Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
They called out their goodbyes from behind me, but I only had eyes for the man who had stopped talking to his friend when he saw me coming.
I walked right up to him, ignoring his friend, and gave him a solid kiss on the mouth before pulling back with a grin. “Good day?”
“Shitty, but better now that you’re here,” he said. “You ready?”
I nodded before turning to his friend. “Hey, Koen.”
He gave me a small smile. “Hi, Birdee.”
“How are the kiddos?”
Koen had two kids, both boys. They were two and four and looked like the exact replicas of their father.
I wasn’t sure of their story, but I knew that it was an intense one.
One day, I hoped that I learned it. But until then, I’d let my imagination run wild.
“They’re good, Purdy.”
I laughed at his kiddos’ nickname for me. They’d heard it one time from Reyelle, and it’d stuck.
“You ready to go?” Creed asked after Koen said his goodbyes.
“Yep.” I handed him the cream cheese pastry. “I snatched you one before they ran out.”
He groaned. “I’m starving.”
He devoured it within two bites, and I threw the box into his floorboard as he navigated our way home.
Home.
His home—my old home—was now our home.
Creed had offered to sell it, but I hadn’t taken him up on the offer.
I liked the location, the size, and the mountain views.
One day, I hoped we had a ton of kids who would grow up with this same view.
“Got a call from the prison today.”
My brows rose. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.” He took the final turn to our house. “Your dad. He called me because he wants to see you.”
I snorted. “No.”
“That’s what I said.” Creed winked. “He asked why not, and I gave him the obvious reasons. He said he’d try again in six months.”
“The answer will be the same in six months,” I said.
“That’s what I said, too.” He grinned wickedly. “I asked him for your hand in marriage.”
I burst out laughing in his front seat. “And what did he say?”
“He told me he’d rather see me dead than married to you.”
I batted my eyes at Creed before saying, “We could always make that happen.”
He caught my hand in his as he pulled to a stop in the front of the garage.
My breath caught when he produced a small velvet box from his door and flicked it open.
“I told him it didn’t matter what he said. That I would be marrying you, and taking away his shitty name, by the end of the year.”
I stared at the princess-cut diamond ring and almost burst out crying.
“You’re not kidding.”
“Never kidding about this. About you. About us.” He pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it onto my finger.
“You forgot to ask,” I pointed out.
“Asking gives the impression that this is a choice,” he pointed out. “And this is most certainly not a choice.”
And for some reason, I was totally and completely okay with that.
“The answer is yes, anyway.” I pulled my hand away to examine the ring closer. “I love you, Justin.”
His eyes went soft as he bent over the console and placed a wet kiss onto my lips. “I love you, too, Purdy Birdee.”
I licked his face from chin to nose, and he pulled back with a chuckle.
“Let’s get inside. I’m starving…and not just for food.”
“The door won’t open itself, Creed.”
He got out and rounded the hood of his truck, opened my door, then tossed me over his shoulder as he carried me into the house…and straight to the bedroom.
Epilogue
Today, I don’t feel like doing anything. Except my wife. I’d do her.
—Creed’s secret thoughts
Creed
Four years later
“What’s that one?” my two—almost three—year-old son asked.
“That’s a mule deer,” I said. “They’re all mule deer.”
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yes.” I tickled him. “Every last one of them is a mule deer.”
“That one is a moose!”
I looked at the even larger mule deer. “That’s still a mule deer.”
“What about that one?” my wife asked as she pointed to a spot on the horizon.
“That one is an elk.” I moved the spotting scope so that our son could see. “Look at those tall horns.”
“Ohhhh,” Tyr cried. “Moose!”
I just shook my head and stood up, letting our son get his animal fix.
I’d never ever thought I’d like Montana as much as I do now. But seeing Montana through my son’s fresh eyes, made me fall in love with this place even more.
Like today, we were on a hike on a trail that led off the back of our place, up a mountain to the most beautiful view in the area. And my son saw something new that I’d never seen, despite being on this trail hundreds of time. Both with work and on my own or with Birdee.
“What about that one?” Tyr asked.
I looked where he was pointing and said, “That’s a rock.”
“No way!”
Tyr’s two favorite words.