Forever Freed

by Kathleen Brooks

  “How lovely,” Evie said, looking at the house. There was a blue and white wreath on the door, which she had learned were the University of Kentucky colors. And the landscaping would be beautiful in the spring when the leaves on the large tree in the front yard came out.

  Jackson knocked on the door and opened it. “Hello!” he called out but the sound seemed to echo.

  Evie followed him inside. The lights were on, but no one was home. And they weren’t out running errands. The house was completely empty. “What’s going on, Jackson?” she asked, but he’d disappeared on her. “Jackson?”

  “In here,” he called out and Evie left the entry hall and walked into a large open space that took up the length of the house. On the right was a beautiful kitchen and on the left was . . .

  “Jackson,” Evie whispered as she saw he was down on one knee in the middle of the empty room.

  “Since we met, you have become the light of my life. You have shown me strength, courage, and an unending love by just being yourself. I cannot imagine my life without you by my side as my best friend and as my truest love. Evie, will you do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife?”

  Evie’s heart pounded and tears ran down her face. “Yes,” she squeaked out before a sob tore free. Jackson took the ring and slid it onto her shaking finger before standing up. His hands slid over her cheeks as he framed her face, tilting it up to look at him. “I promise I will spend every day showing you how much I love you.”

  “You already do, Jackson. Just by loving me in return.”

  Jackson’s lips met hers in a soul-binding kiss that left her clinging to him and her heart racing.

  “Jackson? Why are we in an empty house?” Evie finally asked when her heartbeat calmed and her thinking came back online.

  “I hope you’re not mad,” Jackson said nervously. “But I already got my transfer orders. The team has been moved to Lexington and I bought this house for us. I should have asked, but I really wanted to surprise you.”

  Evie stepped back and looked around the house. “That’s why you were asking me about my dream house?”

  “Yes. We’re still in escrow, so if you don’t like it—”

  Evie squealed again, then turned and ran. She ran into the kitchen and opened cabinets. She ran into bathrooms, bedrooms, and even a dining room, before flinging open the back door and walking out onto a patio with a fire pit and large fenced-in yard. “Can we get a dog?”

  “Of course,” Jackson told her as he went behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and held her close as they both looked out at their future together.

  “Can we go right now?”

  “To get a dog?” Jackson asked.

  “Yes! This is the best day of my life and it has to be a dream. So, if it’s a dream, I’m going to ask for everything I’ve ever wished for so when I wake up, I could have said I had it all, even if it was in my dreams.”

  “I’ll always help you make your dreams come true. Let’s go.”

  “There’s just one thing we need to do first,” Evie grinned as she grabbed his hand and led him back into the house.

  * * *

  When they pulled into the fire station two hours later, Evie and Jackson arrived as a whole new couple. They were engaged, buying a house, and the proud parents of the puppy now sitting on Evie’s lap.

  There were heartfelt congratulations all around and Evie knew what true happiness was. Even if the cousins made fun of her for adopting the ugliest puppy they’d ever seen. Sienna backed her up, though. Just because the puppy’s nose was pushed in and her head and body seemed small compared to the massive paws was no reason to say she was ugly. Evie had known this was the puppy for her as soon as she laid eyes on her. She was older than the other puppies because no one had wanted to adopt her. But Evie did. And now Bliss wriggled in her arms as Evie showed off her engagement ring and was hugged by all of Keeneston.

  “Are you happy?” Jackson asked as he stole her away from the crowd.

  “Blissfully,” Evie told him as Bliss barked excitedly when she and Jackson kissed.

  News from The Keeneston Journal:

  Aniyah Drews Goes To Frankfort

  Today, Aniyah Drews of Keeneston was sworn in during a special ceremony held at the Keeneston Courthouse. Judge McKenna Ashton administered the oath of office to Ms. Drews as family and friends looked on in front of a standing room only crowd in her courtroom.

  Ms. Drews won over a lawyer from Lipston in a special election held last week after Representative Riley Davies Walz was forced to step down due to medical reasons. Ms. Drews was thought to be a political outsider by those in Frankfort, but easily defeated her opponent by a 27-point win.

  Ms. Walz was said to have put forth Ms. Drews’s name and had been the first to congratulate her upon her victory. Ms. Walz said of the new representative, “Ms. Drews will give her heart and soul to representing the fine people of Keeneston and Lipston in Frankfort. They have a staunch ally in Ms. Drews who will never back down and will always do what is right for her constituents.” With a landslide victory in her first campaign, it appears the voters agree.

