Epilogue

Nine months later, Gus was standing next to Marshall again on the beach end of Hitchkin’s jetty. The midafternoon sun was warm on her shoulders, the drowse of summer was in the air, and a celebrant beamed at them from the beach. Marshall had proposed to her—properly—on Christmas Eve and had been chomping at the bit to put a ring on her finger ever since, especially when she’d told him they were going to be three.

A host of friends and family stood behind the celebrant, including her parents and Jeremy. There was also several Bunnyguards who had brought their rabbits for an extra special photo shoot Ray had planned. Rounding out the guests were the four families who were staying on the island, which had been open for business for two months now.

Gus wore a strappy slip of a dress in a gorgeous champagne color that clung to her ever-growing baby bump. There were flowers in her hair, a diamond on her finger, and Bad Bunny stamped across the ass of her white cotton underwear. Marshall wore a suit.

She’d been gunning for his tool belt and a hard hat, but after extracting assurances from him that he would wear them to bed on their wedding night, she’d agreed to the suit. Which hadn’t been such a terrible compromise, given how much it reminded her of that day in court and how blue-collar-dude-trying-to-fake-it-in-a-suit hot he’d looked.

Gus had entered the horny stage of her pregnancy, and she wanted to jump him so bad right now she was amazed she wasn’t trying to hump his leg.

“Marshall and Augusta,” the celebrant said with a beatific smile, “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may—”

Gus did not wait for him to finish—for permission to kiss her husband—she threw herself into Marshall’s arms and pressed her mouth to his, hot and hard and greedy. Cheers and whistles erupted around them, but she barely heard any of it as Marshall kissed her back, hotter and harder and greedier.

He was intoxicating. It had been twelve hours since they’d made love and it felt like a century.

A voice being cleared very loudly followed by a, “Would you two like to be left alone?” finally broke into the R-rated display of passion.

Gus pulled away, blinking and slightly dazed, to find Jeremy grinning at them amid a cloud of bubbles and a crowd wanting to wish them well.

“Later,” Marshall said all low and gravelly, his indigo eyes almost black. They were staying in his grandfather’s cabin, which Marshall had decided to restore in memory of his mother—not destroy—and later couldn’t come soon enough.

They greeted their guests, accepting their hugs and kisses and posing for pictures snapped on smart phones as everyone milled around, chatting. The kids from the families staying on the island ran around the beach, whooping and chasing each other and playing in the sand, their laughter forming the kind of backdrop Gus knew Marshall had been hoping for when he and Jeremy had first thought up the idea.

“Okay, tag, you’re it.” Ray handed Thumper over to Marshall. “He’s like a brick after a while.”

Marshall made soothing noises as he stroked the bunny that was keeping a sharp eye on proceedings. He was a bit of an expert now on rabbit handling, which only made Gus hotter. Petting bunnies really pushed her buttons.

“Shall we get that picture now?” she suggested.

Ray beamed. “Yes,” and he clapped his hands and called, “Bunnyguards, photo please.”

Gus smiled as the Bunnyguards assembled with their rabbits. The bunnies, including Thumper, were all wearing ribbons around their necks and looked adorable. Now they just had to get everyone and their animals on the end of the jetty and snap the picture with the bride and groom.

“I’ll just grab my two,” Ray said.

Veronica and Trevor had been too busy napping to enjoy the ceremony, so Ray had popped them back in their individual transport cages not far away and volunteered to hold Thumper for Marshall.

But before he could do that, Jeremy approached. “Ummm, Ray?” His brow furrowed. “Should the doors be open on those cages?”

Gus blinked and followed the path of Jeremy’s finger—so did everyone else. Two transport cages sat with their doors open and their cargo nowhere in sight.

Ray’s eyes widened. “Oh no.” He glanced all around as did everyone else, scanning the area like they might see the animals hopping merrily along. “Someone must have let them out.”

Oh no, indeed. Gus flicked her gaze to a couple of little girls who had been fascinated by the bunnies all morning and were suddenly very far away, sneaking furtive looks at the empty cages.

“Please tell me Trevor and Veronica are fixed?” Gus asked

“Nope.” Ray shook his head. “Too young.”

Too young probably also meant too young to get pregnant. Probably…Gus glanced at her newly minted husband and said, “Crap.”

Looking totally unperturbed, Marshall grinned and slid his arm around her waist. “Looks like we’re back to the beginning.”

Ray was nowhere near as calm. “Shit, I’m so sorry. It’s okay, we’ll all go looking for them now,” he assured. “They can’t have gone too far and they’re pretty tame. God…” He looked mortified. “What a mess.”

“Nah.” Marshall shook his head. “It’s okay.” His gaze meshed with hers as he smiled. “Rabbits on the loose worked out pretty damn good for us last time.”

Gus melted. Just when she thought it wasn’t possible to love Marshall any more, he went and stole her heart all over again.

“It did, didn’t it?” she murmured.

And then she kissed him, and nothing else mattered but this moment and this man and this place and their hoppily ever after.

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