“Damn,” John says, shaking his head. “That’s some real romance shit right there.”
It’s enough to break the tension in the room, and everyone laughs.
Stepping forward, I hold out my hand to Nick and look him in the eyes. “I’m Kellan. It’s nice to meet you.”
Nick looks over my shoulder at Nova before he takes my hand. “I suppose if she likes you, you’re good people. It’s nice to meet you, Kellan.”
“Can we go back to the party now?” Aurora asks. “There are four types of cake I still haven’t tried.”
“If Nova’s brothers will join us,” I say, going over to my bride and pulling her into my side.
“Really?” Nova says and scrunches her nose as she pretends to think it over. “They haven’t had their monthly bath.”
“It’s weekly now, thank you very much,” Sam tells her.
“I think we can make an exception,” I tease. “Come on, I hear there’s a nacho cheese fountain.”
“A nacho cheese fountain?” Nick blinks at me. “Jesus, Kellan, why didn’t you say that first? Hell, I’d marry you for one of those.”
Edith and Aurora walk out of the library with the guys hot on their heels. When they’re gone, I lift Nova in my arms and kiss her like it’s the first time.
“I love you,” I say when I finally pull back.
“I love you, too,” she says before she kisses me again.
“How long do you think we have before they come looking for us?” I ask, eyeing the door.
“Maybe about ten minutes?"
“Oh, that’s plenty of time,” I tell her as I press her back against the door and drop to my knees. “I want to start the year with the taste of your pussy on my tongue.”
“Happy New Year to me,” Nova moans as I pull her panties to the side and lick between her pussy lips.
Epilogue
NOVA
Five years later…
There really is no place like home. It wasn’t long after Kellan and I got married that he bought a home for us in Cheerful. It was a surprise wedding gift from him after we spent a lot of time here planning the wedding. The man spoils the hell out of me. He can be bossy, but he’s a marshmallow in the center.
Since I’m the only girl among my brothers, I knew my mom wouldn’t let me get married without all the bells and whistles. The town wanted in on it too. Plus, my mom and Aurora were having a blast planning it. Both she and Kellan have easily slipped into being a part of my family, and now it’s as much theirs as it is mine. Cheerful has even taken them in as one of their own, and it’s one of our favorite places on earth.
Over the past five years, we’ve gone back and forth between homes. But after spending holidays and weekends in Cheerful, this year we are moving to Cheerful permanently after Aurora’s semester ends at school.
I didn’t think moving back to my hometown would be an option for a long time, and I was good with going back and forth. If that’s what our family needed, that's what we’d do. It was Aurora who tipped the scale of us making this decision as a family.
One of the primary reasons I never pushed the idea was for her sake. After everything she’s been through, I didn’t want to uproot her life again. She’s in high school now, but she misses Cheerful and the family we have there. Entering the high school in Cheerful won’t be a big shock for her. Not when she already knows everyone.
“We’ve got a problem,” Kellan says as he comes up behind me.
I’m almost finished getting ready for the New Year’s Eve party, and when I see his reflection in the mirror, I see he’s got our youngest son cradled in his arms. Kellan got him ready and dressed him in an adorable bear onesie.
“What’s wrong?”
I check the time and see that my parents will be here any second to take our two boys for the night. They are also dropping Aurora off at a friend's house. I’m excited for a night without kids before my husband tries to get me pregnant again.
"There’s a boy." The way he says it has me biting back a laugh. You’d think the world might be ending.
