Epilogue

Five Years Later

“I wish he’d get here already,” Monica grumbled, pacing from the living room to the entryway and then back again.

Gabe glanced at the clock. “You gave him till one. It’s only twelve forty-five.”

“Do you think they’re having sex?” Monica demanded. Whether or not Colin assured her he and Katie Lane were just friends, Monica had her doubts. And fifteen-year-olds, whether just friends or not, were definitely thinking about sex.

Gabe didn’t quite stifle his laugh of surprise. “Er, um, well.”

“Oh my God. You think they’re having sex! He’s fifteen! If my baby is getting naked with that—”

“Very nice girl whom you like, I should point out,” Gabe interrupted her outrage. “And they’re with her family. It’s Christmas. The Lanes and the Shaws don’t strike me as the type to let Colin and Katie sneak off and have sex under their noses.”

Monica crossed her arms over her chest, scowling at him even though he looked beyond handsome there in the glow of the Christmas lights. His wedding band even glinted. Her handsome, good, sturdy husband.

It soothed, the way it always did when she worried, that she had this man in her life. They’d built the house and moved in four years ago, and Monica only ever missed the cramped cabin around Christmas, when she was feeling particularly nostalgic.

It was hard to believe it had been five years since that first Christmas together. Hard to believe even now she was standing here in the house they’d built on Revival property, with her husband. There had been so many challenges and so many adjustments. To morph from a family of two to a family of three, for Colin to get used to having two parents instead of one. But things were good lately. Really good.

She rested her hand on her stomach. More adjustments and more challenges were coming, but Monica knew they’d face them, conquer them. Together.

“And you’re not going to grill him when he gets here, because you can’t put off telling him any longer,” Gabe warned.

Her scowl turned into a nose wrinkle. “I just…” She knew it was time. Time to tell Colin and the others. Her stomach was starting to round, and she couldn’t hide it much longer.

They’d suffered a loss early on in their marriage. It had hit them all hard, even Colin, and they’d only just this year decided to try again. It had taken a while, but here they were.

They’d been cautious about telling anyone, especially Colin. But Gabe was right. She needed to get over her worry, her fear, and tell him.

She sank onto the couch next to Gabe. She looked up at him, needing some reassurance, and wasn’t she lucky she had a husband who always obliged? “Do you ever get so happy you worry something terrible is going to happen and take it all away?”

He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Yeah.”

She harrumphed. “Well, as long as I’m not alone,” she said gloomily. She’d expected some kind of pep talk, not easy agreement.

But he slid his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “I learned a long time ago the bad times will come, no matter what you do. The best we can do is enjoy the good while we have it and build whatever we can that’ll withstand the bad.”

She kept trying to frown, but it kept tugging up at the corners. “My, you’ve gotten wise in your old age.”

“You’re not far behind in the age department, and don’t you forget it.” He dropped a kiss to her mouth. “Whatever happens, today, tomorrow, in ten years, we’ll get through it.”

She nodded—ah, there was her pep talk. “I know. Sometimes I need to hear you say it, but I know.” She leaned forward, brushed her mouth against his. “I love you.”

“I know,” he replied very solemnly.

She hit him, but he only grinned wider.

“I love you, too. And in five years, I’ve never gotten tired of saying it. I have never felt as though I didn’t mean it. I love you more, somehow, with each passing year. Day, maybe. You’ve opened up a whole new world to me. One of trust and love and faith and family. Even when we’re yelling at each other or at Colin, I never doubted it. Not for a moment.”

She could only gape at him, tears falling onto her cheeks. He always told he loved her, but they weren’t ones for poetic, emotional words like that.

The door banged open, and then Colin’s heavy, quick footsteps sounded even as the door slammed again.

Gabe touched his nose to Monica’s and looked her straight in the eye. “Tell him. It’s Christmas. No excuses.”

She nodded, turning to smile as Colin skidded into the living room.

“Not late. Early even,” Colin announced proudly. He looked at Monica, then Gabe. “Shit, did someone die?”

