Carter watched in horror as Sydney’s sweet and wiggly dog leapt through the air. The sun glinted off her sparkling pink collar as she sank her teeth into Mick’s muscular shoulder. The force of the impact of Robyn’s hit from behind sent Mick stumbling forward as he fired off a wild shot.

Mick slammed Robyn back against a tree trunk near the water’s edge. The brave dog yelped as she was forced to let go of Mick’s shoulder. Carter went to grab Reagan, but he stopped himself as she fired. Now that Robyn was clear of Mick, Reagan had taken the shot. The bullet slammed into Mick’s shooting shoulder, matching the shot on the opposite arm Reagan had made during their dash through the woods.

Then chaos erupted.

Mick tried to raise his gun but struggled with the injured shoulder. Robyn leapt and sank her teeth into his forearm. She shook her head like she did when Carter played tug-of-war with her. Mick howled in pain and dropped the gun. A man Carter didn’t know ran past them with Ryan Parker, guns aimed at Mick. DeAndre grabbed both Carter and Reagan by the collars of their shirts and dragged them backward. But it wasn’t the shriek from Gemma Davies that silenced the people pouring into the woods from all directions. It was the roar of pure rage from Ahmed as he broke free of the woods to see Mick hitting Robyn on the head as he tried to dislodge her from his arm.

“Laat los,” Ahmed commanded to Robyn in Dutch. Robyn immediately let go and dropped into the shallow water’s edge. Ahmed, however, did not stop. He leapt from the top of the embankment, landing hard on Mick’s back, which drove Mick face first into the shallow water.

Gemma shoved DeAndre aside as she practically tackled her daughter with a bear hug. Carter was smiling until his own mother fell to the ground next to him and wrapped him in her arms. Both mothers were crying, but neither Carter nor Reagan could offer them comfort at this time because the rest of their family and friends had just burst through the trees behind Ahmed.

Nash, Matt, Annie, Cade, Porter, and Parker sprinted out of the woods from all directions while Cy, Miles, and Will appeared at the top of the embankment, taking in the scene around them. All had their guns raised and ready to defend.

Cy’s eyes searched until they landed on Gemma and Reagan. The relief was evident as his shoulders relaxed. He was sprinting toward them when Ahmed flipped Mick over.

“You hit my dog,” Ahmed growled out between clenched teeth before slamming his fist into Mick’s face. “No one hurts my Spawn.”

Robyn, meanwhile, sat next to Ahmed, her short tail smacking the water as she happily wagged it and watched Ahmed punch Mick over and over again.

“Okay, enough or I’ll have to arrest you too.”

“Who is that?” Carter asked as he stood with his mother clinging to him.

Kenna wiped tears from her face as she looked to where Carter was pointing to the man in jeans and black T-shirt. “That’s Deputy Luke Tanner of the Moonshine Hollow Sheriff’s Department.”

“Diplomatic immunity,” Ahmed snarled but reluctantly let go of Mick after one last punch.

“Don’t bullshit me,” Luke said, narrowing his eyes.

“Diplomatic immunity,” everyone from Keeneston called out as Luke looked back to Ahmed.

“Who are you?” Luke questioned in complete astonishment.

“I’m Ahmed.” Ahmed turned, dismissing the deputy and patting his chest with his hands. Robyn leapt into Ahmed’s arms. She began bathing his face in kisses as her tail thumped against his side. “Who’s my good girl? Yes, you are. You’re my good girl. Only my girl would bite a bad man like that. Someone is getting a steak tonight. Yes she is. But first you have to go to the doctor to make sure that bad man didn’t hurt you.” Ahmed pulled back his leg and kicked Mick in the stomach as he walked by with Robyn in his arms.

Carter’s mother snorted next to him, and when Carter looked at her, he realized it was laughter that caused her to snort. Carter was too speechless to laugh as he watched Ahmed baby talk to Robyn. The men surrounding Ahmed and Robyn were staring open-mouthed as the town’s—maybe even the world’s—biggest badass kissed the dog in the pink glitter collar whom he’d called Satan’s Spawn since she was a puppy.

Carter reached past his mother and held out his hand. Reagan leaned past her own mother and took it. He would only have a moment before their fathers reached them, and he’d have to give up his hold on his future bride. Gemma and Kenna released them and turned to hug each other as Ava stood impatiently by, waiting to look at Reagan’s face.

“I love you, and I’m marrying you the second we set foot in that town.”

Reagan laughed as she leaned against him. She rested her uninjured cheek against his chest while he rested his chin on the top of her head. And then their moment was over. Cy and Will leapt up the embankment and a new round of embraces began.

Carter’s parents wrapped him in a tight hug as Cy simply held out his arms for Reagan. Reagan ran into them. “I’m so sorry, Dad.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I might have overstepped a little, but it was all with good intentions.” Carter smiled at Cy’s poor apology. It was a big step for Cy.

“Then I guess it’s a good time to tell you we’re getting married,” Reagan smiled as she looked at Carter. Finally, they could start their life together.

“Today,” Carter added with a smirk. She still didn’t believe him, but it was happening.

Cy went to open his mouth but instead of yelling, he kind of smiled. Well, snarled was probably a better description. Whatever Cy was going to say was lost as Piper and Riley ran up the hill with Miss Mambo beside them and a bunch of other people he didn’t know. “Rea!” Riley yelled as she tossed Miss Mambo’s lead to a tall man with a thick beard before slamming into Reagan with tears.

“I thought—”

“I know.”

