Later.
Loch leaned back in his lawn chair, watching his family hang out in his parents’ backyard, a grin on his face that he didn’t realize he had until Ainsley looked over at him, grinning right back. He gave her a wink, and she went back to talking with her mom, who sat on the other side of her.
It had been a long year, but everything that had happened in that year hadn’t been painful, not like the year prior with his family. Instead, it had been…peaceful. So much had happened after Riker and his cronies had gone to jail, and yet none of it had involved the police or people out to hurt Loch’s family.
Instead, there had been change, yet all for the better.
“Daddy! Mommy! Look!”
Both Loch and Ainsley looked over at Misty, who stood near Tabby and Alex. His sister and her husband were sitting on a large blanket, their twins Sebastian and Aria scooting around, laughing as Misty twirled in her spring dress.
The fact that she’d called Ainsley Mommy wasn’t lost on any of them, nor was it the first time she’d done it.
Misty had given Loch away to Ainsley and had given Ainsley away to Loch at their wedding just a couple of months before, and ever since then, she’d called his wife “Mommy” and “Mom.” Every time she did, though, it hit Loch like an arrow to the heart, making him feel like he’d saved the world.
Ainsley smiled widely at him, and so did her own mother, who had finally come to a Collins family event. The two were working on their relationship, and he knew that he’d do whatever it took to keep his wife happy. Ainsley’s mom was a good woman, and she had sacrificed a lot of herself to raise her kids. And when things had all come falling down around her, she’d tried to be strong for Ainsley. In the end, it had taken both of them to figure out what worked for their relationship.
Ainsley wanted her mother to know Misty, to be another grandmother in his little girl’s life, as well as a grandmother to the baby currently growing in Ainsley’s womb. They were only three months pregnant and hadn’t announced it yet. They wouldn’t until next month when they told Misty, but he couldn’t help the proud, caveman-like grin spreading over his face.
“I like when the babies laugh,” Nate said from Fox and Melody’s blanket near Tabby and Alex, pulling Loch from his thoughts. “I can’t get CP to laugh like that.” He looked down at his cousin and frowned. “She doesn’t laugh like they do.”
Melody grinned and held her daughter close. “Caitlyn Pearl is just a little younger than the twins. She’ll be laughing like them any day now. I love their giggles.”
Fox smiled and kissed his wife’s head. “Soon, your new baby brother and sister are going to be around, so you can start trying to make them laugh, as well.”
Nate nodded. “I’m getting two at the same time, but not like Aunt Tabby and Uncle Alex. My brother and sister won’t be twins, won’t even be related, but I’m still going to call them brother and sister.”
Dare and Kenzie were expecting a boy, and Dare’s ex, Nate’s mom, was expecting a little girl the same month as they were. Considering the other couple was at the Collins family barbeque, as well, seated right next to Dare and Kenzie as they watched over Nate, Loch figured the family, extended and complicated as it was, was making it work. Even Dare’s former partner’s widow was at the house, her daughter in tow as she melded into the family as if she’d always been a part of it.
Somehow, the family had grown to include more than only the Collinses. Dare had his whole brood, including family friends that were now part of his extended family, even if it was only through friendship. Melody’s grandmother sat next to Loch’s parents, laughing at some story she was telling them about the old days in Vegas, but keeping it rated PG for the kids in the yard.
Everything had changed since his brothers and sister had started finding their spouses, and yet it was all for the better. In the past year, Dare and Kenzie’s inn had grown, same with the bar and restaurant, with the idea of expanding into other small towns on the horizon. Melody’s dance studio was rocking with Melody back from maternity leave and her new assistant from her old school a wonderful addition. Fox and Ms. Pearl were in the middle of writing a book about her life, something he’d never thought his little brother would do. Ainsley was working full-time again, though things were going to change when the baby came, but Loch would make it work so she could keep her job the way she’d always wanted. He was going to be the one staying home with the baby and Misty. He would hire an additional manager to take care of the gym.
He had more than enough money now thanks to the sale of the company and what Jason had left him. Loch and Ainsley had decided to use the money to build their future for their children rather than toss it away because it held too much grief. They’d use it for good rather than whatever Riker had wanted to use it for.
And when Loch looked over at his best friend again, she smiled and gave him a curious look. Before, he’d tried not to think about the what-ifs, or even look too deeply at what had happened to make him who he was. Yet, with his wife, he couldn’t help but do that daily.
She made him a better man. She had always done that.
She left him completely undone, and for that, he’d be forever grateful. Because without her, he wouldn’t be who he was. Wouldn’t be who his family needed him to be.
“I’d like to propose a toast,” Dare said into the noise of family and friends, holding up his glass. The others joined him, and Loch squeezed his wife’s hand. “This town, this family has seen it all, done it all. And yet, we’re still here.” He winked over at Tabby and Alex. “Yeah, some moved to another town, but they’re back to visit, and Whiskey will always be a part of their hearts. This town has shaped us all in one way or another, and I’ll never be more grateful for what it’s brought. So, here’s to Whiskey.”
“Whiskey is home,” Fox added.
“Whiskey is our life,” Dare put in.
“Whiskey is family,” Loch said, and then the rest added their own replies, but he only had eyes for his wife, his best friend, his everything.
“Love you,” he whispered.
She leaned over and kissed his jaw. “Love you more than Whiskey.”
And in this town, he knew that meant a whole hell of a lot, because nothing was more important than Whiskey, not in this bootleg town of family, friends, and secrets.
THE END