EPILOGUE
BRIAR, ONE MONTH LATER
It’s rainingas I step out of the car, the drops plopping onto my head, the dirt below.
Lifting my face up to the sky, knowing it’s probably messing up my makeup and not caring, I laugh.
Because…it’s raining.
An hour ago there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky, not even the barest hint of a storm in the forecast.
And now it’s raining.
“Raindrop,” I hear, an arm wrapping around my waist, warm lips kissing off the droplets.
Opening my eyes, I grin at Brooks.
“It’s raining.”
His lips twitch. “Yeah, it is.”
I swipe away a drop of rain that’s clinging to his eyebrow. “You look devastatingly handsome in that suit.”
He grins and it’s laced with a wickedness that makes me want to take his hand and drag him into the back of the car that drove me here.
Too bad the windows aren’t tinted.
And that our friends are nearby, gathered in the clearing, hastily opening umbrellas that River is passing out.
River.
My heart squeezes.
She’s staying with us, having shown up at the house the morning after everything went down…and acting decidedly mum about anything related to Thorn since.
We’ve done a lot of baking over the last few weeks.
And online classes, trying to figure out our future.
And wedding planning.
And putting together the building blocks for a horse rescue.
But not much talking about why Thorn keeps showing up at the house…and why River keeps refusing to see him.
“I have a surprise for you,” Brooks murmurs.
“Is it another car with tinted windows so I can show you how much I love you in that suit?”
His mouth quirks and he smooths back my hair in that gentle way of his. “Damn. That really was a missed opportunity to get you naked, wasn’t it?”
Laughter in my chest and bubbling up into the air around us.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful.”
I wave my hand. “Eh, I had help.”
“It’s not the makeup or hair, and it’s not even the dress. Though”—he settles a hand on my waist, draws me closer—“I fuckinglovethe dress, baby.”
