Page 138 of The Last Promise You Made

I rubbed my hand over the bristles of his beard he’d long since grown back and that I absolutely adored, then covered his hand holding the ring with my other one and tugged him to his feet. “I thought giving control of my life to someone else would be impossibly difficult. But instead, giving you my heart, my life, and my future has been the easiest thing I’ve ever done. The easiest decision I’ve ever made. I’m yours, and if that means walking down an aisle and saying I do, it’ll be my joy to do so.”

“Make it easy for the man, G. Just say yes,” my dad shouted.

I laughed, leaned in, and kissed Ryder quickly before saying, “Yes. It would be my honor to marry you.”

The bar erupted into shouts of joy. Addy collided with our legs, hugging us tight. Ryder lifted her so she was between us. Our faces were full of light and love and happiness.

And all I could think was, this was the life I’d been intended to have all along.

No spy movie. No sleuthing.

Just forever, giving and receiving.

Epilogue

Ryder

UNFORGETTABLE

Performed by Darlinghurst

One Year Later

How was it I was back in this same damn situation? Shooting at crows and hoping like hell I didn’t clip one. Mila would never forgive me after the promise I’d made to never hurt another creature. Those black beasts were cackling laughter through those caws. I just knew it.

I aimed to the left and high above the trees, hoping the sound would be enough to scare them and cursing Willy for taking off on a damn honeymoon while my sound machine needed repairs.

Even after I’d let two shots ring through the icy air, the birds just sat there, feasting on Mama’s crabapples and making faces at me.

“Let’s try something else,” Gia’s voice rang out behind me.

I turned to find her and Addy stomping over the snow-crusted field, both of them covered in so many layers of clothes that nothing but their rosy cheeks peeked out.

“What are you doing out here? You’ll freeze to death,” I groused. It was too cold for my girls. The temperature had plummeted to an unusual two degrees this morning. It never got quite this cold in Willow Creek.

Gia waved a black box she was carrying. As she got closer, I realized it was an old-school boom box—an antique she’d found in the attic of Phil’s house when my family had gotten together to go through it all.

When they reached me, I tugged gently on one of Addy’s braids hanging out from beneath her beanie. “Aren’t you supposed to be in school, sweetheart?”

“Snow day!” she all but screamed. Her volume sounded more like Mila's than her normal quiet self, and it did crazy things to my heart. I loved that she was coming out of her shell and finding a way to feel safe and secure.

I leaned in and kissed Gia. I couldn’t help myself. Every time we were apart and came back together, my instincts took over, my body demanding to be reunited, even if we’d only been apart minutes. In this case, we’d been apart for several hours. I’d left her when our room was still dark to drive over to the box store a town over and then headed back to the ranch to handle Mama’s pesky crows.

“Business first,” Gia said, pulling back with a smile that tugged her cheeks up and her color-changing eyes flashing.

She marched away from me, closer to the crows that took a moment to go silent, as if they too were in awe of the beautiful figure she made, crunching over the frozen earth in a bright-red jacket and matching snow boots. Addy twirled along behind her, and I brought up the rear.

Gia set the boom box down, clicked a few buttons, turned a few knobs, and a classic-rock song burst into the air at a volume that made me want to cover my ears.

The birds squawked in objection before taking flight.

I watched in awe as black wings filled the air, heading out over the trees and up into the mountains.

Addy grabbed my hand with her mittened one and started dancing. My girl was an amazing dancer. It had taken months of line dancing with Sadie for us to figure that out. Now, Addy was enrolled in a class that she only freaked out at attending once in a while. No performances for her. She couldn’t handle the audience and probably never would, but she could participate. She could do something that brought her as much joy as the video games and coding she did with Gia.

Gia rejoined us, and the three of us twisted and twirled, leaving a path of wild footprints in the snow. A year ago, I’d been in this field, pinky-promising my niece, my chest filled with an ache for something I’d lost and never thought I’d have again?a wife and a child. And now, through life’s twists and turns and wild adventures, I’d ended up with both.

Thank God, Gia had wanted a simple ceremony here at the ranch that we’d been able to pull off within months of me proposing. I hadn’t wanted to wait to make sure the world knew we belonged to each other.

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