Page 12 of Epilogue Legacy

Because real Thatcher was beside me.

He was still sitting next to me. He wasn’t on his knee, but he didn’t have to be. He had that same box from the screen open in front of my face. The yellow diamond caught every speck of the dim light in the room.

“My sister told me that I was enough,” he said, staring at the ring. “And I hope to God I am for you, Snowflake. I can’t see my life with you not in it. I don’t want to see it.”

I didn’t want to either. That sounded horrible, devastating.

He took my hand then, my shaking, wet hand, but he didn’t seem bothered by that. Lifting his head, he smiled at me. “Aspen, will you marry me⁠—”

I kissed him silent. That was such a dumb question.

He didn’t even have to ask.

I was glad he did, though. Even though it was obvious what I’d say, he did all this. It was one of the many reasons I loved him.

“Duh,” I said, my tongue brushing his. He sucked in a breath, and I smiled. “Yes, Thatcher Reed. Forever and a million times over yes.”

“Fuck, yeah,” he said, his big hand in my locs. He bit my lip. “I love you so much.”

“I love you,” I said, basically on his lap at this point, and we both laughed. We laughed and kissed until we pulled away from each other enough for him to put that ring on my finger. The thing basically ate my hand it was so big, but it honestly didn’t matter what he got me. He could have proposed with a twist tie, and I still would have said yes. Honestly, that would have been weirdly him.

It would have been weirdly us.

Thatcher

I’d gone to many parties in my life, but this one was for Snowflake and me: our engagement party, which was fucking crazy. We were engaged.

She said yes.

The pride I had that this woman had a ring on her finger that I gave her hit me hard. Did I know she was going to say yes? I hoped she would, but something inside me would probably always worry when it came to her. I feared I wasn’t good enough for her. This was ironic because, before I met her, I was a cocky little shit. It was easy to have confidence when it came to casual lays, but when a guy really wanted something? Someone?

Snowflake was stunning today. My parents were throwing this party for us at my childhood home, and she was the belle of the ball in her white dress. The outfit was like a prelude of what was to come. She had her locs all done up and pinned, and her lips were red and completely kissable, fuckable. Her pretty brown skin glowed, and I had a feeling we’d be all over each other later. We were always all over each other, but even more since we got engaged.

“Happy to know that was what all that weirdness was about the day of Wolf’s wedding,” Dorian said, chuckling. My friends had all figured that the reason behind my questions was to get their advice without being obvious.

Dorian shook his head. “You’re such an idiot fucker, but I’m glad you finally asked her. You guys are perfect.”

“More than,” Wolf said. He and Fawn cut their honeymoon in the tropics short just to come back for the engagement party. They didn’t have to do that, but I wasn’t surprised he had. We were brothers in every way but the biological sense. All our friends were. Wolf raised his glass of bourbon. “To Thatch and Aspen.”

“To Thatch and Aspen,” Wells said, and the rest of the guys joined in the toast. I seriously loved these fuckers I called friends, and they’d all be my best men. That was just kind of how we did things. Even at Wells and Bru’s commitment ceremony with my sister us guys were up there with them. Wells grinned. “So when are the kids coming?”

“Shit, bro. One thing at a time,” I said, chuckling. But I wanted nothing more than to get Snowflake knocked up. To see her swollen and pregnant with my child…

I smiled. “I’d honestly love that. If it were up to me, we’d be pregnant yesterday.”

I knew Snowflake still had dreams for her life, though. It was possible to have kids at the same time, but it was harder. The only reason she broke from touring was to go back to school, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that.

“Yeah, kids are fun,” Bru said, staring at Bailee. She was playing in the corner with LJ and Billie’s daughter, Faith. Yep, my goddad, LJ, had a kid not long ago and our entire family had been ecstatic. He and Billie had always wanted kids.

Faith wasn’t too much older than Bailee, and she wasn’t the only surprise. As it turned out, LJ had another daughter from a previous partner, though he hadn’t known about her until she was older. Her name was Lady Belmont, and he found out about her right around the time Billie got pregnant.

Lady was over there, too, playing with the kids. Well, she was chasing after them. She was a little older than me and my friends and definitely had become a part of our crazy family over the years.

It was hard for us not to love Lady. She was driven and smart and something of a celebrity; she was an influencer and came from an esteemed family.

Noticing us all staring, Lady waved at us guys. She was really tight with Aspen and worked with her on quite a few projects in the glitz-and-glam world they both came from. Lady worked at a lifestyle magazine too, amongst other projects.

“Kids are a blast,” Wells said. He waved over at Bailee, and she waved so hard back. She was frickin’ adorable, my niece. Wells tilted a drink toward Wolf and Dorian. “What about you two fuckers? Kids anytime soon?”