It's About Time (Hunt Family #5) (15 page)

"Yes, you should!" Dee-dee said, making us all glance at her. She smiled and shrugged as if she was just telling it like it was.

"I pretty much put it all out there last night, but if y'all need to see me say it out here in front of God and everybody, then I will."

"We do!" Ryan said, since she and some of the other kids had gathered around by this point.

Izzy came up and tapped my leg. "Uncle Evan doesn't stink," she said as if it was something I had been really concerned about.

"I know," I whispered, winking at her. "I think he smells good." I shrugged at Evan as of wondering why his niece would want to tell me that, and he smiled.

"Annabel Riley, I would really love to marry you and live with you in this house. I'd like to take over the master bedroom because I've been sleeping on couches for the last fifteen years."

Everyone who was listening got a kick out of that since it was the truth. He paused and had taken a second to stare at me before he said, "This is the part where I have to phrase it like a question, and you have to respond with a 'yes', so that everyone can clap and then we all have closure about it and go on with our day."

I giggled. "Okay," I said.

"So, after I ask the question, I'm gonna pause, and we're all gonna look at you, and your job is to respond with a 'yes'."

"Assuming the answer is yes," I added, nodding like I understood him perfectly.

This caused everyone to laugh again, which in turn, made me feel bad. I was implying that I might say 'no', which could not be further from the truth. I adjusted in his arms, taking his face into my hands the same way I had done the night before. His arms were wrapped around my back, and I relaxed into them. I stared at him like we were the only two people in the room.

"Actually, yes," I said, correcting myself. "You don't even need to ask it, because I'm gonna say 'yes' to whatever it is." I paused, and said, "So, yes." I popped up to put a quick kiss in the corner of his mouth. He smiled and made a silly, overly-confident face at his mom and grandma like he was the king of the castle since his girl would say 'yes' without him even asking, which made everyone in the room crack up.

"What happened just now?" Ryan asked, even though she was getting a little older now, and probably knew exactly what had just happened.

"Annabel said she'd marry me," Evan said, stooping to give his niece a high-five.

Ryan high-fived him and then grinned at us. "Does that mean Cupcake's my cousin?"

Epilogue

Evan and I got married three months after the trip to Myrtle Beach. We did it in Charlotte at a beautiful little chapel and had the reception party at Dee-dee's house.

Nathan Voth had done two different oil paintings of the house, and Dee-dee presented one of them to Evan and me as a wedding gift and kept one for herself. He had a realistic style with the slightest edge of quirkiness, and I would have loved the painting as a work of art even if the house in it wasn't now mine.
(Which it was, so I obviously loved the painting even more.)

The masterpiece was hanging in the living room. I had the sketch he drew of Evan and me triple matted and mounted in a beautiful, ornate frame before hanging it in the master bedroom. It was my favorite piece of art in the whole house.

We got married the week before we were set to close on the property. We took a honeymoon to Scotland because I had always wanted to visit, and though it might sound funny, I had always wanted a chance to see the Northern Lights, and I knew it was a good time of year to try it out in Scotland. So, when Evan said I could choose anywhere in the world, I chose that.

We spent eight days in Scotland before coming back to the states, to our new home in Myrtle Beach. During the first few months, I felt like I was still on vacation. It really didn't sink in until the following spring that it was my home and I was going to continue to wake up there every single day.

It was now June again and time for the first annual family visit with Evan and me as the owners of the house. I was looking forward to it. This trip would be extra special because we were kicking things off with a wedding.

It all started when Nathan Voth would not accept payment from Diane Hunt for services rendered—he said he felt wrong for doing it since he was gonna marry into the family anyway.

Dee-dee appreciated his confidence, and the two made things more and more official as the months passed. Nathan had fallen in love with the house in Myrtle Beach, so he took it upon himself to talk to the neighbors on both sides of our property just in case they were open to selling. Neither neighbor was interested at first, but after a few months, the owners of the house on the south side of us changed their minds and sold the property to Nathan.

Regardless of whether or not Evan and I were open to having them come every year, which we were—the simple fact was that it was a tight squeeze. Buying the house next door was a beautiful move on Nathan's part, and the gesture sealed the deal when he asked Diane to marry him. He closed on the house about a month ago, and Evan and I had been his eyes and ears while he had some repairs done.

