Epilogue
Saturday, November 25. 3:21 p.m. Climb For Your Life Indoor Rock Climbing, Manawatu, New Zealand.
Daniel wanted three things for his birthday, and lucky man that he was, he’d already got two of them.
He’d spent the last hour at the indoor climbing center, scaling the walls and watching Theo and Joel and Lucy’s two kids beat Daniel’s brothers in a race to the roof. His protégé was pretty damn slick on the wall. But considering he and Theo climbed together every Wednesday evening now, maybe the boy had an unfair advantage over his couch potato brothers.
A chorus of “Happy Birthday” sprung up from behind the picnic table where they sat, and everyone soon joined in. Daniel grinned as Ana set down a tray in front of him with a giant chocolate cake and way too many lit candles. Eh, it was worth getting another year older if his chocolate cake came with a side of the beautiful woman carrying it. Every morning that he woke with Ana curled around him he counted himself the luckiest man on earth. Even if she did perpetually have icy cold feet that she loved to press against his calves.
He blew out the candles and made a wish for the last item on his wish list. Just in case.
“What did you ask for?” Theo said from the chair next to him. “Mum to stop leaving her makeup and stuff all over the bathroom?”
He grinned at the boy, who was holding Alyssa on his knee. The devilish little cutie, who’d run squealing into his and Ana’s bedroom that morning before even Daniel’s internal alarm had been triggered, was eyeing up the chocolate cake with rapt devotion.
“Cake,” said Alyssa. “Cake for me ’n’ cake for Oscar, too.”
Oscar was Alyssa’s current favorite of the farm dogs. She’d happily empty the container of dog treats for Oscar to eat at the back door of Daniel’s house. Their house now, Daniel corrected himself. Their house for the past six weeks. Having Ana get a position at a law firm in Palmerston North and her and the kids move in with him was his first wish granted.
The other two?
“Before we dive into the cake Nadia made,” he said, “how about Ana gives me the only thing I wanted for my birthday?”
Whoops and whistles and catcalls came from Nadia, his brothers, his parents, and John and his lady friend, Gladys. Maggie, Joel, and his wife, Lucy, had also driven up from Wellington that morning to join in the celebrations.
Ana froze, the kitchen knife she was about to use on the chocolate cake hovering over the thick, creamy frosting.
She shot him a wide-eyed glance, her lovely mouth sagging open. “I thought you were teasing about that.”
“Nope. I never tease.”
“Yeah, right.” Theo laughed and Alyssa joined in, mimicking her brother even though she likely had no idea what the joke was—that their home was full of laughter and teasing and playful affection. Everything a home should be.
“Come on, Mum.” Theo stood and passed Alyssa to John. Then he tugged his mother’s hand in the direction of the climbing wall. “Daniel won’t let you fall, you know that, right?”
Ana’s gaze met his across the table, changing in an instant from shocked to burning bright with the single emotion that permeated every aspect of their relationship. Trust. Wish number two granted.
Her lips curved in the corner, her smile telling him that even though she knew she was in the safest hands, payback would be a bitch later in their bed. Bring it on, baby. He grinned at her and rose to his feet, holding his arms out for Alyssa who was wriggling on John’s lap, trying to get to the chocolate cake.
“Theo and I will spot you, and Alyssa can cheer you on.”
Alyssa grizzled—the joys of toddlerhood, which he’d leaped into boots and all and didn’t regret for a moment—and stuck out her lower lip. With this contingency planned for, Daniel bent and whispered in the little girl’s ear. She immediately quit complaining and let him pick her up.
He carried Alyssa over to the wall, watching to ensure the staff member attached Ana’s harness correctly.
“I’ll take her, son,” John said, coming to stand beside him. “Think you’ll have your hands full with that one.” He tipped his head toward Ana who was dividing her attention between the advanced beginners’ wall and Daniel, the latter receiving mock glares that could’ve relit the cake candles behind them.
Daniel kissed Alyssa’s soft curls and settled her into John’s arms. Then he took up position at the bottom of the wall, ready to act as the belayer, while Ana chalked her palms. She crossed over to him, the carabiners of her harness softly clinking, and balanced on her toes, arching up to press her mouth to his.
What she’d probably intended to be a lighthearted kiss turned hot, their connection spraying accelerant on the flame that was the constant heat between them. He gripped the warm skin of her nape under the heavy curtain of her hair and kept her lips in place for a few moments longer.
More wolf whistles erupted around them when he let her go. She rolled her eyes and cheekily swiped a chalky finger across his cheek. “You’d better reward me with something a little longer than that when I make it to the top.”
“I give you my word, Counselor,” he said. “Just remember, don’t look down.”
She laughed and turned to the wall, gripping the first handhold. “I remember.”
For the next five minutes, he and Theo called out encouragement. When Ana neared the top, everyone clustered around them, heads craned upward to watch her final ascent.
“Nearly there, babe. Keep going.” He shot a glance at his little sister and she grinned mischievously, passing him and Theo and Alyssa three big sheets of paper that she’d hidden in her handbag.
Ana reached the top of the wall with a rebel yell and boosted herself over the edge.
“You can look down now, Mum,” Theo yelled.
She did, and the expression on her face as she read the three giant words on the paper that he had outlined and the kids had colored in was priceless.
Marry. Me. Counselor?
Ana covered her mouth with a chalky palm, her eyes once again wide open but this time filled with tears. She nodded her head, her shoulders shaking.
Joel clapped him on the back. “Mate, that’s the second time I’ve seen her speechless. World record, I reckon.”
“Is that a yes?” Daniel said.
Ana laughed and took her hand away from her mouth. “Yes!” she shouted. “Now get your brother to belay that damn rope and catch me—I’m coming in hot.”
Daniel passed the rope to Matt, who gave Ana a cheeky thumbs-up and hurried over to the wall. Ana abseiled down like a pro—she had caved in to family peer pressure and climbed the beginner walls a few times—and Daniel scooped her into his arms before her feet could hit the floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling them both in the rope. But nothing was going to stop his woman covering his face with kisses.
“I love you, Farm Boy, and I know you’ll never let me fall.” She tipped her head back with pretend scrutiny. “And if I do, you’ll be there to catch me.”
“Damn straight,” he agreed, leaning in to kiss her again.
She pressed a finger to his lips. “One thing—whatever did you tell Alyssa to get her cooperation?”
He grinned. “I promised her my piece of birthday cake, since I have all the sweetness I’ll ever need.”
Ana chuckled and pulled his mouth down to hers but left a whisper of space between them. “You big pushover. She’s got you wrapped around her little finger.”
“As do you,” Daniel said, and left her speechless once again. This time with a kiss that would last a lifetime.
Did you enjoy Quake? If you did, try Tracey’s first book in the Stewart Island series, IN TOO DEEP free!
Turn the page for a sneak peek of Chapter 1.