Epilogue One

“You really think this is a good idea?” Sofia asks as I walk out of the bathroom. Running my hands through my wet hair, I look over to her standing in front of the full-length mirror. She is wearing blue shorts and a white tank top. Her skin looks like the sun just kissed it and I know the tan is from spending the last four days riding her horse.

“Absolutely not.” I shake my head. “There is not one thing I think is good about my family, and by my family I mean the whole circus, meeting your family.” I walk toward her as I bend down and kiss her lips. “When did you think I thought this was a good idea?” I then kiss her bare shoulder as she just looks at me in the mirror. “I think I even shook my head while you were talking about this at Christmastime.” From the time we had the showdown with her family, we’ve never been apart, well, except for when I’ve been on the road.

“I was drunk,” she huffs at me, “and nervous about meeting everyone. How was I supposed to know that Matthew senior would have called my grandfather? They were talking about the huge family vacation. Do you think it dawned on me that he would get so excited about our family reunion, he would think it was a good idea to be included?” I can’t help but laugh at her as she glares at me.

“I told you those two together was not a good idea, and then you throw in my uncle Max and it’s a recipe for disaster.” I put my hands on her hips, standing behind her. “You had to have known. Fuck, everyone now owns a horse. I can’t even picture them riding a horse. My father sent me a horse’s picture the other day, asking me if it was a good breed. It’s like Autotrader but for horses.”

“Hey,” he replies, looking around, “is the coast clear?”

“She’s in the bedroom.” My voice is low as I look to make sure she isn’t nearby. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is set up,” he confirms and then smiles over my shoulder. “Hi,” he says, and I look over to see Sofia walking into the room. She comes over and gives my dad a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“You ready?” he asks, and she nods her head.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” she grumbles as she grabs her phone and puts it in her pocket. We walk out into the glorious sunny day, her hand slipping into mine. “This is going to be so much fun,” she says sarcastically and even my father laughs.

“Where is Zoe?” Sofia asks.

“She was with your mother and aunts this morning. They were showing the girls how to bake something, but then I think I heard there was some sweet tea involved.” He shrugs. “So no one eat those cookies.”

“It’s not manly enough.” My father looks back at her. “When your father got on the horse by grabbing onto its mane, well, Matthew tried and almost kicked himself in the face. Max fell on his ass. It took over ten minutes to finally get on the horse.”

“We’re barebacking,” Max states, and I cringe.

“Never say that again.” I shake my head.

“You know, your balls are going to be in your throat.” My father leans over me to tell them.

“We are fine,” Matthew says, wincing, “go away.”

“It’s the other way around,” my father jokes, slapping my shoulder, “first you kick him in the balls and then he throws up.”

“I’m fine,” I lie to her. I’m not fine. I’m the opposite of fine. I feel like I’m going to throw up, and I am not sure how much longer I can hold off without either vomiting or spilling the secret.

“We need to get you some smelling salts,” my father mumbles to me as he walks ahead of me toward her grandparents’ house. I’ve been here before on a Sunday, and if I thought my family Sunday dinners were loud and crazy, I have to give it to Sofia’s family. Everyone is here, every single time. Kids run around in the distance, the older kids riding horses and racing. The adults sit around, scattered throughout the big backyard at the round wooden tables. Her grandparents sit at one, just looking out at everything they’ve got.

“Go say hello to Charlotte and Billy.” My father nudges me toward the table where Billy and Charlotte sit, but this time they are with my grandparents.

“There they are,” my grandfather Cooper says, getting up and walking over to us. He opens his arms for me, and I give him a hug. “You get more beautiful every time,” he declares, looking over at Sofia and hugging her as well.

“Takes after my wife,” Billy states, getting up followed by Charlotte and my grandmother.

“We were sitting down, explaining the family tree to them,” she says. “It’s a lot of people.”

“Have fun,” our grandparents say at the same time and then laugh.

