Emotion clogged up Holden’s throat, but he managed to speak around it. “He just wants you and your mama happy too. We both do, and…I love him as well. He’s a good man, and so are you.”
He was surprised when Wyatt reached over and hugged him. When Holden looked up again, Roe was watching them with a smile on his face.
Wyatt slipped away then, heading over to Sean.
Roe came over. “Come’ere,” he said, and Holden went, easily, willingly, into Roe’s arms.
“Thank you.”
“You probably won’t be thanking me when they’re all up in your business all the time.”
“Yeah, I will.” Because he’d never had this. He, Marilee, Sean…none of them ever had.
Roe kissed his temple, held him. “You got family now. A whole hell of a lot of them. Marilee and Sean do too. We take that seriously around here.”
They did, and Holden did too.
It was a sad day for a lot of reasons—Adam, the family he sacrificed, what Marilee and Sean lost—but it was a beautiful day too. Holden looked forward to more of them, and to the peace he’d somehow found in Harmony and with this man by his side.
EPILOGUE
Monroe
Three months later
“Go, go, go!” Roe shoved to his feet in the bleachers as Sean caught the football that Wyatt, who played quarterback, threw for him.
“Holy shit. Look at him go.” Holden was nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet as his nephew went for the end zone, weaving around a defender before diving, and when the referee held his arms up to indicate a touchdown, the crowd went wild.
They took up a few rows, all the Covingtons, Marilee, Lindsey, and even Larry Benson—who had taken Lindsey out a few times—there to watch Wyatt and Sean play football.
“Yeah, Wyatt and Sean!” Roe’s mom shouted.
“Go Honey Bees!” Lindsey yelled, everyone clapping and cheering.
The boys ran off to the sidelines, giving each other high fives as they went.
Roe wasn’t going to say the past few months had been perfect. They’d had their ups and downs, of course, trying to figure out how to settle in. Holden had gone back to Atlanta for a month—giving the airline four weeks’ notice and selling his apartment.
When he moved back, Vince had driven with him and stayed for a visit. Apparently, Vince was back with his ex. Roe didn’t know the guy, but Holden was worried about his friend getting hurt.
It had been a little awkward in the beginning. But Roe knew he wanted Holden with him and that his partner felt the same.
They’d started out with Holden still in the cabin with Sean and Marilee, trying to be sensitive to Wyatt and Lindsey, but then one day, when it had been just Roe, Wyatt, and Lindsey having dinner, Wyatt said, “You know I don’t care if Holden moves in, right? He’s your boyfriend. I’m not dumb. I know you guys sneak around together. Wouldn’t it be easier if he just lived with us?”
Roe had nearly choked on his dinner, Lindsey had laughed her ass off, and then they’d had a conversation about it, making sure Wyatt was truly okay with it.
“He makes you happy, Dad. I know that you and Mom won’t happen. And I get it—you don’t need to be together for us to be a family. Now with Holden, Marilee, and Sean, we’re just an even bigger one,” he’d said, and Roe had tried not to cry like a baby while also being proud as hell of his son.
So that’s what they’d done. He’d asked Holden to move in with him a few weeks before, and he’d said yes. Marilee and Sean were still in the cabin for now, but he figured they might get their own place at some point. If not, he was okay with that too. Even though Adam was locked away for the assault on Marilee as well as the woman he’d robbed, Holden liked having them close, and Roe liked making Holden happy. Plus, they were both protective, so maybe it made them both feel better.
Roe loved Sean, just as much as Holden loved Wyatt. Roe watched them sometimes, bonding—Holden talking to the boys about flying or all the places he visited—and it made him feel at peace. It might have taken him forty-five years, but Roe had everything he wanted—his home, his family, Lindsey, his son, and the man he loved.
Holden had told him once that being there was easy, just like breathing, and that was how being with Holden felt to him—like this thing he had to do to survive, but it was so damn simple and natural too.
The Honey Bees’ defense stopped their opponent, so the offensive line made their way onto the field again.
Sean and Wyatt had gotten closer, almost like brothers, nitpicking at each other sometimes, but having one another’s backs. Wyatt had invited Sean into his group of friends, and Sean had found his place there.