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I bend to kiss her again.

An ear-splitting scream sounds from the house and we wince as we break apart.

“She was sleeping so peacefully,” she says, getting to her feet.

“How about we double team and try to get some sleep on the recliner in her room? She always seems to sleep better when we’re there together.”

“Because she’s high maintenance.” She gets up and holds out a hand for me. “I was too. Moses told me so, and I warned you when you said you wanted five or six kids just like me.”

I grin at her. “And I wouldn’t change any of this for the world.”

A slow, happy smile splits her face. “Neither would I. I love you, Mack Winters.”

“And I love you, Aerin Winters.”

EPILOGUE 2

AERIN

FIVE YEARS LATER

It’s a bright, sunny day and I smile as I walk out of the three story old farm we turned into a pack home, to the garden where a blonde-haired girl with blue-gray eyes is holding a ball behind her back as a dark-haired boy with brown eyes tries desperately to grab it.

As soon as both see me, they start yelling.

“Sweetheart, what have I told you? You need to learn to share with your little brother.” I bend to kiss the top of Janie’s hair, inhaling her soft fragrance.

“But I don’t want to share.” She sticks her bottom lip out.

“Didn’t Milo share his last sweet with you?” I gently remind her. “Even though it’s his favorite?”

“Fine.” She blows out a resigned sigh.

They run off, and no sooner have they reached the toys in the grass than they’re laughing and chasing each other.

A smile stretches across my face as Mack winds his arms around me, resting his hands on my pregnant belly.

I lean back. “Are you sure you still want enough for a football team? We have two and some days I swear my ears are bleeding with all this yelling.”

Mack presses a kiss on my throat. “What? Did you say something? I couldn’t hear you.”

Laughing, I spin around, looping my arms around him as I rise up on my tiptoes, meeting his warm, brown eyes. “I love you, Mack.”

“I love you too, baby.”

His lips are about to touch mine when I lean back. “Mack?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Aerin?”

“That night you left with Bennett to find out what was wrong in town and it turned out to be a distraction,” I say.

He looks at me, then turns to look at our kids currently doing their best to make our ears bleed. “Thiswas the dream?”

I coil my arms around him and I nod. “This is the dream. Except, right before you kissed me, my dream ended.”

“Ah.” He gives me a knowing look. “Did you want me to kiss you now?”

I look at him and I struggle to believe I’m living this life. That my dreams have actually come true.

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