I brushed my fingers down the scruff on his face. I liked how it felt—everywhere on my body. So he only shaved every few days.

He kissed my fingers. “How many are we having?”

I chuckled. “I think we should find out how much the first one turns our world upside down before we talk numbers.”

“Deal.” He rolled to his back and laid his arm out.

I curled into his side. We had nothing to do today and nowhere to be—unless we wanted to. If I wanted to nap in the middle of the damn day, he’d help me.

I put my hand on his chest. The diamond on my ring glittered. I never took it off. And I never would. I kept the old one in its own special jewelry box, and I’d pass it on to our kids after we told them the story of our not-quite-textbook romance. “I love you, Aiden King.”

“I love you, Kate King.” His hold around me tightened. “You’re my queen.”

Gentry

Five years later…

I leaned against my pickup and soaked it in. In front of me was Dawson’s place. The house I’d built with Sarah. She and I had barely entered adulthood when kid after kid had arrived. We’d hoped this place could contain our big dreams. For so many years, I’d worried that those hopes had been buried with her. Our boys had scattered, isolating themselves and burying themselves in their work.

Then their mother’s crazy idea had prodded them into being adults that would have made her heart burst with pride.

I know mine did on a daily basis.

Emilia’s had as well. I knew that now. And I was grateful that I’d learned it before we’d had to bury her just hours ago. Right next to Sarah and DB.

She would’ve hated a formal reception where everyone talked about her, so after the family had finished at the gravesite, we’d come back to Dawson’s for a large barbecue.

I inhaled the mix of fresh spring air mingling with the subtle scents of dirt and manure. Dawson had a few extra guys working for him nowadays, but he always made room for me and his brothers and our wives to help work cattle. Though, we couldn’t spare everyone these days.

Too many kids to keep track of.