Redemption Hills: The Complete Collection

Epilogues

EPILOGUES

Salem

He’d asked me once what I dreamed of most. My answer had come so easy yet had seemed impossible—a home.

A place where my daughter was free. Where we could put down roots so she could grow and flourish. Where we’d know we’d be safe and secure.

A place we could always return to because we knew that’s where we belonged.

I gazed out over the little backyard at the group of people who had become that.

A safe place.

A refuge.

A family.

Our home.

Affection pulled tight across my chest.

There was my mountain of a man angling back to throw the football to Logan who had broken around Trent and was in the makeshift end zone.

My wicked savior.

My rugged, sweet Jud.

So big.

So handsome.

His love so fierce and overwhelming I felt the ground shake.

Like he felt the crack of energy in the air, he stopped to shoot me a grin from where he played on the lawn with his brothers.

Gage and Juni were, of course, in the mix.

He winked at me.

“Well, look at that.” Mimi’s voice hit me from where she sat in the chair next to me on the porch. “That sly dog sure knows how to love a woman up right, doesn’t he? There you are, sitting all the way over here, and he’s still got my girl’s legs shaking.”

“Mimi,” I chastised quick.

Eden giggled from the chair on the other side of her. “Mmhmm…those Lawson Brothers have some tricks up their sleeves.”

“They sure do. Nothing but a swoon fest,” Mimi stated.

“Mimi,” I said again, holding back laughter and shaking my head.

“What? You know it’s true.”

I rolled my eyes and huffed. “Fine.”

It was true.

So true that I still didn’t know what’d hit me.

My life upturned. Upended. Set to right.

So unprepared for the joy we had found.

Tessa laughed from the other side of me. “Fine? Girl, you are legit on fire right now. About to go boom.” She made an exploding motion with her hands. “Like, your mad love has become some crazed love. It’s a little obscene, if I’m being honest. I think I got pregnant just sitting beside you. Get it together, why don’t you?”

I swatted at her arm. “Shush it.”

Grinning, she widened her eyes. “Never.”

Laughter floated, and my head shook as I sank back into the warmth and relished the way love poured through the summer day. The sky bright and blue and stuffed with plumes of white clouds.

Trent handed the football off to Juni.

“Go, Juni, go!” he shouted.

She started to dart up the lawn in the wrong direction. He was cracking up when he picked her up midstride and spun her around so she was facing the other way. “That way!”

“Oops!” She giggled and laughed and floundered her way down the lawn.

Jud was right behind her, lumbering slow, taunting her in his sweet way. “I’m gonna get you, Juni Bee.”

“No way, nots a chance. I’m ways too fast for you.”

He kept up behind her, staying a step away, and Juni screamed, “Touchdown!” when she crossed the imaginary line. Jud waited until then to tackle her. To wrap his massive arms around her tiny body and carefully topple them to the ground.

Juni giggled as he spun her so he was on his back and she was pinning him to the ground. “No way, too late, I already gots the points. Girls rules, remember?”

Gage flew their way. “I’ll save you, Juni Bee! We gotta hold him down.”

Gage dove on top of them, quick to change strategies as he pinned Juni between him and Jud. “Doggie pile!”

They both flopped over the top of Jud, squirming to hold him down while he playfully flailed.

“I’m going to take you out! One…two…three…tap it out. You’re done for, Uncle Jud!” Gage scrambled around to pin his shoulders to the ground while Jud continued to struggle, his laughter booming, his support and care so clear.

“Two against one, no fair! Gage in the Cage is getting too rowdy and strong for me. I’m done for!”

Then Juni edged Gage out and flattened herself over the top of Jud, clinging to his neck. “Don’ts you worry, Motorcycle Dad. I gots you, and I’ll protects you and loves you forever.”

Everything stilled.

Jud’s spirit and my heart and this love that had risen from the ashes to become the most beautiful thing.

Jud curled his arms around her and sat up, hugging her to his chest. “Forever.”

Jud

It was dark by the time we got back to the loft. Juni was fast asleep in the backseat of my truck, and her mother was resting in the seat next to me. Her head lolled back, that river of black cascading around her gorgeous face, toppling over her shoulders and caressing her cheek.

When I pulled into my spot in the farthest bay of the shop, I couldn’t help but do the same.

Reach out.

Trace the scar on her jaw.

Whisper, “We’re home, darlin’.”

A soft smile pulled at her mouth, and those eyes fluttered open.

Thunderbolts that were never going to lose their power when it came to me.

