Page 39 of Ashes to Ink

Tomorrow the world would change, and they would have tofigure out what to do with Michael, Julia, Teas’d,and the rest of their long list of worries, but for now, they just held eachother, petting one another as they fought to catch their breath.

And for now, that was what Ryan needed. What Abby needed.

No matter what, he wasn’t going to run away again. Wasn’tgoing to lose her out of fear.

He’d take a chance on fate because she had the strength totake a chance on him.

On them.

And he was all in.

For as long as he could have her.

Epilogue

Holiday time for the Montgomerysmeant many parties, lots of drinks, and tons of food. Holiday parties, when itcame to the Montgomerys in Colorado Springs,especially when that party happened to be at Thea’s house, meant lots ofcheese. Abby didn’t understand why there was so much cheese, but she wasn’tabout to complain. She liked cheese, maybe not as much as Thea and Dimitri, butit was an inside joke, and she made sure to leave them as much cheese as theydesired.

It had been a few days since the incident with Michael, andthings were going better. So much better.

Everyone had pitched in to clean up at Teas’d,and she hadn’t actually lost as much merchandise as she had feared. Insurancewould take care of the rest, and because she paid a ton for insurance, they weregoing to help. Call it a holiday miracle, but the claim was actually goingwell.

She knocked on wood, ignoring Ryan’s stare as she did. Shedidn’t want to tempt fate, especially not during the holidays.

“What was that?”

“Just thinking.”

“I don’t know, you thinking can lead to dangerous things.”

She elbowed him in the gut, and Ryan laughed. Julia ran upto them, and he picked her up, putting her on his hip as easily as if he’d doneit a million times before. Ryan and Julia already knew each other, sointroducing them wasn’t that difficult. Plus, Julia was young enough that Abbydidn’t have to introduce him as a special friend where things couldget awkward. But they were taking it slow. Yes, they were sleeping together.Yes, they were dating. Yes, she knew she was falling in love with him. And,yes, he was falling in love with her, but they were still new. They were goingto wait until everything was just right before they took any next steps.

Because this was their relationship, their happily ever after.

Abby had a good feeling about this. She had a good feelingabout a lot of things.

She was going to hire another of Thea’s part-time workersfor her other part-time shift. She’d had a sale right after the incident at thestore and had already made her money back. Ryan and the others at MontgomeryInk Too had helped with everything, to the point where she hadn’t really had toeven lift a finger. She might get spoiled with that.

Her baby girl was smiling and grinning and playing withRyan’s beard.

Julia wasn’t going to get confused when it came to Max orRyan. Because Max was Daddy, and Ryan was Mommy’s new friend. Maybe in thefuture, it would be something more, but it was okay that they were takingthings slowly. It was okay that they had taken the first steps and trusted eachother.

Because they’d taken long enough for this to happen, theycould take as long as they wanted to get where they were going.

“Okay, time for the white elephant part of the party.”Adrienne bounced to her feet, and Mace rolled his eyes.

Then he leaned forward. “Remember, there are children in theroom. So this game better end PG or G. What’s the one that’s for their age?”

“Good to know you have this whole father thing going on.” Shep rolled his eyes and brought his daughter Livvy into the living room upside down. Soon, the wholeroom was packed. The elder Montgomerys were sittingin an armchair, cuddling as if they were newlyweds rather than having beenmarried for over thirty years. Mace and Adrienne were sitting on the floor, playingwith Daisy as she told them about her brand-new ribbons that she had gottenalready that were under the tree.

Thea and Dimitri were also cuddled on the floor, their biggolden retriever, Captain, snoring lazily by the fire. The fact that he wasn’ttrying to rummage under the Christmas tree or tear at the wrapping paper toldthem just how tired the pup was. Apparently, he had gone on a hike the daybefore, even in the snow, and needed his old-doggie sleep.

Carter and Roxie weren’t there, but then again, Carter wasstill healing, and the family acted as if everything were fine. Everythingwould be fine.

At least Abby hoped it would be.

Kaylee and Landon were in the room as well, but pointedlynot sitting next to each other. Abby had a feeling they were going to figureout exactly what was going on with the pair of them soon. But finally, all Abbyhad eyes for was Ryan and her Julia.

“I got you something,” Ryan whispered.