“I think this is my favorite midnight,” I say.
She lifts her head, leaving a kiss on my cheek, then snuggles in closer to me.
And though it’s nothing I ever planned to do when I first showed up on Evie’s farm, I can’t help but think that there’s no place I’d rather be. That despite a somewhat tortured adolescence that made taking over the vestiges of myfather’s company look like the best way out, I found my way back.
I found home, in a place I never thought I would.
And whilehomeis nothing more than a couple logs and string lights right now, I’m confident that it’s going to be the safe space I always wished my house could be.
Because this one will have Evie in it.
EPILOGUE
EVE
MEET ME AT 2:07.
I smile at the note on the fridge.
It’s become enough of a habit in our house that we don’t have to leave little reminders for each other anymore.
But Ryder never misses.
We have a number of special days in our house, some of them marked by midnights, some of them marked by other times that are just as special.
5:17 on the day we got married, our first kiss as husband and wife.
8:42 in the morning, when Benji was born.
And 2:07 in the afternoon, when Olivia Nora was born, exactly two years ago.
Her little toddler legs kick against me as I carry her out to the garden. We created a little entertaining area off the side of our house in the exact area where Ryder and I realized we’d be spending the rest of our lives together here. As I struggle to carry the squirming birthday girl outside to where our friends and family wait, I can’t help the surrealfeeling that hits me every once in a while when I look out over what we created.
The sunflower fields that are booming with an early autumn crowd, handled with grace by Abby, who’s taken over as general manager and moved into my old bungalow. Ryder helped me come up with an agreement that gives her some ownership of the farm, so that she feels like she’s working toward something rather than justworking, and I don’t feel guilty about letting her share some of my burden.
And just down the hill from our house, separated by a copse of trees but connected by a walking trail that’s now open to the public, is the development Ryder built. A small village of bungalows that might as well blend into the landscape. The walls that face the sunflower farm are painted with Izzy’s sunflowers, a reflection of the farm beneath them.
And while they were being constructed, Ryder had the brilliant idea to bring our favorite restoration expert Luke back out to take a crack at the footbridge that once connected our land. I joked that it was because he was sick of me pushing him into the stream, and he only rolled his eyes and shook the water from his boot as we walked down to the farm.
Luke spent a good few days figuring out the best way to reconstruct the bridge, and now it beautifully connects all of our land together—and we’ve kept it well-maintained enough that Nora and Vic can easily traverse the land. They visit regularly on their long walks.
And just as I think of them, I see them, sitting on the bench outside the garden and chatting easily with Ryder. Nora holds her hand over her eyes to block the sun as Ryder adjusts the oversized umbrella to cover her. Vic holds her hand, waving at us with the other when he sees Liv.
And considering she wants nothing to do with being held, I plop her on the ground and let her run into the mass of people who are all here to celebrateher.
Gam grabs hold of her almost instantly, pulling her into her lap for a quick squeeze and a kiss from Vic before letting her run crazy around the patio again.
At the wrought iron table underneath the pergola, Benji plays checkers with Izzy, who seems to be losing by a landslide. She waves at me—noticeably with her left hand, as she’s been doing since she found the love of her life and got married—and while she’s distracted, Benji takes the opportunity to jump over two of her pieces.
He and Ryder started playing checkers when he was probably two years old, and Benji quickly turned into a menace. Ryder planned to transition him to chess when the obsession with checkers died out, but we’re starting to wonder if that will ever happen.
I keep one eye on each kid as I sink down into the seat next to Ryder, who promptly throws an arm around me and tugs me close for a kiss.
“I see you got my note,” he says, his voice low in my ear.
“Oh yeah. My presence here definitely has nothing to do with the fact that we invited a ton of people over to celebrate our child. It was the note that did it. Fourteen hours of labor this day two years ago definitely didn’t do it either. That’s so easy to forget. Surprised it even pops into my head every once in a while.”
He rolls his eyes, grabbing my hand and pressing a kiss to the back. “I see Spicy Sunflower is joining us today.”