  Epilogue

  Jackson watched as his father walked Evie down the aisle. She was breathtakingly beautiful and he didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her. Her blonde hair was in loose waves down her back with a veil floating behind as she walked toward him in her off the shoulder A-line dress that all his cousins and aunts helped her pick out. The simplicity of the dress only showcased Evie’s beauty.

  When asked who gave her away, Jackson smiled as Evie proudly declared that she gave herself with the love and support of all her friends and family-to-be. Jackson looked back at the pews, filled to capacity with friends and family from both Keeneston and Shadows Landing. There was no division to the seating, but one church filled with those who meant the world to them.

  Jackson took her hand in his and couldn’t take his eyes off her as Father Ben led them through the wedding ceremony. Then he could finally kiss her and call her his. He dipped her back and kissed her, realizing he had never been happier.

  “I present Jackson and Evie Parker,” Father Ben said happily as Jackson took his wife’s hand and ran down the aisle to the cheers of their friends and family.

  His parents and siblings hugged Evie, telling her how they were proud to be her family. Evie fought back tears, but Jackson could see how much it meant to her before they got into the limo and headed to the reception.

  An hour later, Jackson was dancing with his bride in his arms. His friend Holt Everett’s country band was playing his and Evie’s favorite song. Lost in their own world, Jackson didn’t notice when Talon, Zinnia, Lucas, Poppy, and the rest of his friends and family joined them on the dance floor.

  “I love you now and forever, Evie Parker.”

  Evie looked up at him with all the love she had. “And I will love you forever and always.”

  * * *

  Marcy Davies tilted her champagne glass to clink it with each of the Rose sisters. “And that’s how it’s done, ladies.”

  “Harper asked him for a favor,” Paige said with a roll of her eyes at her mother as she looked to the dance floor where her niece from Shadows Landing was dancing with a firefighter. “You couldn’t possibly know he’d meet Evie when he went to Shadows Landing.”

  Paige’s best friends, Dani and Kenna, the keepers of the Keeneston matchmaking books that the Rose sisters had handed down to them, nodded their agreement.

  “Pure coincidence,” Kenna told them. “Paige is the one who got them together with her subtle hints.”

  Marcy pulled out her cell phone and handed it to the ladies. “Read it and weep.”

  “What is it?” Dani asked.

  Paige sucked in a breath. “They’re text messages from the night of Wyatt’s wedding.”

  “Text messages to who?” Kenna asked, trying to look at the phone.

  “Mom messaged Suze Bell and told her Jackson needed some time away, but not
to tell him it was my mom behind it. She told Suze that Jackson would fall in love in Shadows Landing, and when Suze agreed to help, they hatched a plan to have an unknowing Harper text Jackson about testing out the cottage on Suze’s property,” Paige said with disbelief.

  All three ladies stared open-mouthed at Marcy.

  “Close your mouths or you’ll catch flies in them,” Marcy said smugly before the Rose sisters toasted her again.

  Paige, Dani, and Kenna walked off and headed to the table full of their friends before telling them what Marcy had done. “Well, scratch this match off the list,” Dani said, putting a big MD besides Jackson and Evie’s name in their notebook.

  “We can’t let them win again,” Paige told her friends. “We have to have the next match.”

  “Who are you thinking?” Morgan asked.

  “Well,” Paige said, looking around the table. “Morgan, Kenna, and Katelyn already have all their kids married.”

  “As much as I would like to have Colton married,” Annie said, looking at her middle child, “he’s not ready yet. He needs to let things settle down professionally before he can focus on getting married.”

  “Ariana, too,” Dani told them. “It’s hard being a princess. I had a career first and knew who I was before becoming royalty. Ariana only knows royalty. She needs to find herself first. Then love.”

  “What about Greer?” Kenna asked Paige.

  “No, she’s not ready either. Soon, but not yet.”

  “Well, I can tell you Porter and Parker are still tearing their way through single women like they do the rodeo. They show absolutely no inclination to settling down,” Gemma sighed. “And we have enough going on with two pregnant daughters.”

  “How is Riley?” Morgan asked.

  “She’s made it to twenty-five weeks. She’s relieved. She’s on blood pressure medicine and it’s working for now.” Gemma looked over to where Riley was sitting at a table across the room smiling as she talked to her sister who was resting her hand on her own slightly rounded belly.

  “Kale?” Annie asked Bridget, who just laughed in response.

  They all turned to Tammy then. “That leaves one of yours,” Paige said.

