“Lennon.” Emma squeezed my forearm. “You’re not stupid.”
“Thanks. But I’m actually feeling pretty good about my intellect lately. I mean, I escaped my stalker and made the most wonderful man in the world fall in love with me. Pretty damn smart of me,Ithink.” I smirked. “I do struggle with reading, though, and maybe Grace could help me with that.”
“I’m sure she would love to.” Emma’s attention was back on the game now. “I’m so glad you’re staying. Mercy River needed another woman around. I love Tamilee, but she has no interest in gawking at half-naked cowboys.”
“I’m here whenever you need me. Happy to be of service.”
She giggled. We watched Liam swing his mallet, sending a ball flying with a loud whack, the muscles in his back as defined as a Greek statue. Emma sighed.
I glanced at her curiously. From the pictures I’d seen in her house, Liam looked a lot like his younger brother, Daniel—Emma’s deceased husband. “Is it hard for you?” I asked carefully. When she gave me a questioning look, I continued, “Seeing Liam all the time. He looks so much like Daniel, doesn’t he? I don’t mean to pry,” I added hastily. “But if you want to talk about it, I’m here.”
She blinked, looking a little surprised by the question. “Huh. I don’t…” She paused rolling her lips. “I think about Daniel a lot. But Liam doesn’t remind me of him at all, to tell you the truth. They’re so different. Liam is…Liam.” She shrugged. “So, no. It’s not hard for me having Liam around. If anything, he’s made everything so much easier. I don’t know what I would have done without him after Daniel died. Liam and Grace held me and Blair together. I?—”
The sound of tires skidding over gravel cut her off. We both pushed to our feet to see a forest green sedan swerving up the road. The cowboys noticed it to, halting their game and moving toward us.
We gasped as the car swerved again and clipped a boulder with the bumper.
“Are they drunk?” Emma shouted. “What the hell!”
The car careened to stop ten feet from the lodge. Dust flew into the air. We were already jogging closer when the door opened and a woman stumbled out.
“Help!” she called. “Please!”
She reached for me with one hand, her otherpressed to her side where a large red stain seeped through her shirt. “Please?—”
Her arms went around my neck just as her eyes rolled back in her head and suddenly I was buckling under her dead weight. I took us both down to the ground as gently as I could. “Help!” I shrieked. “Jeremiah!”
But it was Seb who pushed me aside to check her pulse. “Move!” he barked.
I moved. He dropped to his knees and started CPR.
“Come on, baby,” he muttered. “Don’t do this.”
Baby? I stared wide-eyed at his blanched face. “Who is she?”
“My wife.”
EPILOGUE
JEREMIAH
Five YearsLater
I did a quick headcount.
Two having a cartwheel contest across the stretch of grass, seeing who could do the most in a row.
Three in the chicken coop with Holly, meeting the newest chicks.
Another two sitting on the tire swing.
One clinging to my wife’s leg.
And one fastasleep on my chest.
Kids everywhere. They weren’t all mine, but I felt the weight of responsibility for their well-being as if they were. It was starting to feel like I was running a daycare instead of a cattle ranch.
Hannah laughed. She knew exactly what I was doing. “They’re fine, Jay. All here and accounted for.”
