Epilogue
Reid
I slid Rose, our beautiful baby girl, into her baby carrier and went about getting ready for my hot date for Valentine’s Day. And by hot date, I meant a night at home with my alpha, snuggling in front of the television, watching cheesy romance movies, and eating his favorite food, which I was about to prepare. I could hardly wait.
Rose nestled in and fell almost instantly asleep. She was the best baby, and not only because I was biased. She ate like a champ from day one, slept through the night extremely early, and hadn’t seemed fazed when her first tooth popped in earlier that month.
When Kayson first realized how I came up with her name, he laughed and laughed, immediately agreeing it was perfect.
The day he came to get me, to bring me to my senses, and the day we both found out Rose was going to be a part of our lives, he had brought me an insanely ginormous bouquet of roses sent by Aunt Vivian. It would’ve been the most romantic gesture if he had remembered they were in the back of his car before I found them three days later, a wilted mess. He told me that one day he would bring me the perfect rose. And, eight months later, he did.
I laid all the ingredients on the counter and prepared to assemble my one and only amazing recipe, lasagna. I’d cooked the meat earlier and was using no-cook noodles, making it the perfect meal to assemble as Rose took her nap. In no time, I had it covered in foil on the stove. We’d put it in the oven as soon as we threw the first movie in, giving it time to bake while we enjoyed the night.
Aunt Vivian had offered to babysit, her new favorite pastime, but with the snowstorm predicted to arrive around dinnertime, we decided that not getting stranded with Aunt Vivian was probably a better option. We loved her dearly, but boundaries weren’t quite her thing.
As it turned out, that had been an amazing decision, the snow falling much earlier than originally expected and the accumulation building quickly. I didn’t mind the snow—once Kayson got home—but, until then, it was going to have me a little on edge. I wanted him home safe.
The front door clicked open a half hour before I was expecting him. Good alpha had known I’d be worried.
I walked out of the kitchen to greet him, but instead of just Reid, I saw Reid, Aunt Vivian, and her Henry, as she still called him, holding the most horrific flower arrangements I’d ever want to see anywhere near my house. They were the spitting image of the ones Celeste selected for her wedding.
Damn. I loved him.
“I remember these.” I waited until the door clicked closed and they took off their coats before meeting them halfway. I hadn’t wanted to chance my little Rose getting a breeze and waking up before she was ready.
“I thought you might.” Aunt Vivian chuckled as she set her vase on the coffee table and offered up her grabby hands for Rose.
I gave Reid a side eye, and he just shrugged. Oh well, it was on her if she had to hold a crying baby. I unfastened the carrier and handed Rose to her, pointing to the baby blanket on the arm of the chair in case she needed it.
“There’s my baby,” she baby talked as she and her Henry sat on the couch ready to dote on their grandniece.
“I like the flowers.” I was such a liar, but I loved that he brought them and remembered our last Valentine’s Day, so close enough.
“I thought you might.” He wrapped his arms around me, inhaling my scent.
“So, company for dinner?” Not that I minded. In hindsight, his buying me a new, extremely large lasagna pan a few days earlier when there were only two of us with teeth in the family should’ve been a hint.
“It would appear so,” he whispered in my ear before nibbling just below it, knowing darn well it was the surefire spot to get my engine revving, and we had company. Before I could scold him for his antics, the doorbell rang.
“More company?” It was official, my curiosity was piqued.
“Something like that.” A kiss on the cheek, and he was off to answer the door.
“Pastor Merrick,” he spoke far louder than necessary. “How nice to see you. What brings you here this bright and cheery afternoon?”
“You mean the near blizzard?” she corrected as she toed off her snow-covered shoes and handed Kayson her coat.
“Yeah, that.” He smirked at me as he hung up her coat.
“I was told there was lasagna after the wedding,” she bantered back. Wedding. Was it Vivian’s or mine? Both were real possibilities since we both wore rings and had our betrothed with us, and both sounded like the type of thing Kayson would find amusing to spring on me. I decided to bite.
“The wedding?”
“You said yes.” Kayson sidled up beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
“That was a general, yes, I’d love to marry you.” Which had somehow ended up with the two of us getting a wedding license the next day, but then Rose came a bit earlier than expected and we dropped it. Or, more accurately, put it on hold. Looked like hold time was over.
“So, you want to wait?”
“Let me put the lasagna in the oven, first.” I sighed as loudly as I could manage and did just that.
“I’m ready, I guess.” I crossed the room and grabbed his hand. He stood in front of our fireplace with his aunt, Henry, and the baby he held by his side and Pastor Merrick standing facing him.
“Now, just to be clear, I get some of your famous lasagna if I perform this ceremony?”
I so very much loved Pastor Merrick.
“Absolutely,” we said in unison, and she began the ceremony.
The words we recited were identical to the ones in just about every wedding I had been to. We promised to love, cherish, and all that. Truth be told, we didn’t need to take vows for all of that, we’d already committed in our hearts. But that didn’t make that magical moment when she declared us husbands any less magical, and as I stood there in front of our fireplace on a stormy Valentine’s Day night, I couldn’t help the tears of joy falling down my face.
Best. Valentine’s Day. Ever.