Page 109 of The Back Forty
I grin. “Knowing that family? They’d throw you a welcome party before you could finish asking.”
He throws his head back and laughs, the sound echoing through the small space and out across the heat-drenched yard. “Hell yeah,” he whispers. “Okay, let’s go, big bro.”
And just like that, I feel it. Something old and heavy cracking open inside me. Making room for something new. Something good. Family. Not by name. Not by blood. But something that might last anyway.
And it all started with making Dani mine.
Chapter 42 – Epilogue – Lawson
Six Months Later…
“I’m proud of you, son. Hope you’ve always known that” my dad says, his voice low and warm as the front porch creaks beneath our rocking chairs. He lets out a sigh. “But especially on these days. These are the good days. The ones that you might not remember, but the ones that will matter the most when you get my age and reflect on all the good that's happened to you.”
The hot North Carolina breeze wraps around us, thick with humidity and the smell of cut grass and honeysuckle. In the yard, Dani, Regan, Molly, Lydia, and Rae are chasing after Molly and Regan’s babies, all laughter and sunshine. The women rollaround in the grass with them, clapping, tickling, cooing at the kids.
My dad’s right, it’s the kind of scene you want to bottle up and hold on to for the hard days.
“Thanks, Dad,” I say quietly.
He looks over, a small smile tugging at the edge of his mouth. “When are you two thinking about getting married?”
“Not sure yet. Dani said she wants to enjoy the engagement for a while.” I glance down at the glint of her ring from where I sit, watching her throw her head back laughing at something Lydia said. “I’d marry her tomorrow if she wanted to. But I’m always going to follow her lead. She’s smarter than me, you know.”
He chuckles softly. “She got you to slow down. Made you see you didn’t have to prove anything to be a Marshall. That you’ve always been one deep inside.”
That gets me. Right in the chest. I nod and swallow hard, my throat going tight. Watching the woman I love with the family I love, seeing how seamlessly she’s become part of it, it makes me feel like I’ve stepped into a life I only dreamed about as a kid. And hearing my chosen dad say that out loud? That I belong here? That he’s proud of me? There’s nothing better. He's always reinforced that in me but maybe it just took me finding love to believe it.
“When Bethany came to Anne and me, asking if we’d take you in while she figured things out... well, it wasn’t even a question,” he continues. “We didn’t hesitate. We chose you, and we would’ve chosen you a thousand times over. You completed our family even without the rest of the kids being born yet. You were the reason Anne wanted to have another baby. Because of you we had Cash, then Colt and Regan.”
I nod; my eyes still locked on the yard but my chest aching in the best way. “Thanks, dad.”
The screen door swings open and out step Cash, Rhett, and Colt—each one carrying a cold Whitewood Creek beer in hand, our summer brew. They fall into the two empty rockers and lean against the railing like they’ve done it a hundred times before. Like nothing’s changed. Like everything’s exactly where it’s supposed to be. And that's how it's felt the last six months being with Dani.
“You think it’s gonna be another brutal summer?” Cash asks, kicking his boots up onto the railing. Colt leans next to him, and Rhett settles into the chair beside mine.
“You worried about your hens again?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
Cash nods like it’s a given. “You know I always am. From sunup to sundown, they’re on my mind.”
“More than me sometimes,” Rae teases as she comes up behind him and plops down in his lap, laughing.
“Never more than you,” he says, pressing a kiss to her mouth that softens the sharp edges of his usual sarcasm.
Molly joins us with little Colt Jr. squirming in her arms. The boy reaches for his dad and Colt grins, standing to scoop him up like it’s the best part of his day. He kisses the kid’s cheeks, and something in his face shifts making him look less guarded and more at ease.
Fatherhood’s changed him. Softened the storm, made him quieter in the ways that matter.
Regan comes up next, baby girl in her arms, cheeks rosy from playing in the sun. She settles into a free chair as my dad turns to her.
“Is Hayes working today?”
She nods. “Yeah, but he’s trying to cut back. The hospital’s bringing in some new ICU nurse from Richmond—she’s supposed to have specialized trauma experience. They’re hoping it’ll ease up the load a bit, so he doesn’t miss as much time with Aurora. If he can get the Whitewood Creek Community Hospital staffed better, he'll be able to focus more on the manor and those horses he bought, too.”
“That’s good,” Dad says, watching her bounce the little girl on her hip. “I know he hates missing these precious moments. Bringing in more staff is always a good thing.”
Regan laughs. “If it were up to him, I’d be pregnant again already.”
Colt groans. “God help us.”
