“Hi.” I ghost my lips over his and rest my head on his shoulder. “You doing okay?”
“Not really,” he admits and drops his hand to my hip. “But I will be.”
“We all will,” Rafe adds, and we stand there, watching Magnolia chase Knight in circles, her happy laughter bittersweet as Rafe wraps an arm around my back, sandwiching me between the two brothers.
“Hands off, asshole,” Logan growls, but I think it’s more joking than menacing.
“But I’m sad,” Rafe jokes, and a smile curves my lips.
“But he’s sad, Logan...” I tease as my husband tugs me away from Rafe.
“Go find your own wife to cheer you up then,” Logan jokes, and the steel band around my heart loosens. “I saw Serena around here somewhere.”
Rafe arches a brow, and I shake my head. “Don’t even think about it, Langley.”
“Let him go,” Logan grumbles and pulls me against him. “How are you doing, Olive?”
“Pretty sure that’s my line, Adler.” I hold him close, the way I’ve done every day since I woke up in that damn hospital. “Are you okay?”
“No. But I will be. We all will. The best way to honor my brother is to live a life he’d be proud of.”
“He was already proud of you, Logan,” I remind him, even if it hurts to hear. “He loved you so much.”
“You know he loved you too, right?” Logan asks, and my stomach drops. “The last thing he told me was to never let you go. He knew you were the best thing that ever happened to me.”
I pull back and run my fingers along his temple, staring into those beautiful blue eyes. “Yeah well, he knew you were the best thing that ever happened to me too, husband. I love you.”
“I love you too, Liv. Always. Forever.”
“Forever, Adler.”
EPILOGUE
OLIVIA
Life is short, so love your life.
—Olivia’s Secret Thoughts
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything hotter than my husband holding our baby,” I whisper to my sister as she hands me another margarita. Guess I’ll be pumping and dumping tonight. In the three months since our son was born, I’ve had exactly one glass of wine, and that went straight to my head. This is my second margarita. ’Nuff said.
“I swear there really is just something biological about it. I can remember wanting to jump Deacon’s bones every time he had Knight on his naked chest.”
“You want to jump Deacon’s bones every time he breathes, Brynnie,” I murmur and sip the salty-sweet goodness that’s going down just a little too easy.
“And you don’t?” she asks, then blinks. “I mean Logan’s bones, obviously.”
“I want to find someone’s bones to jump,” Waverly groans, and Brynn and I just laugh.
“It will happen, little sister,” I tease, and Waves laughs as I steady myself against her arm to stand. “I’ll be back, ladies.”
“There are children on this beach, Olivia...” Brynlee teases.
“Your children,” Waverly adds with a laugh. “Keep it PG.”
“PG is overrated,” I murmur and make my way down the hot sand to the ocean’s edge, where my husband stands in navy-blue board shorts that hang low on his lean hips. His gloriously golden chest is bare, and his favorite Nobles hat shields his eyes while he cradles a sleeping Jasper against him as our daughter builds dribble castles next to him.
“Mommy,” she squeals when she sees me, and truly hearing that from my daughter will never get old. “Will you build a castle with us?”