  “Well, we can cross Cricket off the list. She’s a little young,” Tammy teased, but then she nodded. “I think you’re right. It is one of mine and I know which one: Jace. He’s settled in his practice now. It’s time for Jace to find love.”

  Paige opened the notebook and wrote Jace’s name across the top. Now all they had to do was find the perfect woman for him before her mother and the Rose sisters did.

  * * *

  Jace Davies took a drink with his friends and then excused himself. He needed a moment of fresh air. He walked out back of the distillery and took a deep breath. When he looked out into the night, he would have sworn he saw two people darting away. “Hello?” Jace walked toward the gardens and stopped at the entrance. Various boxwoods, trees, shrubs, and flowers created the half-acre gardens. “Hello?” he called out again. He was about to turn to leave when he saw the panties caught on one of the boxwoods.

  What he’d give for sex like that, the kind that you were so into it you forgot your surroundings completely. Jace turned back to the distillery and left the panties hanging there. Maybe someday he’d find a woman like that.

  * * *

  Dylan handed two shot glasses of bourbon to Jackson and Evie. Jackson looked out over the dance floor to where Lucas was twirling Gladys Thorn. Her mother stood talking to Zain and Mila as she smiled at her daughter.

  Suddenly a deep-voiced scream rang out over the sound of the band. Jackson and everyone else’s heads turned as a naked man Evie recognized as a firefighter ran into the room holding his package with both hands. “I’m on fire!” he screamed in agony as he rushed behind the bar and used the soda dispenser hose to begin to spray himself off.

  “Did I look like that?” Jackson whispered to Evie as he watched the man hop from foot to foot, cursing a blue streak while Miss Lily filmed it all.

  “Yup,” Evie said, trying not to smile.

  All eyes turned as Nikki strode into the reception and headed toward Evie. “Thanks for the oil. It tingles.”

  The four of them stared as she walked off, grabbed the naked firefighter from where he was slumped over the bar, and dragged him from the room.

  “Well,” Dylan spoke as the music began to play again. “The three of us were and are thick as thieves. The stories we have and the friendship we share make us the best of friends.”

  “We didn’t think there’d ever be a fourth to our group but, Evie, you took a man down by throwing a knife. It was at that moment I knew you were one of us,” Abby said as she lifted her glass in salute to Evie.

  “To the stories we share,” Dylan said.

  “To the stories we’ll make,” Jackson said.

  “To the friends of the past,” Abby said.

  “And to the friends we have now,” Evie finished.

  They clinked their glasses, shot the bourbon, and laughed. They turned to the doors as their loved ones got ready to throw rose petals as they left.

  “Come on, Mrs. Parker,” Jackson said, lacing his fingers with Evie’s. “We have a lifetime of happily-ever-afters to begin living.”

  * * *

  THE END

  Bluegrass Series

  Bluegrass State of Mind

  Risky Shot

  Dead Heat

  * * *

  Bluegrass Brothers

  Bluegrass Undercover

  Rising Storm

  Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella

  Acquiring Trouble

  Relentless Pursuit

  Secrets Collide

  Final Vow

  * * *

  Bluegrass Singles

  All Hung Up

  Bluegrass Dawn

  The Perfect Gift

  The Keeneston Roses

  * * *

  Forever Bluegrass Series

  Forever Entangled

  Forever Hidden

  Forever Betrayed

  Forever Driven

  Forever Secret

  Forever Surprised

  Forever Concealed

  Forever Devoted

  Forever Hunted

  Forever Guarded

  Forever Notorious

  Forever Ventured

  Forever Freed

  Forever Saved (coming July/August 2020)

  * * *

  Shadows Landing Series

  Saving Shadows

  Sunken Shadows

  Lasting Shadows

  Fierce Shadows (coming early May 2020)

  Broken Shadows (coming October 2020)

  * * *

  Women of Power Series

  Chosen for Power

  Built for Power

  Fashioned for Power

  Destined for Power

  * * *

  Web of Lies Series

  Whispered Lies

  Rogue Lies

  Shattered Lies

  * * *

  Moonshine Hollow Series

  Moonshine & Murder

  Moonshine & Malice

  Moonshine & Mayhem

  About the Author

  Kathleen Brooks is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author. Kathleen’s stories are romantic suspense featuring strong female heroines, humor, and happily-ever-afters. Her Bluegrass Series and follow-up Bluegrass Brothers Series feature small town charm with quirky characters that have captured the hearts of readers around the world.

  * * *

  Kathleen is an animal lover who supports rescue organizations and other non-profit organizations such as Friends and Vets Helping Pets whose goals are to protect and save our four-legged family members.

  * * *

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