle, and I see a flash of red on the other side of them. That’s the color tank top Bri is wearing, and as I walk closer, I see all the counselors are guys. My hackles rise as I come up behind them and listen to what they’re saying.
“Are you sure you’re not a camper?” one of them asks, and I see Bri blush as she glances over their shoulders at me.