Chase Our Forever (Sutten Mountain #3)

Epilogue - Liv - Two Years Later

“Merry Christmas!” Clara yells as I walk into the living room. I stifle a yawn, somehow still tired even though Dean let me sleep in. Maybe it’s because he kept me up into the early hours of the morning, giving me an early Christmas gift in the form of his face between my thighs.

Clara’s body runs into mine as she wraps me up tightly in a hug. I lift her from the ground and wrap my arms around her, smiling at the candy cane pajamas she’s wearing. They match the same ones Dean and I have on. “Merry Christmas, Clare Bear. Did you get any sleep, or were you too excited?”

Clara grins at me. “I think I closed my eyes for a couple of minutes.”

This makes me laugh as I carry her to the Christmas tree. Dean’s in the kitchen making us some coffee while Clara and I take a seat in front of the tree.

“We should open presents!” Clara declares, moving from my side and picking up one of her gifts from under the tree. She shakes it slightly, trying to figure out what’s inside. I laugh, letting her shake it. There’s no way she’ll figure out what’s in there.

“Let’s wait for your dad, and then we can get to opening the gifts,” I tell her, my eyes finding Dean in the kitchen. Even in the cheesy candy cane PJs, he looks incredibly good this morning. There are some times I look at him and wonder how he’s all mine.

His eyes catch mine as he puts a dollop of whipped cream on top of my coffee, just how I like it. “Clara, are you trying to open gifts without me?” Dean calls, his tone teasing as he walks to the living room.

Honey bounds after him, a stuffed Santa hat toy in her mouth. It appears Honey gave her perfect puppy dog face to either Dean or Clara and got one of her gifts early.

“No, Daddy. You’re just taking forever.”

I try not to laugh at her comment, but it doesn’t work. At five, she’s sassier than ever. She’s growing up so fast that it makes me a little sad. It seems like it was just yesterday that she was confidently climbing into my lap at Wake and Bake and insisting I do her hair.

Now, two years later, I’m having to beg her to sit still long enough to do her hair.

Dean stops in front of me, holding out the mug of coffee. “Here you go, my wife,” he says sweetly, dragging out the last word.

I smile, taking the coffee from him. “Thank you, husband.”

We got married two months ago, surrounded by those we loved most. It was the most perfect fall day where there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the trees at our venue showed off by creating a beautiful backdrop of reds, yellows, and oranges.

Having Clara walk me down the aisle to marry Dean was one of the best days of my life. Something tells me that today might be up there as another one of my favorite days because of a gift I’ve been excitedly waiting to give to Dean.

Dean leans in to give me a chaste kiss on the lips before he takes a seat next to me on the couch. Clara bounces on the balls of her feet in front of us in anticipation.

“Is it time?” she asks, her eyes ping-ponging between me and Dean.

“Go ahead and open one,” Dean says, placing his coffee mug on the coffee table and pulling out his phone to snap a few photos to send to his family. We’ve got a big Christmas Day dinner with them this afternoon where there will be even more gifts, but it’s nice to have a quiet morning with just us before getting together with everyone.

Clara opening one gift turns into her opening all of hers. This is my third Christmas here in Sutten, and with each new one, I get more over-the-top with gifts. I can’t help it. I didn’t have anyone to spoil with gifts growing up, so now that I have people in my life who I care about and who care about me, I like to go a little overboard.

Now that Clara’s in kindergarten, my free time is spent working at Bluebird Books. Ty, the owner, pays me more than what I’m qualified for, but he refuses to listen every time I tell him that. Dean is very insistent on me using whatever I make at Bluebird for fun, so I use it to spoil those I love most.

Dean’s breath tickles my neck as he leans in. “I don’t know if you picked out enough art supplies for her.”

I give him a smile. “She’s a budding artist. She deserves all the art supplies.”

This makes him laugh as he looks back to Clara. She’s already spread out all of the different art supplies she received on the floor so she can get a better look at them all. “How long until she starts requesting for Pippa and Camden to display her work at the gallery portion of Wake and Bake?”

I take a drink of my coffee before responding. “Oh, she’s already talked them into it. She also talked Margo into giving her lessons when they come out for the new year.”

Dean shakes his head. Margo is one of Camden’s best artists. She’s always doing different showcases at his gallery in Manhattan. When she and her family and friends first came to visit Sutten and Clara learned she was an artist, she became obsessed with peppering Margo with questions. Margo was sweet enough to even send me some beginner kits she thought would be great for Clara.

I set my coffee down and turn toward Dean. My heart races with anticipation as I think about his gift and what he’ll think about it.

Before I can say anything, he gets up and grabs my stocking from the mantle. “Time to open your gift, my beautiful wife.”

I blush. There’s no way I’ll ever tire of hearing him call me that. “What if I wanted you to open your gift first?”

He smirks, carefully placing the stocking in my lap. “I beat you to it. Plus, I’m too anxious to wait another second. This has been a hard secret to keep, and I need you to open it now.”

I pick up the stocking, trying to feel for the contents inside to see if I can figure out what the gift is. I can’t help but smile as I look at him with a lifted eyebrow. “That’s funny. I’ve been anxious to give you your gift. It’s also been very hard to keep it a surprise.”

“I guess we’ll find out which secret was harder to keep, then,” he quips, gesturing for me to reach into the stocking.

Something tells me the gift I got for him was much harder to keep a secret, but I don’t tell him that. Instead, I reach inside and pull out a small box. I give him a questioning look, wondering what’s inside. I give it a little shake, the contents rattling with the movement.

“What is this?” I ask, glancing over at Clara. She’s too busy playing with her new art kit to pay us any attention.

