Aw, I love Cherry and Jed so very much! If you’re interested in a few more chapters for the “series epilogue,” keep reading!

  Series Epilogue

  1

  “Come on baby,” Clarissa said as she opened the door. Spring sunshine and a blast of warm air flowed into the cabin. “Let’s go see Daddy.”

  Bronson perked up at that, as the boy loved his father.

  Rissa did too, and she scooped her seven-month-old into her arms and took him outside to the porch. On the sidewalk in front of the cabin, she’d packed a red wagon with blankets to help Bronson sit up and stay inside, and she placed him in the center of them. “You’ve got your toys there.” She handed him a plastic ring of colorful beads that went straight into his mouth.

  With him teething right now, almost everything did.

  She thought about her sister as she made the walk from her house to the shoppe, where Spencer should be closing out the day. He worked a lot around the farm, and since he was once going to be her replacement at the ice cream shoppe which also sold spreadable cheeses, flavored milks, and other assorted dairy products, he’d been helping out there a lot since Bronson had been born.

  You’ll need to be in the kitchen tomorrow, Rissa told herself. And she would. Cherry’s wedding was only one more week away, and they still hadn’t finalized the last ice cream flavor. She’d wanted something fruity, but all of the concoctions Rissa had come up with hadn’t satisfied her.

  She hadn’t done much with peaches yet, and Rissa felt sure that tomorrow’s peach pie ice cream recipe would win over her sister. And Jed. He’d been a hard nut to crack too, and Rissa had made four different chocolate bases before he’d declared one “perfect.” She suspected that he’d done that on purpose just to get more free ice cream, but the thought only made her smile.

  Jed was perfect for Cherry, and Rissa liked being around the two of them, even when they argued. Their passion for life, for each other, and for the farm they were building together was palpable, and it reminded Rissa that life was good. Life was meant to be lived loudly. Life could be fun, and sad, and good, and bad all at the same time.

  The shoppe came into view, and a moment later, Spence stepped outside. He turned back to lock the door, and Rissa smiled though she and Bronson lingered too far away for her to call out to him. “Look, buddy,” she said to their son. “There’s Daddy.”

  Bronson babbled and tossed his ring, the same as he usually did. Spence looked her way, and Rissa waved her free hand. Her husband’s smile lit up the landscape, though the sun still shone in the sky. It was on its way down, and by the time they returned to their cabin, it would be fully dark. Rissa had learned that whenever they made the quick drive to Hope Eternal Ranch, they’d be there for a while.

  She didn’t mind, because she liked all of Spencer’s friends over there. More importantly, he needed them, and Rissa never wanted to take something from him that fed his soul.

  He came toward her, his smile huge too, and when she could, she called, “All done?”

  “Yep.” He broke into a jog and reached them quickly. “Good sales today too. Almost everything is gone.”

  “Leading into summer barbecues,” she said, enjoying the slow advance of his hand along her waist. Spencer never rushed anything, and Rissa had learned the value of that from him. Their marriage over the past few years hadn’t been perfect, but it had been perfect for her. She’d learned a lot about herself, about him, and about sacrifice, compromise, and love too.

  She smiled up at him, and he lowered his head to kiss her. “How was your day?” he murmured just before touching his lips to hers. She kissed him slowly, her hands sliding along his waist too. His cowboy hat fell off, but he didn’t make a move to retrieve it. Behind them in the wagon, Bronson continued to talk to himself in his baby language. He’d only been saying a few words for a couple of months now, mostly “da-da-da” and “ba-ba-ba.” He did love his father, and he loved to eat. Anything else he was unhappy about, he just cried.

  Spence pulled away, the moment between them still and glorious. “Good,” Rissa said as she opened her eyes. “I perfected the peach pie ice cream recipe, and I’m going to come try it after church tomorrow.”

  He bent to pick up his hat. “Sounds fun.”

  “You can nap with Bronson and then come try it?” She lifted her eyebrows as a punctuation mark to her suggestion, and Spence nodded as he took the handle to the wagon. They walked toward the parking lot, where he’d parked his truck.

