by Easton, Meg
Cole’s kiss turned into a smile against Brooke’s lips as balloons fell on them from all around. “I do believe the entire kingdom showed up to celebrate our engagement.”
Sam sighed a happy sigh into the microphone and switched into her book-reading voice. “And everyone found out that the fairy godmother and the fairy godfather were actually going to be King and Queen, and they and Princess Samantha and all the kingdom were going to live happily ever after. The end.”
Brooke tickled her fingers into the hair at the back of his neck, sending chills down his back. Her face was still barely an inch from his. “So what’s the proper protocol here? Do we bow to our gracious guests?”
He smiled and nodded, then they both turned to the crowd of their friends and Sam’s friends and, holding hands, took a bow. Then Cole leaned Brooke back in a dip. “Here’s to ‘happily ever after,’” he said, and then gave her another kiss.
Epilogue
Brooke turned off the freeway onto the Nestled Hollow exit, her headlights spilling onto her home town. She had been gone a full five days and it had felt like forever.
It had only taken Van Zandt a week to announce By the Brooke and Bancroft Limited as joint winners—apparently hearing that they were going to merge their companies made their decision so much easier than choosing one of the four companies separately.
Between all the work to get Ian’s suits and her dresses ready for their catalog and all the manufacturing to get the items ready to go out in all stores, and all the paperwork, planning, organizing, and strategizing it took to merge two companies, the past six months had been the busiest of Brooke’s life. Saying yes to two mergers within three days—one to merge her company and one to merge her life with Cole’s—had been ambitious.
After winding her way through town, Brooke parked in front of the Holt’s home, then turned off her car and got out, stopping to grab a blanket out of her trunk. Then in the light of the stars and a sliver of a moon, she snuck next door to Cole’s yard. Once she was on his property, she spread the blanket on the grass and sent him a text.
I just got a text from Mrs. Holt. She says there’s a bear in your yard that you should probably scare off.
She glanced at the clock—10:47. That meant he was already done reading; hopefully that didn’t mean that he was already asleep. It had barely been long enough for him to have been able to send an answer text before the front door flew open and Cole stood in the light of his front porch, wearing a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, squinting out into the darkness.
“Brooke? Are you really here?”
She stepped into the light and he leaped off the porch, skipping the steps entirely, and wrapped her in a hug.
“It seems you missed me as much as I missed you.”
He brushed his knuckles down her temple. “How did you get back so soon? I thought it was going to be another two days.”
“The lawyers and bankers decided we had finally crossed the last T and dotted the last I.” She shrugged. “It’s possible they were as sick of the minutia as we were.”
“So you and Ian officially have a parent company now?”
Brooke nodded and slid her arms behind Cole’s neck, slipping her fingers into his hair. “And the names By the Brooke and Bancroft Limited as brands are still intact. My dad will be so proud. The moment the suits told us we were free, I pulled out my phone and booked a flight.”
“No victory celebration with your new business partner?”
“We decided we wanted to get together sometime soon and celebrate when we’ve got our fiancés with us.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Ian got engaged?”
“Last weekend, apparently. He was still ecstatic when I arrived.” She motioned to the blanket she’d spread on the ground. “So, my soon-to-be husband, would you care to look up at the stars with me? I missed them, too, while I was in New York.”
Cole lay on his back on the blanket, his hands under his head. Brooke snuggled up next to him, her head on his shoulder, looking up at the millions of stars spread out every direction across the Nestled Hollow sky.
“I should warn you,” Cole said, “Sam has been working on a card to give you when you got back in town.”
“That’s so sweet,” Brooke said. Then after a pause, added, “Why do I feel like there’s more to the story?”
“Because the card says something to the effect of, ‘I love you. I missed you. I really want a baby brother or sister. I just thought you should know.’”
Brooke laughed a deep, loud laugh that came straight from her stomach. “Tell her to give us two months to officially tie the knot, and then we’ll get right on that.”
Cole flipped to his side so he was facing her. “Wait, really? You’re serious?”
“I am,” she said, and drank in the smile that spread across Cole’s face at her words. “It just feels exactly right.”
“It really does.”
“Besides,” Brooke said, “the mental image of you holding our little baby is irresistible.”
“Over and over, you just keep finding ways to make me the happiest man alive.”
Brooke traced her fingertips across his cheekbone. “I love you,” she whispered, then she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, knowing to her core that everything about saying yes to marrying this man was exactly, perfectly right.
* * *
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Want to visit Nestled Hollow again soon?
Love Again at the Heart of Main, featuring Tory, the woman who owns Love a Latte, and Nate, the contractor who built Samantha’s castle tower, is coming in May 2019.
Preorder your copy today!
COMING SOON: NESTLED HOLLOW ROMANCE BOOK 4
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OTHER BOOKS IN THE NESTLED HOLLOW ROMANCE SERIES
Second Chance on the Corner of Main
Christmas at the End of Main
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ABOUT MEG EASTON
Meg Easton writes contemporary and inspirational romance. She lives at the foot of a mountain with her name on it (or at least one letter of her name) in Utah. She loves gardening, bike riding, baking, swimming before the sun rises, and spending time with her husband and three kids.
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