by Emma Renshaw
“I suppose your fat roll came in handy for something,” my mother said, snickering. “The knife had so much to go through, you were practically uninjured.”
Kiernan froze and started turning red. “Kiernan,” I said quietly, “just ignore her.” He shook his head and slowly turned toward my mother. Then he stood up and stared her down.
My mother rolled her eyes. “It was only a joke. My goodness, he’s just like you, can’t handle a joke. I guess it is a match made in heaven.”
I shook my head. It really wasn’t worth Kiernan getting angry. For the first time in as long as I could remember, her jab at me didn’t hurt at all. Even when I’d trained myself to let it roll off my back, I’d still felt bruised, just not as battered as before. Right now, though, I felt nothing as she made fun of me even while in a hospital bed. I squeezed Kiernan’s hand and he turned to face me. When his jade-green eyes landed on me, I smiled.
It was because of him and his encouragement to find my confidence and worth that I was able to ignore those jabs.
“You may be okay, sweetness, but I’m not,” he said quietly to me and turned back to my mother. “You will never speak to Caroline like that again.”
“I’m her mother, you can’t tell me how to speak to my own daughter.”
Kiernan scoffed. “I can and I will. I’m going to marry her and have babies with her. You may have raised her, but she’s amazing in spite of you, not because of you. My role in her life will far outweigh yours so, yes, I can tell you how you are not allowed to speak to her.”
My heart fluttered. I wanted to marry Kiernan one day and have babies with him, wanted to experience what life had to offer for two people madly and insanely in love with each other. I glanced at Daphne. She fanned herself, and I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. Her eyes were shining. She stood and leaned over to whisper in my ear. “I’m so glad you have a good man, honey. You deserve the world. Let him stand his ground and stand up for you. It’s taken way too long for someone to do it.”
My eyes welled with tears, but I nodded and returned my attention to Kiernan and my mother.
“If you do speak to her like that or are rude and try to call it a joke, if you hurt her in any way, she won’t be in your life. You won’t know your grandkids, even though I’d bet they would be better for it. Caroline is beautiful and perfect. You can get the hell out of here. I’ve got it from here.”
Kiernan turned his back on her. She was gaping like a fish and fuming. Her cold glare turned to me for a moment before she stood and stomped out of the room, my sister following a moment later.
My dad groaned as he stood from the chair. “Take care, sweetheart. You’ve got a good man here,” he said and followed my sister and mother.
I didn’t know if they’d listen to Kiernan and treat me better or if that was the end of my relationship with my family. Right now, I wasn’t sure I cared either way. The room was much calmer after they left. A nurse came by with the discharge paperwork. Kiernan pushed me in a wheelchair to the exit with Daphne on my left. “When do you want me to tell everyone to come to our house?” Kiernan asked.
“Our house?” Daphne asked. “Since when is it y’all’s house?”
“I’m moving in with Caroline,” Kiernan said, still strolling at a leisurely pace toward the hospital exit. I turned in the chair and looked up at him.
“You’re moving in with me.”
He looked down, meeting my gaze, and grinned. “Yeah, I’m moving in. The guys are moving all my stuff right now. Should be there by the time we get home.”
“What?” I said.
“Sweetness, I practically live there anyway. Pepper Jack respects your house. That fucker may be dead, but I’m still not ready to let you out of my sight. You have the better security system. We’re safer there.”
“So you’re just telling me? And not asking?”
Kiernan shrugged. “Are you saying you don’t want to live with me?”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. That definitely wasn’t what I was saying. I didn’t want Kiernan to go home. I’d gotten used to his body next to mine while I slept. I loved seeing his green eyes first thing in the morning. I loved coming home to a snoozing Pepper Jack and Harmonica curled up and cuddled together. “No, I’m not saying I don’t want you to live with me.”
“So you do want me to move in?” Kiernan grinned at me again.
