Where It Ends

| Epilogue | Christmas, Fifteen Years Later

Grady's POV

I've never been particularly fond of Christmas. The terrible childhood memories are quite clingy to this date. They just don't fade as well as the rest do. I guess it's taught me to keep my expectations in check.

Over the last handful of years, I must say, I've lowered my guard. The season has grown on me. We got the farmhouse back and have the whole ranch to decorate, when we find the time and inclination, and this year we did. It's Christmas-card perfect. The lights go on for almost half a mile.

I don't want to jinx it. Christmas isn't quite over yet. But it is 8PM on the day of, and at this point, I think I can safely call it the best one ever.

As always, when it comes to anything good that I've received, I have Taryn to thank. She's an amazing wife and mother. The kids and our guests are all entertained and stuffed to the gills. As far as I can tell, there's never an end left dangling.

As I'm seeing Knox and his wife, Lori, and their two kids to the door, I take a moment to gaze at Taryn, who has made this house a home again. We've all aged, me probably more than anyone, but Taryn is barely any worse for wear. She doesn't even look tired, filling drinks and serving dessert with a smile.

My eyes dip from her lips, to cleavage, to bellybutton for like the thirtieth time tonight. She looks sexy as hell in that red dress. She's all leg and baby. She's eight months pregnant. Any pound out of place is all in her chest, and it pretty much melts right off her before the new baby is even sleeping through the night. I think by now it's a pattern. I've seen it four times before. She never sits still, she rarely sleeps, and goes from one money-making endeavor to another, nine out of ten of them successful, and she makes it look easy.

I watch her move and my heartrate picks up. The dancer in her shines through, sure as the sun. Our competition boots may be in the back of the closet somewhere. Yes, she got me up to snuff. We did the competition circuit before we had too many kids to keep track of, and we even won occasionally. But you'd never know that she's out of practice. It's the way she carries herself. Grace, beauty, patience, love. I can see it when she whisks a stray hair back toward her slightly flawed up-do, or when she absentmindedly strokes her stomach. Her bellybutton has popped out at this point in her pregnancy. It's one of those cute things that draws the eye and makes me crazy knowing I have to wait my turn.

I'm usually last but never least. As busy and overwhelmed as we are, I don't have much to complain about. Yes, I still grumble to myself from time to time. When it comes to her, I'm selfish and overprotective. I have my reasons, and they're valid ones, and though they're not as pressing as they once were, they're instinctual at this point.

"Will we see you on New Year's?" Knox pats me on the back while he shakes my hand.

He has a Rose Bowl party every year that we rarely miss. Compared to the girls Knox used to date, Lori is an absolute delight. She and Taryn are closer than he and I will ever be, and no one ever brings up the entanglement from years past. I doubt Lori even knows about it, and I suppose it's for the best.

"I think so." My eyes flick to the strum of a guitar. That must be Quinn in the far corner of the porch. "Baby willing, of course. Is there anything you'd like us to bring?"

"Oh, that buffalo dip of Taryn's is just divine," Lori babbles on, which is her way. In the same breath, she yells for her two boys, and wobbles a bit doing so, but she catches herself on Knox's shoulder.

I was hoping for beer or a vegetable platter, but that's fine. We'll make it happen. "Sounds good. Thanks for coming." I give her a hug and wave as they get into their truck.