It was smaller than the one we bought from Dee-dee, but it was perfect for the two of them (plus six others when it came time for the annual vacation). It was a perfect solution to our overcrowding problem, and it took a little pressure off me as the new hostess. (Not that I felt much because they were all so easygoing.)

So, we had a little Hunt family compound now, thanks to Nathan's new purchase and the fact that he and Dee-dee had just tied the knot. (Which, by the way, happened about an hour ago out on the beach in my backyard.)

We were all there, including Nathan's family who had come in for the wedding and were only staying for one night. My house would be bursting at the seems tonight, but after that, some of them would move over to Dee-dee's new place where she and Nathan had three extra bedrooms.

My house would still be packed in spite of the added room, but that's just how I wanted it. Besides my mom, it had been a few months since we had visitors, and I was really looking forward to everyone coming over for the week.

We had food brought in by a catering company for the reception. A few people had gone next door to change or take a quick tour of the place, but most everyone stayed at our house for the post-wedding feast. We even had a few extras from Charlotte who were staying in a hotel for the night, so our house was bustling with action.

Cupcake loved all the attention, and went around letting people pet her and comment on what a pretty girl she was.

She loved living at the beach, and it was so much fun watching her run out to the water, surprised every single time—like every time was her first time seeing it.

Evan's restaurant was doing well. His story had been featured in a local newspaper before it opened. They told about his history and modeling background and how he was now a full time resident. His popularity was enough to make people visit the restaurant, and he capitalized on that by making sure they got served good food and wanted to come back. He viewed it as a full time job, and spent quite a bit of time there, making sure it was successful, which it was turning out to be. I admired his work ethic, and it pushed me to become better at my own pursuits. He continued to work with the EOC.

I worked three ten-hour days at the salon. I made time in my schedule to do three free haircuts a week, and those were always the most rewarding ones. I loved them all, though. I truly enjoyed my job, and it allowed me to contribute to the house payment without having to work full-time. This way, I could help Evan with the restaurant, which I also thoroughly enjoyed. Evan Hunt was without a doubt the man of my dreams. Neither of us was perfect, but our flaws complimented each other, and we truly were in love.

He was wearing a light-colored linen shirt and some khakis. We had bought somewhat coordinating outfits for "all the grandkids," a group in which I was now included. The guys looked sharp in their collarless, button-up, linen shirt with khaki pants, and I stared from my kitchen window at my gorgeous husband who was laughing at something his cousin said out on the deck. I decided to leave the dishes for later so that I could go out there and stand next to that man—my man.

He made eye contact with me the instant I opened the sliding glass door, and he gestured with a flick of his head for me to come over to where he was standing. I smiled and headed toward him. Confident that I was on my way, Evan went back to talking to Logan, who was standing next to him. Rachel was sitting on the other side of her husband holding a baby. Their little boy, Levi, was only a few months old, and already looked just like his daddy.

Mia was sitting nearby, and she also had a baby in her arms. It was her and Nico's second—a girl named Annie, after his mom. Her full name was Annie Jane Torres, and they already called her A.J., which I thought was super cute and tough for a little girl. They were both adorable babies, and holding them gave me the feeling that I might want it to be sooner than later when Evan and I start trying to have one of our own.

"Can I hold her?" I asked Mia.

"Of course," she said.

I bent down and plucked the baby out of her mother's arms. I held her close to my face and made an exaggerated happy face, trying to make her smile.

"She's about to get some fever," Nico said, pointing at me.

"Oh, I can tell you that a mile away with how she snagged that baby up like that," Logan said, shaking his head as he looked at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I don't have the fever," I said. "I just love babies. Like this precious little angel right here, huh, Baby A.J.?"

Logan looked at Evan with a deadpan expression and said, "Fever," making us all laugh.

Charlotte and Cub were sitting at the big table on the far end of the deck with Paige and Cody, Andy and Willow, and all of their little ones. Charlotte and Cub's little boy, Ben, was now toddling around, and was a total handful who would climb anything and jump off of places that were slightly too high. She had to watch him like a hawk to keep him from falling and skinning his knees twenty-four, seven.

