EPILOGUE

Happy Mother’s Day,” Dustin told Annie, waking her with a kiss. “You get breakfast in bed this morning.”

“I do?” She yawned, her breasts feeling heavy. That meant the baby would need to be fed. “What about Morgan?” She rubbed her eyes, sitting up, and then smiled blearily at the sight of her cowboy with their daughter perched on his hip, a breakfast tray in his other hand. Morgan, bless her fat little cheeks, had her father’s hat in her hands and was busy chewing on the brim. It was her favorite thing to do, and Dustin’s favorite cowboy hat was looking a little misshapen lately, but the man loved his daughter so much that he didn’t care. He wore the hat, bite marks and all, as if it were a badge of honor.

And if that wasn’t the cutest thing Annie had ever seen, she didn’t know what was.

She sat up in bed and propped up against the pillows, smiling at Dustin. “How long have you been up?”

“Long enough to change a diaper, make coffee, change a diaper again, walk the dogs, and then make Mommy oatmeal.” He grimaced, setting the tray down with a movement that required a lot of balance. “I wanted it to be bacon and eggs but Morgan’s a handful this morning.”

She put her arms out, and Dustin settled their chubby daughter in her mother’s embrace. Annie tugged down the neckline of her nightgown and the baby immediately latched on to her breast, hungry. “This is so sweet of you, Dustin.” She smiled up at him, her hand brushing lightly over Morgan’s red-gold floss of hair. “You’re the best daddy. Two diapers, huh?”

“Two explosive diapers,” he agreed. “You’re welcome.”

She chuckled. “Welcome to my world, cowboy.”

“Kind of makes me happy that all I have to do is hunt down cattle and pry babies out of their hindquarters when they get stuck.”

“You make it sound like you do that all day long.”

“Some days it does feel like I do that all day long.” He winked at her, then settled at the edge of the bed, watching her feed the baby. “You get enough sleep, sweetheart?” When she nodded, he smiled. “Good, because I have a surprise for you.”

Annie glanced up from watching Morgan’s fat cheeks as she nursed. Her daughter was beautiful—the fattest, happiest baby she’d ever seen. But she was probably biased. “Uh-oh. Good surprise or bad surprise?”

“Well . . . it depends.” He was all mischief, this man. She could practically see the impish humor bubbling out of him, and it made her smile, too. “I figured since it was your first Mother’s Day, we might make it special.”

“It’s already pretty special,” she told him, and glanced down at her daughter again.

“I know.” There was a husky note in Dustin’s normally laughing voice, and it warmed her heart to hear it. If Annie was obsessed with her daughter, Dustin was even more so. The man would move mountains for one gurgling Morgan laugh. He was a great dad, always trying to help her out with the baby and taking her for entire afternoons so she could work on launching her Pupmobile “Training and Grooming to Go” business. There was nothing cuter than seeing Dustin come home with groceries, baby carrier strapped to his front, Morgan’s fat little legs jouncing, both Moose and Spidey at his heels.

“And since it’s your first Mother’s Day,” Dustin continued, “I wanted you to have everyone you loved around you.”

She looked up at him, her eyes wide.

“Your mother’s flying in at one, and my parents will be driving in sometime this afternoon. Morgan’s going to spend her first Mother’s Day with all the mothers in her life.”

Annie’s lip trembled. “Oh, Dustin—”

“No tears,” he warned, picking the coffee up from the tray and offering it to her. “I thought we were done with hormones.”

“Temporary flare-up,” she told him, and sipped the coffee. He’d made it just the way she liked; the man was the most thoughtful human alive. How on earth did she get so lucky? “How did you manage this?”

“To invite everyone here without telling you? Or do you mean how did I manage to get Kitty to hop on a plane knowing that she was going to be called ‘grandma’ at some point today?”

Annie giggled. “Yes to both.”

“She was drawn to the siren call of baby Morgan. No one can resist her.” With a wink, he leaned in and gave Annie a quick kiss on the forehead. “I’m told that we’ll have our choice of babysitters tonight, which means Mommy and Daddy are free to have some alone time.”

“This is quite the Happy Mother’s Day, then,” she murmured, anticipating that even more. Moments of alone time were normally stolen and didn’t happen often enough. “I’m a lucky woman.”

He gazed down at her, his hand curving along her cheek, and a smile lit his tanned face. “Don’t make me fight you for the title of ‘luckiest one’ in this relationship.”

“Pillow fight for the title,” she teased him, switching her daughter to her other breast.

Dustin watched her, eyes gleaming. “You’re on.”

Mother’s Day was going to be her favorite holiday, she could already tell.