  “We don’t have to bring anything?” she asked.

  “Oh, shoot.” Spencer passed the handle to her and jogged toward the shoppe. “I said I’d bring the cheese for the hamburgers.”

  She knew that, of course. That was why she’d asked. She loaded the baby into his car seat while Spence ran back inside the shoppe to get the promised cheese. He came out with a huge loaf of sliced cheese, got behind the wheel, and with everyone buckled and ready, started the drive to Hope Eternal Ranch.

  They pulled up to the main house there, only to be greeted by several canines. “Ted’s here,” Spencer said, his smile already slipping into place. He sometimes came over to Hope Eternal to work out with his friends, and when he did, Rissa knew he had something heavy weighing on his mind. Sometimes he wanted to work through some things before he talked to her about it, and she’d learned not to get too worked up over it.

  He still confided in her. He still loved her. But the men here had a special relationship with him, and she grinned too as the tall, burly, bushy, black-haired form of Ted Burrows came to the top of the porch steps. Spence launched himself out of the truck, and Ted came jogging down the steps.

  The two of them collided about the middle of the lawn, and tears pressed into Rissa’s eyes. Having good people in Spence’s life meant a great deal to her. She had all of her siblings, their spouses, and her parents. It was okay for Spence to have his cowboys here at this ranch.

  By the time she got Bronson out of the backseat, Ted had clapped one of his huge hands on Spencer’s shoulder, both of them beaming from ear to ear. “Look at your baby,” Ted drawled. He reached for Bronson, and the boy went right to him. “He’s huge.”

  “Seven months,” Spencer said, obvious pride in his voice. “Where’s your crew?”

  “Oh, Emma’s still got cookies in the oven back at our place,” Ted said, smiling down at Bronson now. He might be one of the biggest men Rissa had ever met, and he had a heart to match. He and Emma had four children now, plus all the dogs, as well as a teacup piglet that sometimes caused more trouble than Rissa would personally put up with. “Look at you, baby,” he cooed at Bronson, who reached up to touch his beard.

  “It’s too hot out here,” another cowboy drawled, and Spencer turned that way.

  “Nate,” he said, and he left Rissa with Ted.

  “Evenin’, ma’am,” Ted said, nodding at her.

  “You’re asking for trouble.” Rissa planted her hands on her hips. Ted laughed and she stepped into his arms for a hug. She kissed both of his cheeks and added, “He likes you, so you can keep him all night if you’d like.”

  “I’ll keep him as long as I can,” Ted promised, the two of them walking toward the house now. “Emma has this idea in her head that we need another baby, so I doubt I’ll get him for the whole night.”

  “You don’t want another baby?”

  “I’d be fine,” Ted said. “But Susie’s only nine months old; barely older than yours. Do you want another baby right now?” He tossed her a look that told her of his exhaustion. “One baby is one thing,” he said. “Two and you’re outnumbered. This third one? I don’t even know if I’m coming or going.” He chuckled and went up the steps, Rissa in his wake.

  Nate pounded Spence on the back, and he stepped away to hug Rissa too. He was the glue that held this ranch together, at least according to Spencer. Rissa thought his auburn-haired wife was the true stickiness, and the moment they all went inside, Ginger Mulbury looked their way.

  She put down the rubber spatula she’d been using, said something to Jess, another cowboy’s wife, and came toward Spence, Rissa, and Bronson. “I want the baby,” she said from several paces away.

  “She said I could have him all night,” Ted said, swinging Bronson over his other hip and further from Ginger.

  She gave him a smile that said, Nice try, cowboy, and hugged Spencer and then Rissa. “How are you?” she murmured. “You look rested for having a seven-month-old.” How she could remember the age of children that weren’t hers, Rissa didn’t know. Ginger was always so even, and so calm, and Rissa wondered how her red-headed genes hadn’t impacted her the way the ones in the Cooper family had obviously infected every one of her siblings—and herself.

  “Good.” Rissa sank into Ginger’s arms, because hugging her was like hugging Mama. She sometimes came to Hope Eternal for iced tea in the afternoons, but she hadn’t since Bronson had been born. “We need to get together more often.”