“Open it to find out, baby.”

I pull on the red lid of the box, revealing a set of keys with a little book stack keychain. I lift the keys and dangle them in the air between us, looking at Dean with a questioning stare.

“What are these keys to?” I ask, keeping my voice low. I feel bad because I haven’t really given him a reaction to the gift yet because I still don’t know if I understand what the gift is.

“To Bluebird Books.”

My head cocks to the side. “Okay…why are you gifting me the keys to Bluebird Books?”

Dean smiles, his teeth raking against his bottom lip. I fall in love with him more each time he smiles at me, even after having countless ones aimed my way over the last two years. “Because you’re the new owner,” he answers casually.

My heart skips in my chest as I fly off the couch. “What?” I ask, incredibly confused.

Dean leans forward, that handsome smile of his still on full display. “Ty was ready to retire. You’ve worked so hard there that he and I decided that you should be the new owner.”

I shake my head. “You can’t just give a bookstore as a Christmas gift, Dean. Books? Yes. Bookstores? No.”

He lifts a shoulder. “Too late. I already bought it. It’s yours, sunshine.”

I stand in front of him, unable to look anywhere else but into his eyes as emotion washes through me. Books have always been the one thing that kept me company in my loneliest of times. Even working at the bookstore was a dream come true. But owning one? I can’t even process that what he’s saying is true.

“I can’t accept that as a gift,” I whisper, my emotions getting the better of me.

He stands up and closes the distance between us. His hands cup my cheeks as he tilts my face to look up at him. “Yes, you can. You will, baby. No one deserves it more. Bluebird Books is all yours.”

Tears stream down my face. “I can’t believe this.” I stand up on my tiptoes and plant a kiss to his lips, knowing there aren’t enough words to be able to thank him for the gift.

When we finally pull away, I still shake my head in disbelief. “I can’t believe this. Thank you. I love you. I can’t believe I own a bookstore.”

Dean smiles, his thumb tracing over my cheek. “I love you, too, sunshine. You’re the hottest bookstore owner out there.”

I give him a smile. “Can I give you your gift now?”

He nods, and my heart races as I break the connection between us long enough to grab his stocking. I feel like I can hear my blood pumping through my body as I walk over to him and hand over the stocking. I have no idea what his reaction will be to the gift, but I’m more than ready to finally give it to him.

Dean gives me a cautious smile as he peeks into the stocking. “Why do you look so nervous all of a sudden?”

I give him what I hope is an encouraging smile. “Just open it,” I whisper.

He does as he’s told, pulling out a book. “It’s a scrapbook,” he notes, his lips pulling up into a whisper of a smile. I feel like I barely hear him over the sound of my racing heart.

I nod, waiting for him to open it. I want to tell him to do just that, but it seems like I’m suddenly too nervous to even speak. Luckily, he knows what to do and opens it to the first page.

My stomach jumps when his eyes meet the first page. “Liv,” he whispers, his eyes finding mine instantly. “Is this…?”

I smile, tears falling down my cheeks as I nod. “I’m pregnant,” I manage to get out.

The book drops to the ground as he pulls me into his arms. “You’re pregnant?” he asks, his voice full of excitement.

I nod. “Yes. Eight weeks tomorrow.”

Tears freely fall down his face as he lifts me from the ground and hugs me to his chest. His hand cradles the back of my head as we both cry in excitement. We’d started trying a couple of months ago, but I hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. Keeping the secret until Christmas has been so hard but something I really wanted to give him, knowing how badly we both wanted it to happen. “I’m so fucking happy I don’t even know what to say,” he croaks, his lips moving against my ear.

I laugh through my tears of joy. “Did you hear that, Clara? You’re going to be a big sister!”

Clara looks up from her art supplies with the biggest smile. “What?” she yells, pushing off the ground and running to us. Dean gently sets me down so he can pull both Clara and me in for a hug. “I’m going to be a big sister?” Clara repeats, as if she’s trying to confirm she heard me correctly.

Dean and I both nod.

“Yes,” I answer, running a hand over my stomach. “We’re having a baby.”

“Finally!” Clara yells excitedly, pressing her lips to my stomach. “Hi, baby. I’m your sister.”

Both Dean and I laugh at her trying to talk to the baby. Clara’s been begging for a baby sibling for a long time now. I can’t believe it’s actually happening.

Clara wraps her arms around my waist and gives me the biggest squeeze. “This is the best Christmas gift ever!” she yells.

Dean walks up behind her, wrapping his arms around me as well so we’re in a group hug. “That really is the best gift ever, sunshine.”

I smile at him. “You. Clara. This baby. You’re the best gifts I’ve ever been given.”

“I love you,” he says with the biggest smile on his face.

“I love you, Dean Livingston,” I respond. I turn my cheek a little, my eyes focusing on the window of the living room to the snow-covered mountains. Snowflakes fall peacefully, making it a beautiful white Christmas. Right when I’m about to look away, a cardinal lands on the tree right by the window. It gives the window a few pecks as if just to say hi for the morning before it spreads its wings and flies away.

Happiness washes over me as the three—well, kind of four— of us stand there in an embrace. Before I ever stumbled upon Sutten Mountain, I had no idea what true happiness felt like. I didn’t know what I was doing with my life, and I didn’t feel like I had a purpose. All I’d ever known was doing life on my own.

Then, I met Dean and Clara. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the grumpy single dad and his sassy toddler. The two of them became the family I’d been missing my entire life. A happy sob runs through me as I think about just how grateful I am for the life I’ve been given with them.

I never knew a happiness like this existed until I found Sutten Mountain.