They teased Evan about being the same way, telling him he should take a turn looking after his little cousin as punishment for doing the same thing to his parents. Evan swore that Ben would grow up to be an awesome individual in spite of his current high-maintenance condition—he said they should just hang in there and watch the magic unfold.

Charlotte and Cub, along with Logan and Rachel, still lived in California full-time. Charlotte and Cub had come to Carolina for our wedding, but Rachel had just given birth, so she and Logan didn't make it. It was the first time Evan and I had seen them since last summer, and it was great to catch up with them and meet little Levi. She was a dentist who worked part time and also did some pro-bono work each week.

Paige had a hand resting on her stomach, which was nine-months pregnant with their third child, a boy to no-doubt be tortured and loved by his two older sisters. They hadn't planned on finding out the baby's gender, but the person doing the ultrasound made the rare mistake of announcing it when she forgot they didn't want to know. With two little girls at home, Paige was glad to have the time to prepare herself for bringing home a baby boy. She was nervous and excited at the same time, and couldn’t wait to go ahead and meet him. The timing was good, since they had just moved into their new house… one Cody had custom built with a round stone tower so it looked like a castle. It was beautifully designed, and was the perfect mix of regal yet whimsical. He designed it with Paige in mind, and I was so happy for her when we drove to Charlotte to see them and take a tour.

Mia and Nico still split their time between the east and west coasts. Mia was helping Evan with some marketing, and had actually been here a couple of times since we moved. She and Nico joked about adding it to their circle and making visits to Myrtle Beach more frequent than just once a year. Of course, we told them they were always welcome, and so did Dee-dee now that she had her own house next door. Mia and Nico's little boy, Tristan, was three now, and he made the most adorable ring barer for Dee-dee's wedding. He was wearing suspenders, and looked like a little Oliver Twist handing them the rings.

Dee-dee's wedding was simple, but we all cried when Nathan talked about what a testament it was to her that she was surrounded by so many people who loved her. It was a simple, short ceremony, but it was touching and heartfelt, and left us all with the feeling of warm-fuzzies.

It was still hard for me to believe that things turned out the way they did. I got my Hunt man and a dream home on the beach. I was a part of a beautiful family, and they loved me like I was one of their own. It was a dream life, and I didn't for a second, take it for granted.

"You look hot right now," Evan said, pulling me into his arms after I handed Baby A.J. back to her mama. There were a lot of people standing around, but Evan didn't pay attention to them as he held me by the waist. He stared down at me like we were on this deck alone as we had been for so many nights before. It was a familiar position for us—standing out there in each other's arms as the ocean breeze hit us. It didn't seem to faze either of us that our deck was full of people. We just stared at each other like they weren't even there.

"You don't look so bad yourself," I said, snuggling up to him and batting my lashes like I was shy.

"You gonna cause me to leave this party?" he asked, staring at me.

I smiled and shook my head. "No," I whispered like he was out of his mind. "We'd never get any privacy with all these people here. It's a disaster waiting to happen."

He shrugged. "I don’t think it's so sketchy," he said. "That's why God made locks."

I laughed. "We can not go in there while all these people are at our house," I whispered, feeling like I wanted to do the opposite of what I was saying. "We would not be able to relax."

"I would definitely be able to relax," he said confidently.

I smiled and stretched up to kiss him on the cheek. "I'll probably be able to relax later, though," I said.

He smiled. "Oh yeah?"

I nodded.

"All right, I'll look forward to that."

Logan and Rachel and the others were preoccupied talking to Dan and Christy who had just walked up, so thankfully, no body was paying attention to us.

"I love your family being here," I said.

He smiled. "I'm glad."

"I love you," I said, staring into his dark eyes.

"I love you, Annabel. You're my girl."

I nodded. "I know," I said, making him smile.

"Good."

"Good that you know it, too," I said, shrugging.

"Glad we both know it, then," he said, smiling down at me.

His smile was so perfect that I couldn’t resist kissing him. I did it twice before I could finally make myself leave him alone. "It's the best ending ever, you know," I said, feeling happy for Dee-dee and so in love myself.

Evan grinned and nudged his chin at me. "It's just the start," he said.

The End