  “Now that it’s summer, we will,” Ginger promised. She stepped back and smiled warmly at Rissa. “In fact, we’ll be at Cherry’s wedding next weekend.”

  “I mean for desserts and teas,” Rissa said. “Or lunch.” She hadn’t put on a luncheon in such a long time. “I bet Lee would let me have the farmhouse, and we can have a huge luncheon for anyone who can come.” She smiled, the plans already forming in her mind.

  “Tell me when, and I’ll be there.”

  “Me too,” Jill said as she came inside behind Rissa and Spence. She held the hand of a little girl who had to be turning six soon. “Say hi, Savvy.”

  “Hello,” the girl said, her blonde hair just about the cutest thing Rissa had seen in a while. No one in her family would have much blonde, as they all had dark hair and eyes like the Coopers, with the exception of Gretchen. Their one hope, and whose first baby would be here in only seven more weeks. Rissa could hardly wait to meet her new nephew.

  “Howdy,” Spence said, reaching for the girl’s hand. “Your daddy says you have a new horse to show me.”

  Savannah’s face lit up, and she looked from her mom to Spencer as she moved toward him. “Can I, Mama?”

  “Yes,” Jill said with a smile. The girl took Spencer back out the front door, and Rissa realized she had a complete second family over here to interact with. She hugged Jill hello, and they joined everyone in the kitchen. Ginger put a big bowl of pasta salad in the fridge, and Rissa looked around at the chaos and mess that remained.

  “I’m glad I don’t live here,” Ginger said with a laugh. “Let’s go see how things are going outside. I think they needed chairs and shades set up.”

  “Dallas and Luke are doing the shades now,” Nate said, putting his arm around his wife. They had a fourteen-year-old boy named Connor who’d been Nate’s brother’s son. He’d been with Nate since the death of his father, and they’d added two more kids to their family over the years. Ward, named after Nate’s brother was seven, and MaryJane was four. Ginger was currently pregnant and due about the same time as Gretchen, and Rissa liked how spaced-out their family was. She didn’t want to have baby after baby the way Emma seemed to, and she wasn’t surprised the brunette wanted another baby though Susie was only nine months old.

  “Cookies,” Emma said in that moment, and Rissa turned to go help her. Emma was a phenomenal cook, and the idea that she should plan the luncheon with Emma struck Rissa so strongly that she couldn’t keep it to herself.

  “These look amazing,” she said of the large cookies on the tray she took from Emma.

  “Rissa,” she said with a pleasant edge in her voice. “You’re here.” They both set down their trays of cookies, where cowboy hands reached for them instantly, and then Rissa drew Emma into a hug.

  “I want to do a summer luncheon,” she said. “Will you help me plan it?”

  Emma pulled back, her dark eyes wide. “A summer luncheon.”

  “Yes,” Rissa said. “My family does the huge Fourth of July thing—which y’all are invited to, remember?” She looked around the kitchen, where at least one member of the five families she and Spencer spent so much time with, stood, snacked, or smiled. They nodded, and satisfied that they’d come to Sweet Water Falls Farm for the holiday, she turned back to Emma.

  “But I want to do a luncheon. A ladies luncheon at the farm. Our farmhands will probably have to be invited. My siblings and their families. But they can eat the leftovers.”

  “I just told Hannah that I wanted to do a luncheon,” Emma said, turning as her daughter came up behind her. “And Missy needs to do a big project for her culinary class.” She put her arm around her daughter’s shoulders, and Rissa marveled at how quickly children could grow up.

  “You’re doing a culinary class?” she asked, so many of her cells lighting up.

  “Rissa went to culinary school,” Emma said.

  Missy brightened, and while she’d always been kind, she’d also been a teenager, and that meant she couldn’t like what adults did. “You did?”

  “Yep,” Rissa said. “What’s your big project?”

  “I’m doing an online extension class,” she said. “From SATC? I have to do a big meal before the end of August.”

  Rissa looked at Emma, who gazed back at her. “This will be perfect then. The three of us will plan it, and you can cook most of it. Whatever you have to do to earn the credit.”