“No one died,” she replied, wiping the happy tears off her cheeks. “And don’t say ‘shit’ in front of me. Sit down. We have some news for you. Good news.”

“You’re getting me a car!”

Monica glared, but Colin grinned at Gabe as he sat himself on the fireplace hearth. He’d turned into all limbs almost overnight. A teenager, talking cars and college or the marines or whatever that would get him the hell out of Montana ASAP all the time. So close to adulthood he could taste it.

It broke both Gabe’s and Monica’s hearts a little bit, but they knew Colin needed that space. To dream. To spread his wings. Much as it pained her.

Besides, they still had three years to convince him he was very, very wrong.

“So, what’s the news?” Colin asked, vibrating with energy. He usually was, but always a little bit more so after he’d spent time with Katie Lane. Monica didn’t like to think about that.

Monica grabbed Gabe’s hand, and he squeezed, which was what she needed. A gentle urging. Some courage. “Well, in a few months…May actually, you’re going to be a big brother,” Monica said carefully.

Colin’s eyes widened. He grinned, before sobering. “It’ll…be okay this time?”

“We can’t promise that, of course, but so far, the doctor says he or she is very, very healthy. In fact, we get to find out if it’s a brother or a sister next month.”

Colin’s grin was immediately back. “Cool. Cool.”

Monica laughed a little. The tears were back, but she didn’t shed them even as she turned to Gabe and rolled her eyes. “So very cool.”

“Yeah,” Gabe said, brushing a kiss against the back of her hand. “The coolest.”

* * *

Gabe parked in front of Revival next to Jack and Rose’s truck. The kids were out building snowmen under Alex’s watch. He held his youngest at his hip, so bundled up you couldn’t even be sure there was a baby under there. His oldest played happily with Rose and Jack’s two.

Gabe’s heart squeezed. It was amazing the way they’d built this family when it had all started with a tragedy.

When Colin stepped out of the back of the truck, Mac jumping out behind him, the kids forgot their snowmen and came running, both for Colin and the llama.

“Guess what, guys,” he heard Colin announce. “I’m finally going to be a big brother!”

The kids squealed happily, because Colin was their favorite since he always greeted them with tosses into the air. Mac danced through the snow, happily basking in the attention of the little ones.

Monica grabbed the bags of presents and treats from the back. “I’ve got them. You go tell Jack and Alex,” she said, nodding toward the porch where Jack had joined Alex.

“I think Colin announced it to the world.”

She grinned, gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Go tell them.”

He followed her to the house, opening the door for her so she could go inside.

“So. Someone’s going to be a daddy.” Alex handed him a bottle of beer with his free hand.

Gabe took it, looking out at the yard where Colin was playing with the little kids. “I’ve been a dad for five years.” It hadn’t always been easy. As the reality of a new family dynamic had set in all those years ago, he and Colin had suffered their issues. But Gabe supposed that was fatherhood, no matter how you sliced it. And as long as love was at the core, you could get through any problems.

“True enough,” Jack agreed. “Still, the baby years are something else. Hope you’re prepared.”

“I’ll survive.”

“Of course you will. With friends like us, you’ll have so much advice, you might just drown in it.”

“Yeah, can’t wait.” It was sarcastic, but at the same time, he couldn’t. He’d somehow gotten here, and he couldn’t wait for advice and babies and all this damn hope inside of him to be drowned a little out by stress and reality.

“So, how do you think we got so lucky?” Gabe gestured to all the kids playing in the snow. “Kids and weird-ass animals and the three strongest women I’ve ever encountered? A foundation that’s helped countless men and women?”

“I’d say it was just that—luck,” Jack offered. “And you know, maybe a little bit earned, with all we went through before we got here. And those countless men and women earned their help, too.”

“Three busted-up former Navy SEALs couldn’t have hoped for better,” Alex said, jiggling the baby on his hip.

No, they couldn’t have, and these three busted-up former Navy SEALs had found everything they couldn’t have even dreamed of in the midst of the big sky of a Montana ranch and the biggest hearts of three amazing women.

“Merry Christmas, gentlemen,” Jack offered.

Merry Christmas indeed.