“Look at how pretty the willow tree is,” I say, pointing at the tree and then turning to smile at Kallie, who is dressed in a pencil skirt with a button-down shirt. “Hello, everyone.”
“Hello, yourself,” Kallie says. “What took you so long?”
I shrug my shoulder and take a sip of the champagne, not getting into the real reason we are late. I’m sure she doesn’t want to know it was because her brother tore off another pair of panties and had his way with me. “I didn’t know what to wear.”
“This is something, right?” Jacob says, shaking his head. “I bet you Beau fucking hates this.”
We all look over at him and see that he’s pulling the shirt from around his neck. “Can I go to the swing?” Ethan asks. Jacob nods his head, and we watch him run away.
“How long do we have to stay?” Casey asks, and I groan and then the chatter around us stops and we all look toward the door where Savannah stands. “Jesus, even eight years later, people still fucking point.” I watch her as she looks around, and you can see she’s not happy to be here. She is wearing a tight red dress that goes all the way to her neck and is tight all the way down to her knees, and then it ruffles off. It’s a stunning dress she’s paired with black heels. Her eyes find Beau’s, and she smiles huge. You can see how much she loves him, but the only one who doesn’t know is him.
I follow her eyes to Beau’s, who smiles just as big, and when he sees her, he finally walks away from his brother and his father, who both glare at her. He weaves his way to her, and when she finally comes down the steps, he hugs her and kisses her cheek. They make their way over to us, and we all smile at him.
“There he is, Mr. Mayor,” Kallie says, joking with him, and he shakes his head. “Do you curtsey to a mayor?”
“There is no fucking way in hell I’ll ever curtsey to him,” Jacob says. “He keeps eating all the fucking food in my fridge.”
“It’s not my fault,” Beau says. “You always invite me over.”
“I never invite you over,” Jacob says.
“Who wants to see the major’s office?” Beau says, and the guys all nod. Jacob kisses Kallie, and Casey leans over to kiss me, and the three of them leave.
“Am I missing something?” I ask as the men walk up the steps and enter the house.
“The guys used to sneak into the office when they were younger and take some of Mr. Beaumont’s whiskey,” Kallie says, and I laugh and so does Savannah.
“Where is Ethan?” Savannah asks, and Kallie points at the swing. I don’t know how Kallie does this. Stands there with Savannah after everything they went through. But Kallie is the bigger person, and in the end, if she was bitter, it would fall onto Ethan, and she loves that kid like he’s her own. “I think I’m going to vomit,” she says and puts her hand to her stomach, and Kallie walks over to her and rubs her arm. “If it was for anyone else, there was no way I would come here.”
“We all feel that way,” Kallie says, and then I look down.
“What do you guys say we join the boys?” I smile, and the girls nod.
We walk to the house and up the steps. “I don’t think a girl has ever been invited into the office for drinks,” Savannah says, and when we get to the closed door, she puts her hand up to knock, and then she opens it and walks in.
The minute I step foot inside, I know something is off. I look around the office, and I spot Casey and Jacob standing there in front of the desk but neither of them is moving. The look of pure anguish is all over Jacob’s face. But nothing, and I mean nothing, could prepare me for the look on Beau’s face.
He has tears running down his face, and the pain in his eyes is so transparent that you feel it in your soul. The white paper in his hand crinkles as his body shakes. He looks at us standing in the door, and then he looks straight at Savannah.
“Tell me,” he says almost in a whisper, then looks down at the paper in his hand. “Tell me that my brother is not the father of your son.”
Epilogue One
Casey
One Year Later
“But why?” she moans as she comes out of the bedroom, and I look over at her. She is wearing white jeans and one of my T-shirts, her feet bare, her face free of makeup. “I thought we were going to stay in tonight, and you know …”
“It’s our anniversary,” I remind her, shaking my head and also wondering why I’m surprised that she would opt to stay in rather than go out on the town. I waited every single day for her to tell me that she was done with the country and wanted to move to the city. But as the days turned into weeks and then the weeks into months, she just got more and more settled.
The house that I built is now a home with her touches in every single room. The throw pillows on the couch along with the big throw blanket that we cuddle under. The pictures of the family all over the fridge. The fresh flowers in the middle of the island. The pictures of us all around the house, whether it’s on the side tables or hanging on the walls. It shows that this is our home. “But.” She looks at me. “I cooked for you.” I look at her, and my eyebrows pinch together. She has been trying to learn the whole time. My mother by her side each and every time, but no matter what she did, she usually burnt it. “Okay, fine, I tried, and well, your mother made an extra one.” I laugh now and walk to her.
“How am I supposed to wine and dine you if you won’t let me?” I take her in my arms, and in a second, she has her legs wrapped around me.
She clings to me like a monkey, burrowing her face into my neck. “I don’t want to be wined and dined,” she whispers. “I want to be home and naked.”
“I can help you with that,” I say, carrying her into our room. She starts to kiss my neck, and my cock is already ready to play. Every single time I’m with her, it’s like the first time. Every single time that I think it can’t get better, it does. Even when I took her to Mexico and had her every single hour we were there. The private house on the beach. I rented our own oasis, and I didn’t think we would top that. “You really are going to talk me out of going out tonight.”
She unclings herself from me and stands in front of me. Peeling off her shirt, she shows me a new bra that I’ve never seen before. Trust me, I know. I’ve had to replace more than my share, that and her flimsy panties. “I was hoping that.” She winks at me, and then she unbuttons her jeans, and I see that she has the matching panties.
I pick up my hand. “Wait,” I say, and she stops mid-zip. “Jesus, I can’t believe you're making me do this here,” I say. Turning around and walking to my closet, I find the suit jacket I was going to wear tonight and grab the square box. I look around the closet at our stuff. When I walk back into the room, she is still there in the middle of the room. “We are going to have to make up a story.”
“What in the world are you talking about?” she asks, confused. Then I get down on one knee, and it all clicks into place. I wait for it, and there it is. My girl has her hand on her mouth, and tears already running down her face.
“Olivia,” I start to say. “Darlin’.” I see her smile. “I never thought that this moment would come, yet after being with you for this long, I wonder why I didn’t do it sooner.” My own tears come now. “One year ago, I asked you to stay and make a home with me. I promised to help you plant roots. I held my breath the whole time, waiting for your answer. You didn’t just help me make a home, but you also became my home.”