“What’s going on with the aunts?” I ask over my shoulder.

“They got into the special sweet tea that Billy saves for the men,” Charlotte explains.

“You should have been here twenty minutes ago. They were all rolling on the lawn,” my grandmother says, laughing.

“Should we say hello to everyone?” Sofia asks. We look over and see my cousins with my aunts, and they are taking sips of a glass and passing it around. “I say no.”

“You are obsessed with that creek,” she remarks, and I’m not really obsessed with it.

“I’m obsessed with the way your eyes light up when you are near it,” I fill her in as we walk past the barn, “and the way you smile so contently that you let out a little sigh.” She smiles over at me.

“What in the world?” Sofia says as she stops walking. I look up and see there are trees that have twinkle lights wrapped around them. “What is this?” She moves her feet slowly as she makes it to the clearing and sees a lot of twinkle lights are all over the trees.

“What is going on?” She takes a step back.

“Matthew.” She says my name between tears and a beaming smile.

“Marry me.” I close my eyes. “After all the ways I practiced asking you this, the only two words I can remember are those two.” I shake my head. “When I was getting ready to propose to you, I went to my father and told him. He came with me to ask your father for your hand in marriage.”

“Oh my,” she says, her laughter filling the forest.

“Yeah, well, he said no.” I shake my head, thinking of when he snapped out no, but then Hazel came into the room, and he changed his mind. “Luckily for him, I was going to do it no matter what he said.” I take out the black box from my pocket. “When it was time to pick your ring, well, everyone showed up. There was some back-and-forth and it was a nightmare, but all I wanted was to tell you when I got home. All I wanted to do was slip it on your hand and ask you to be mine forever. All I ever want is for you to be mine.” I smile up at her. “Sofia, you have made my dreams come true by giving me another chance. You have shown me what true love really means. You have shown me what it feels like to be loved unconditionally. I want to have babies with you. I want to ride horses with you. I want to hold your hand when you are happy and raise you up when you are sad. I want it all, Sofia, and I want it with no one but you.” I open the box and she gasps. “So what do you say, Sofia? Will you marry me and make me the happiest man in the world?”

“The ring!” she yells, and I hear voices now.

“He had one job,” I hear Reed say from the forest.

“She charged him.” I hear my father now. “Was he supposed to let her fall?” I shake my head and look over at the box and the ring that is right next to it.

“He found it, you see,” my father states.

“This was supposed to be just the two of us,” I tell her, and all she does is smile at me.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” she replies, holding my face and kissing my lips.

“Should we go and congratulate them now?” I hear my uncle Max say.

“She didn’t say yes yet,” Casey growls. “She can still say no.”

“She isn’t going to say no,” my uncle Matthew pffts out. “She’s kissing him.”

“I’m not saying no!” Sofia now yells over her shoulder. “I will never, ever say no.”

“Is that a fact?” I ask, and I just smirk. “So if I said, let’s get married today?”

“He did not,” Reed groans. “Did he just—”

“Matthew,” she says, and I hold up my hand.

“What if I said I took care of everything and all you have to do is choose the dress?” I look at her, seeing the shock in her eyes.

“How—how did you do all this?” she asks, and I hear laughing.

“How do you think he did?” She looks over my shoulder and there they are, the women who have made all this happen: Shelby, Clarabella, Presley, and Addison.

“So what do you say?” I ask again. “Want to get married?”

“Can I come in?” a male voice says as he sticks his head in. “I come with gifts,” he says, and I stand and look at Stefano, who is Matthew’s cousin.

“Momma, Momma,” she says, looking up at her, “I get to wear a princess dress.” She turns around in a circle on one foot stumbling while she looks at me and it’s then my mouth hits the floor.

“Oh my God,” Stefano says, putting his hand to his mouth.

“Stefano.” I hear someone call him, and turning I see a woman coming into the room. “Baby, where did you go?” she says, slipping her hand through his. “Who do we have here?”