I was a goner.

Done for.

Hers until the end of my days.

I put my truck in park and shut off the engine, sent her a grin. “Wait right there.”

Hopping out, I rounded the front of the truck and opened her door, angling up so I could unbuckle her and help her out.

Salem sent me a playful smirk. “I can do that myself, you know?”

I touched her chin. “Now why would you want to go and do that when you have all of this to do it for you?”

I gestured at myself.

She giggled as I helped her out onto her feet. “Cocky, much?”

A rough chuckle came sliding out. “You have no idea.”

Her fingertips fluttered over my chest. “Oh, I think I might.”

I laughed, swung in for a quick kiss, gave a little swat to that delicious ass. “Let’s get you inside.”

“Bossy.”

My eyes narrowed.

Salem laughed, and my heart went to stampeding.

Every moment.

Every day.

Had no clue it could be like this.

I opened the door to the backseat and unbuckled my Juni Bee, pulled her sleeping frame into my arms, cherished what I’d been given.

Would never for a second take advantage of it. Forget the magnitude of this gift.

We crossed the shop, and I started up the steps behind Salem where she ascended in front of me.

It sent me back to that night close to a year ago, when she’d been soaking wet, and I had been wholly unprepared for what was getting ready to crash into my life.

The chaotic storm that was getting ready to make landfall.

But sometimes it’s the storms that breathe new life.

Salem punched in the code and opened the door, and I carried Juni to her room and tucked her into bed.

Our new house was being built across town, right next to the one Trent and Eden were building for their family.

We had a guest house going up in the back so Mimi would have her own space, but where she could be near, and Salem could stand up and care for her the way she’d always wanted to do. The main house would have five bedrooms, one I hoped one day would belong to Kye.

At Salem’s urging and encouragement, I’d taken a chance, bit back the fear, and reached out to Kennedy last month. She’d finally replied two days ago. Her response had been cautious but promising.

Kennedy was living on the east coast. She had remarried and had two more children. Our interactions back and forth over the last two days had been a bit strained, but somehow over the years, it seemed her distrust had lessened, and she’d agreed to allow me to at least write to Kye.

To slowly become a part of my daughter’s life.

I would cherish anything I could get.

I leaned in and kissed Juni’s forehead, pulled her covers up tight, gave into the squeezing of my chest when she whispered in her sleep, “Night, Daddy.”

“Goodnight, Juni Bee.”

She might not have been born of my blood, but to me, she was my daughter in every way.

Wholly.

Truly.

Soft hands slipped up my back, and Salem pressed her face to the middle of my spine.

“Love her so much,” I rumbled as I turned. I took my wife’s face in my hands. “And I love you.”

“Forever,” she said.

I took her hand and led her out, shifting to walk backward as we went into our room. Only I didn’t head for the bed, I led her to the door to the left.

Salem let go of a seductive laugh. “What’s this?”

“Wanna paint you.” I tapped the code into the pad next to the studio door and opened it to a haze of darkness, pulled my girl into the kaleidoscope of images held in the muted light.

Images that had once represented my shame.

My nightmares.

My dreams.

But it’d taken this woman to help me see that sometimes the mess was beautiful.

Salem kicked off her sandals and padded into the studio. Her breaths were soft and awed. It seemed like each time she went in there, she discovered something new.

Still, she was drawn to the crudely cut image of the boy child.

Her son.

The one I was sure her spirit had recognized the first time I’d brought her into my studio.

She fluttered her fingers over the frantic strokes of paint.

She’d said once she didn’t know me. But now, she knew everything.

Every fiber.

Every thread.

All my shame and all my hope.

My wife slowly turned around, wearing the long summer dress she’d worn for the family barbeque this afternoon.

So pretty.

So right.

A fantasy.

My redemption.

I kicked my shoes from my feet and pulled my tee over my head. I dropped it to the floor and moved toward the cans of paint stacked across the room, watching her as I went.

“When is it you feel most beautiful, Salem?”

I repeated the same question I’d asked her all that time ago. Before I’d understood what we meant.

Salem padded forward to the middle of the room.

She got to the floor. A little awkwardly, so fucking cute that it made me lightheaded. Giddy with this joy I never thought I could feel.

She pulled the fabric of her dress tight over her massive, swollen belly where our baby boy grew, and she tipped her head to the side so her jaw was exposed.

Those thunderbolt eyes were open and free.

“When do I feel most beautiful, Jud? Every single time you look at me.”