Epilogue
Two years, eight months later
Saturday, August 12, 2023
“Okay, Princess P,” Keegan called out whenhe stepped into the living room. “It’s time for lunch.”
He heard sweet girl-giggles and then Kate’s head poked out of the blanket fort.
“Which one?” she asked. “There aretwoPrincess Ps in this castle.”
Keegan grinned. “Both of ’em.”
More giggling.
“You think you can wrangle them, Kate?” Keegan asked when he perched on the arm of the couch, waiting patiently.
“Can anyone?” she countered then ducked back inside.
“All right, ladies,” he said to the two-year-old twins who were still hiding in the elaborate blanket fort they’d convinced him to build.
Okay, fine. Maybe they hadn’t really convinced him. He’d come up with the idea all on his own. It was something he did often when Bristol and Kaden left him alone with the girls. Since Bristol wasn’t all that fond of him stealing the blankets and pillows, not to mention the barstools, for his works of art, he had to wait until they were alone, which was generally on Saturday mornings when Bristol and Kaden ventured out to the grocery store.
“Hey, Kate,” he called out.
Once again, she poked her head out.
Keegan relied on Kate, just a few months shy of turning nine, to be the leader of the rambunctious duo who had learned early on that they could run roughshod over him. Well, he let them believe they could because, come on, they were just the cutest kids on the planet.
“Think you could do me a favor?”
One little head poked out beside Kate’s, then another identical one on the other side.
“Sure.”
“I’m gonna need to feed the chickens in—”
“Chickie!” Paisley squealed as she launched herself out of the fort, getting to her feet and darting over to him.
Payton wasn’t far behind her, both girls banging a little fist on his knee while staring up at him with wide, hopeful eyes that were the same blue gray as Keegan’s and Kaden’s.
“What? You wanna feed the chickens?” he asked.
They both nodded enthusiastically.
Kate crawled out of the fort, got to her feet, and smiled. She knew how this worked because she’d been around the ranch plenty as of late. She often came over to help with the twins, and now that Bristol was nearing her fourth month of this pregnancy—only one healthy boy this time, according to the doctor—Kate continued to offer to lend a hand.
Keegan couldn’t deny they needed as much help as they could get. Luckily, they had it. His parents were always offering to help out, as was Eve, who had taken to her nieces more so than anyone had expected. And the rest of the Walker clan was always around to pitch in, paying them back for all the times Keegan and Bristol had volunteered to babysit over the years.
“Okay, so here’s the deal,” he told the girls in a conspiratorial whisper. “We have to eat all our lunch before we can feed the chickens. You think you can do that?”
More head nodding.
“But you know what we gotta dobeforewe eat?”
“Clean,” Payton announced, pointing at the fort, which was quite possibly his most impressive to date.
Keegan kinda didn’t want to take it down before Kaden and Bristol returned to see it for themselves.