  “Really?” Missy lunged at Rissa and hugged her. “That would be perfect, Miss Rissa. Thank you.”

  They giggled together, and as Rissa pulled back, she asked, “Who do you have for the class at SATC? My sister was a counselor there for a long time, you know.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Missy said. “Chance Laramal? He’s French.”

  “Ooh, French,” Rissa said, and Missy smiled. They both picked up cookies, and she noticed Emma edging over to her husband, where she promptly took Bronson from him. Rissa smiled to herself, gave Ted a shoulder-shrug, and bit into her dark chocolate cookie.

  Pure happiness flowed through her, because Emma was a master baker, and the cookie was crisp on the edges, soft in the middle, and contained all the chocolate one required for the perfect dessert.

  The back door opened again, and someone called, “All right, chairs and shades are up. Let’s move the party outside.”

  She went with the crowd, taking the tray of cookies with her. Everyone brought something with them, and the food got set up on a couple of long tables in the shade provided by a row of pine trees. Several feet away, multiple shades provided more areas of respite from the sun, and they surrounded the fire pit, where Slate and Dallas now worked to get the flames dancing.

  Spencer’s laughter floated on the air, and Rissa went around the cabin where Ginger and Nate lived to find her husband standing in the middle of the road as Savannah paraded her horse away from him.

  “Wow,” Rissa said, noting the beauty of the horse. “What a pretty gray mare.”

  “She’s gonna be something big one day,” Spencer said, taking Rissa’s hand in his. He lifted it to his lips and kissed her. “I love you. Thanks for coming here with me.”

  “I love it here,” she said truthfully. Their eyes met, and Spence leaned down and kissed her again.

  “I did too,” he said. “Once. It’s so nice to come back and feel like I still belong.”

  She leaned into his side as Savannah swung her horse around. She really was a great handler. “Rodeo?” Rissa asked.

  “Something,” Spencer said. “It’s like she speaks their language.”

  “Slate’s calm,” Rissa said, referencing the child’s father.

  “So you’re saying there’s some chance our kids won’t go from zero to sixty in one second,” Spencer joked.

  Rissa nudged him with her hip. “You’ve already mellowed me, cowboy.” Bronson wasn’t nearly as spicy as Trav’s daughter, Christie. Hoo boy, he and Shay had their work cut out for them with her.

  “Time to put Goldie away,” Jill called, and Savannah started to argue with her. “They’ve got the fire going, and now’s the best time for marshmallows.”

  “I can have dessert first?” Savannah turned her horse around and urged him into a trot. Jill rolled her eyes, gave Rissa a look, and went back toward the fire pit.

  “Can I?” Spencer whispered, and Rissa giggled with him.

  “Yes,” she said. “I’ve already eaten a cookie, so we can definitely have dessert first.”

  “You know what’s great on Emma’s cookies?” They started back around the cabin. “Roasted marshmallows.” He grinned at her, and Rissa once again felt the heavens open up and angels singing from above.

  So much love existed on this ranch, which was a lot like hers. The people here showed it in different ways than her brothers did at Sweet Water Falls Farm. But she belonged here, and she belonged there, and she belonged with Spencer Rust.

  “I love you,” she said as they reached the corner of the cabin and the festivities came into view. Spencer looked at her, and Rissa gave him a smile. “Just in case you didn’t know.”

  “I know,” he said. “I’ve always known.” He smiled at her, and that soft, sexiness she’d always been attracted to sparked inside her. She tipped up to kiss him, and she only stopped when a baby started laughing.

  She sucked in a breath and immediately found Bronson with Connor and Missy. “He’s laughing,” she said. Her baby had smiled, of course. But the gut laughing coming from him while the teens laughed with him? She’d never heard that before.

  She and Spence went over to their child, both of them laughing as Connor held up a piece of lettuce, “hiding” behind it. Bronson thought that was the funniest thing ever, and when Connor burst out from behind it and said, “Boo!” Bronson burst into another round of giggles.

  Rissa and Spence did too, and she was once again reminded of how good and simple life could be.

  2