Page 19 of The Cowboy's Friendly Wake-Up Call

Epilogue 1

Two weeks later

Mercy

"Ican't believe that actually worked."

Callie counts out twenty dollars and hands it across the table to Kimberly O'Leary, who makes a point to snatch it out of Cal's hand as she gloats.

"I told you it would." Kim sits back in her seat at the kitchen table in the O'Leary's family home and makes a show of counting the money she won in her diabolical bet.

Things aren't as different around Lancer's family as I'd expected they would be when we got home to announce that we're officially together now.

In fact, the O'Learys didn't seem shocked at all.

Instead, they started settling up with each other on the bet they made about us.

Turns out, they set us up.

They set us up big time.

"For the record, I really wanted to go to the banquet," Serenity tells me. "But Ranger was worried it would be too distracting if we went."

My eyes turn to Lancer's oldest brother and narrow. Ranger's the asshole that promised us he'd handled our hotel reservation. Turns out, he's the one who put the most money on us coming home as a couple.

"We'll go next year." He leans down to kiss his fiancé’s cheek. Seri blushes at the attention it puts on her, but she seems excited about the promise.

"I'm just glad Ranger reminded me to cancel the big room," Kim shares. "I hadn't considered the just one bed angle."

I've been part of the O'Leary family since I was six years old, so sitting around the big, farmhouse kitchen in Lance's parents' house here on the ranch isn't new. Neither is the bickering between Lance and his brothers, or the good-natured ribbing we all aim at one another.

What's new is the three new women that have joined the family this year who will all be my sisters-in-law by this time next year or even sooner.

Some of us have a bet going that Gunner and Clem got married on the down low already, but they're not fessing up.

We're just waiting on Serenity to sleuth out the marriage license in the county records-- then it'll be mine and Lance's turn to pocket some money on these family bets.

Lance's mom totally threw her baby boy under the bus; not only did she make sure her other sons refused to go to the expo this year, she cancelled the reservation on the second room. And not just because she figured one of the couples would go-- she very specifically canceled the big suite, the one that would have had separate bedrooms-- to force me and Lance to share that one bed.

Apparently, the O'Leary's aren't the only ones in Slow River Valley who have known that Lance was pining over me all these years; they just decided it was time for us to get to it already.

"So when are you two getting married then?" Callie has her calendar open on her phone, taking notes. Not only is she making sure all our dates don't interfere with each other, but she also owns the only florist shop in town.

Lance is already getting antsy to get me back home. We've been here all afternoon, through supper, and now he's losing patience.

His fingers slip up the back of my neck, moving my pony tail to one side-- getting dressed up was fun, but I'm never going to be a girly girl like Callie.

Goosebumps break out along my arms and I hope no one's paying attention to me squirming in my chair.

"We're thinking Christmas." Lance answers for me, making his family gasp.

"Why the rush?" Ranger's eyebrow arches as he looks me up and down.

They're probably all thinking I'm pregnant already, but even if I am, it's too early to notice.

"No rush," Lance tells them, pulling me to my feet and already moving us toward the door. "Just don't figure there's a point in wasting any more time."

A variety of comments and wolf whistles follows us out the front door, but I'm on the same page Lance is.

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