“Yes,” I answered, matching his smile with one of my own. He dipped down, pressing a kiss against my dimple.
“Problem solved,” he said. “I’m just doing what the doctor ordered, making sure you rest. I’ll make the decisions for a while.”
I laughed and held my side. It didn’t matter that it ached as I laughed, I couldn’t help the joy that was spreading through my heart.
Epilogue
Kiernan—Seven Months Later
I’d heard parents say it about their kids, but it was true for my dog too. When the house becomes suspiciously quiet—that’s the time to worry and find them to see what trouble they’re getting into. I woke from a nap and couldn’t hear Pepper Jack’s snores or the jingle of his collar as he moved around.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
I rubbed my eyes and rose from the couch. I’d fallen asleep waiting for Caroline to come home. I had dinner prepared, just needed to throw it in the oven when she walked through the door. I opened the sliding glass patio door and checked the yard to make sure he wasn’t out there. Had I forgotten and left him outside somehow? A breeze blew in, so I left the patio doors open. I walked down the hallway and poked my head in the office. He wasn’t in there, but Harmonica was in her window swing. She had one in almost every room and liked changing her view.
Next I opened the door to the guest bedroom. Pepper Jack could open doors. He’d never closed one behind him, but I wouldn’t put it past him to learn a new trick. Next I checked our bedroom, and that’s when I heard the slight jingle of his collar. I walked around the bed and then into the bathroom and finally the closet. The door was partially cracked. I opened it and tensed.
Pepper Jack was lying in the walk-in closet with a navy-blue velvet ring box between his paws and was chewing on the outside. “Pepper Jack,” I yelled. “Leave it! Drop it!”
I’d picked up Caroline’s engagement ring one week ago and was still deciding how I wanted to propose to her. I didn’t want to wait too long, but I wanted it to be a moment she would remember and cherish forever. Something that would always make her smile.
Pepper Jack stood with the ring box in his mouth. I gulped as he stared at me. His jowls twitched and I narrowed my eyes. I swore that was a smirk aimed at me. “Drop it!” I yelled again. The front of his body lowered to the ground slightly with his butt sticking straight up in the air. He eyed me for a moment and took off like a rocket. I dove for him but missed.
I ran after him. “Drop it, Pepper Jack! Leave it!”
He ran around the coffee table and stopped. I slowly approached and launched my arm out to grab his collar. He swerved and took off again. His tail wagged as he ran through the house with me chasing him. I stopped in the kitchen, panting, grabbing a treat and waving it. This was pure bribery, but I didn’t care. I needed to get that box before he ate the ring that was inside. Or hell, swallowed the whole damn box. “Want a treat?” His tail wagged harder and he sat on his hind legs, his tail thumping against the kitchen tile. He dropped the ring box, and I dove for it at the same time he did.
Pepper Jack snatched it up in his mouth and took off through the open patio doors into the backyard. I chased him through the doors and down the deck stairs. We were having a face-off in the middle of the yard.
“Drop it!” I yelled and flung myself at Pepper Jack. I caught him, but he was twisting his head away from me, keeping the ring box firmly in his mouth.
“What’s going on out here?” Caroline asked. My gaze whipped to hers. She was standing on the back deck with her hands on her hips. She walked down the steps and into the ya
rd. Pepper Jack wrestled free from me and ran to Caroline.
Caroline
Pepper Jack sprinted toward me with something in his mouth. He dropped it at my feet, and I bent to rub behind his ears. He licked my cheek and sat next to me with a wagging tail. I picked up the slimy item from the ground and looked at it.
It was a small navy-blue velvet wrapped box. It was coated in Pepper Jack’s spit and had holes torn in the fabric and teeth marks on the gold hardware at the opening. I opened the box and gasped.
Kiernan stood and sauntered toward me. He was shaking his head and fighting a smile. “The big moments never seem to go according to plan, do they, sweetness?”
