bonus epilogue
LIVVY
“Montgomery cowboys. What do you think?”
I looked over at my brother and shook my head. “I don’t really think that’s a thing.”
“It’s totally a thing. Or at least, itcouldbe. You’ve been here in Clover Lake for months now so you’ve got the lay of the land. Mom and Dad always said we could reach for the stars. One of us could be president. The other a rocket scientist.”
“We already have a rocket scientist in the family,” I cut in.
John rolled his eyes. “Fine. We can scratch that one off the list. But we do not have any Montgomery cowboys yet. I looked at the spread. It could be a thing.”
“Did you just say spread?” I asked, barely resisting the urge to laugh.
“I would look good with a cowboy hat. I’m just saying.”
“You know, they do have ranches in Colorado. The entire state isn’t merely I10 with cities popping up all over it. There’s an entire east and south Colorado. You should visit it sometime.”
I tilted my face up to Ewan as he walked over to us, my heart beating so loudly I was afraid my family would be able to hear it across the clearing.
Ewan gave me a certain small smile telling me far more than anything he could ever say, and I nearly sighed into him. When he lowered his hand and gently ran it against my cheek, I let out an audible sigh.
“Well, it looks like I’m clearly in the way,” John said with a clearing of his throat. “And if you’re not going to let me be a Montgomery cowboy in Clover Lake, Wyoming, I suppose I will have to make it work in Colorado. Maybe I can go down to the rodeo, see a barrel racer. Barrel racers are hot.”
I threw my pen at him, and John barely caught it with those catlike reflexes before running toward my parents who currently had Amelia in their arms.
I shook my head again and looked back at Ewan, who only had eyes for me. It was so odd to think I knew exactly what was on his mind in that moment.Me.
I had never been the center of anyone’s attention before. At least, not purely. I had always shared that spot. And I hadn’t minded as a daughter, sister, a cousin. Sharing that spotlight was what made a family healthy.
No, I had never felt like this with anyone else in my life. Because I had never been loved like this. I was the center of humans in this moment.
Could freely melt into a puddle.
When he lowered his head, brushing his lips against my own, I nearly swooned.
And I, Livvy Montgomery, did not swoon.
“I’m fucking happy that you’re here.”
That deep voice of his went straight to my soul.
I patted the steps next to me. “Join me. Because I’m glad that I’m here as well.”
When I had been younger, watching the truly independent women in my life, I promised myself I would never pack everything up, throw away what didn’t work, and change my life completely for a man. I was going to be that independent woman who stood up for herself and didn’t compromise.
And how idiotic it would have been if I had truly leaned into that mindset.
Because that was not how my parents lived. Yes, my mother had moved from New Orleans to Colorado where my father’s family was from, but it wasn’t that she had been torn from it. She had freely left that city and all of its painful memories behind. All to start newtogether. They had made compromises with each other. Just like the majority of my family who’d found each other later.
I had been so scared because of what Brick had done, that I hadn’t even realized I had built those walls around myself. And not merely around my heart, but my life, and my daughter as well.
Somehow this cowboy had climbed over that wall and had thrown me a rope. He had tossed me over his shoulder and taken me away. Then he had knocked down that wall. He had given me a new direction. One where I could take his hand, or I could walk away.
And I was never going to walk away from Ewan McBride.
Ewan took the seat next to me and sighed as I stared at the worn jeans that hugged his ass. I realized that a man in Wranglers could do that to a woman.