“Are you—?”

“Just a little banged up.”

“Is that—?”

“Yes,” Reagan smiled as everyone looked on with confusion as the twins communicated in half sentences. But when Riley grabbed Reagan’s hand and looked at the ring Carter had given her, they figured out the last part of the conversation.

“You’re engaged?” Parker asked with something that sounded like disgust.

“She sure is,” Carter smiled as he watched her younger brothers hug her.

“That’s not fair,” Porter started to whine.

“We don’t get to take him behind Grandma and Grandpa Davies’s house and interrogate him,” Parker finished complaining.

Reagan saw Carter shaking his head at the twins and nudged him with her shoulder. “You know, since we’re all fraternal twins and my mom was a twin . . .” she said, trailing off the sentence.

“I don’t do twin-speak. What’s the rest of the sentence?” Carter asked.

Reagan and Riley laughed as their friends surrounded them, including Ahmed with Robyn still in his arms.

“Fraternal twins run in the family. Does that scare you? If it does, then we can pretend you didn’t get engaged,” Cy whispered not so quietly to him.

“Dad,” Reagan warned as she put the rifle strap over her shoulder.

“Wait, it’s fraternal twins that run in the family?” Matt asked, his face suddenly white.

Riley and Reagan speared Matt and Carter with similar looks as Cy grinned widely. Carter slipped his hand around Reagan’s waist. “Nah, that doesn’t scare me. Does it scare you, Matt?”

“Hell ye . . . no,” Matt said, pulling his wife to his side. “You told me it was identical twins that ran in the family, and we’ve been trying for the past couple of months. Are you pregnant?”

Riley rolled her eyes. “I won’t know for a couple more weeks, Matt. And I told you a million times, it was the other way around. Does that mean you don’t want children?”

Cy turned to Luke and grinned. “Does your town have a divorce lawyer?”

“Dad!” Reagan and Riley shouted at the same time.

“I’m just teasing,” Cy said, although no one was convinced.

“I mean, I guess if your dad managed two at a time, so can I,” Matt said, kissing Riley. “Grandpa Cy. That sounds nice.” Matt suddenly had a dreamy look on his face as he looked at his wife.

Cy turned red, and this time Gemma was the one grinning. “Grandma Gemma sounds lovely.”

Luke and Ryan pushed Mick forward as soon as Ava patched him up. “It’s three miles back to town. Can you all make it?” Luke asked.

“We’re good,” Reagan said, slipping her hand into Carter’s.

Carter turned to Matt. “Grandpappy Cy. I like that better.”

Matt nodded. “Oh, yes. I do like that one. Papaw Cy sounds nice too.”

“Nana Gemma works too,” Gemma called out, taking her husband’s arm as they began to walk toward town. “Really, they can call me anything they want to.”

Cy’s face grew redder as Matt and Cy tossed out PeePaw, Paps, Pops, and Grampy. Meanwhile, Carter’s fiancée seemed thrilled and that was enough to know he could handle two or ten kids as long as they had that same wonderful smile Reagan had now.

---

“There they are,” Carter heard Aniyah yell as she tried to run through the woods with her five-inch heels sinking with every step. “Oh, thank you, Jesus!” Aniyah kissed the cross necklace she wore and lifted her hands skyward carrying her prayers to Jesus himself. And right now, Carter felt as if her prayers had been answered. Not only were they safe, Cy hadn’t killed them, and Ahmed had carried “his brave little Spawn” all the way down the mountain.

“What’s all this?” an old man in a sheriff’s uniform asked, standing with hands on his hips.

“Sheriff Weller, this is the man responsible for the murder of the two people on the plane,” Luke told him. On the walk down Luke had told Carter the old sheriff was more of a town figure than an actual law enforcement officer. And he’d also made sure Ava knew the town doctor was even worse, so to make sure, she checked Reagan out herself.

Sheriff Weller opened the back of Luke’s cruiser and Luke shoved Mick toward the SUV as the Rose sisters and two older ladies in track suits started toward Carter and Reagan as they all talked a mile a minute. Behind the Rose sisters and their new friends, other ladies were handing out food and drink to the volunteers and to the rest of the Keeneston crew.

Luke was about to put Mick in the back of the car when Mick’s head snapped back a split second before the sound of a gunshot echoed through the top of the valley. Blood covered Luke’s face as Mick dropped to the ground. Cy leapt on his wife as people began shouting and looking for the shooter.

“There! Ten o’clock,” Reagan shouted as she reached for her rifle.

Carter’s eyes went to where Reagan had said the shooter was. In the shadows of the woods, the muzzle flashed with a second shot. Carter didn’t think. He leaned across Reagan, shoving her to the ground behind him before falling back on top of her. At once a hail of gunfire erupted. Everyone with a gun except Carter and Reagan were shooting. Carter rolled over so he was chest to chest with Reagan and covered her head with his arms. Then, as fast as it started, it was over. Ryan, Matt, and DeAndre ran with guns drawn to where the assailant had fired. Carter looked down at Reagan, his eyes narrowing as he looked her over.

“You’re bleeding!” Carter cried out as he sat up to find where she had been hit. “Where are you hurt?”

Reagan’s face was white as she stared at him. “It’s not me,” she said as a tear escaped her lashes and ran down her cheek as she pressed her hands to his hip.

Carter watched in slow motion as Cy yelled for Ava, who had sprinted toward them. It was then he felt the burning. Looking down, Carter saw blood pouring from his pelvis and over Reagan’s fingers.