I bit my lip to keep from shouting my answer to the question that belonged with this ring. I stared at the ring again. The band was covered in diamonds with one large center stone set up higher and haloed with more diamonds. It was stunning and beautiful. The shape of the center diamond was an oval.
My eyes met Kiernan’s again. He was staring at me with so much love in his eyes. I never doubted it for a single second. Every moment, he made sure I knew how much he loved me, and I did the same for him in return. Neither of us truly had our parents anymore. I’d barely heard from mine since I was released from the hospital, and Kiernan never heard from his. What we lost in them, we gained so much more in each other.
“This definitely wasn’t planned, but it’s kind of perfect. In our yard. In our home together. Pepper Jack was my unplanned assistant, and he was the reason I found you and got a second chance at something I’d overlooked as a dumb teenager.”
Kiernan dropped to one knee. I smiled, my dimples popping out in full force and my eyes welling with tears. “Caroline, I love you more than I ever thought possible. I watched friend after friend meet their match and fall in love, but it wasn’t something that was coming to me. Until I saw you, and you knocked me over flat on my ass. I should’ve known in that first moment I was a goner. Will you marry me, sweetness?”
“Yes,” I said and wrapped my arms around his neck, falling to my knees. He fell back on the grass, laughing. I kissed his laughing mouth, and his laughter died as he kissed me back, weaving his fingers in my hair and holding me to him. I melted against his body, my legs straddling his hips.
Pepper Jack collapsed next to us, rolling over on his back and rubbing himself in the grass while biting the air. We both laughed in between our kisses.
“I’ll get you a new box,” Kiernan said and handed it to me as he took the ring out to slide on my finger.
“Don’t you dare. It’s perfect. This was perfect.”
“I love you, Kiernan. I can’t wait to be your wife.”
My next release is Inferno! It’s an enemies-to-lovers, small town romance! Click here to order Inferno.
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Acknowledgments
Thank you so much for reading Vow of Worth!
It was so fun diving back into the Vow Series! These characters are so close to my heart and I’m so happy Kiernan has his happy ending.
My amazing husband, as always you helped me make it to the deadline. I wrote this last time, too, but it was again helpful! You make sure I’m fed and keep our house clean while I’m locked away in my own world. I love you more than cookies.
Mom, Dad, Sestra, y’all are the greatest family a gal could have. I love y’all so very much.
A huge Thank You goes to: Catherine, Grahame, Alex, Steph, Susan, Hang, Stacey, Nina, Kelley, Brittany, Christine, and every other person that contributed to this book. It all means so much, and each of you deserves so much more than a thank you. I could fill an entire book expressing my gratitude for each of you. I will always sing your praises from the rooftops!
Bloggers, thank you so much for all the love and support. I’ve loved connecting with so many of you and hope to meet more of you in the future. Whether I’ve chatted with you or never spoken to you, I’m incredibly grateful for the hard work and dedication you give to the book community. Thank you so much! I wish I could hug all of you.
The ladies of Emma Renshaw’s Books, y’all are freaking wonderful! Thank you so much for the love and support! Y’all are my favorite to hang out with! Thanks for making me smile and laugh.
Lastly, thank YOU! I wish I could thank every reader in person and give them a big hug and a slice of cake! Every time a reader like you picks up my book, my dreams come true. You’re magnificent! THANK YOU!
Also By Emma Renshaw
The Vow Series
Vow of Retribution
Vow of Atonement
Vow of Honor
Vow of Devotion
Vow of Sacrifice
Vow of Worth
The Burn Series
Ember
Ignite
Inferno
Connect With Emma
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About Emma Renshaw
Emma loves to write, just don't ask her to write about herself. If she isn't writing, you can find her lost in a book or trying to get her doggo to take a selfie with her. He usually refuses. At the end of the day, you can find Emma at the closest Mexican restaurant eating queso and sipping on a Diet Coke. She lives in Texas with her husband and dog.
