Parting, he kissed her again softly, and then three more times before he smiled down at her. “So what do you say?”

She shot him a toothless grin as the tears rolled down her cheeks onto their hands and onto their future child. “I say, ‘I’m in’, where do I sign up?”

Epilogue

Four months later…..

Tate held Audrey’s hand as they made their way up a dirt trail that lead to Tate’s family’s burial site. Audrey was completely healed; she even had a new set of pretty white teeth. The only thing different was that Audrey walked with a little bit of a limp but she blamed that on the pressure from her stomach. At only five and half months pregnant, she didn’t expect to be as big as she was, and she blamed it all on Tate. He was a giant and now she was having a giant. Audrey just couldn’t understand how she went from not being able to have a child to growing a massive size one.

She could also blame him for stuffing cupcakes down her throat. She had been working out all her recipes for the opening of Audrey Jane’s and instead of enjoying the cupcakes by himself, like she planned, Tate convinced her to eat them with him. She didn’t mind though, the cupcakes were fantastic. The only thing that wasn’t fantastic was her growing waistline.

Glancing up at her beautiful husband to be, she smiled. He looked tired, but it was to be expected. They had left right after the Assassins lost game six in the third round of the Stanley Cup finals. Those LA Kings were going all the way; Audrey had no doubt about that. She thought Tate would be a little more upset about it, but he wasn’t. He said he was ready to start their life together. That they couldn’t win every year and that there was always next year.

He was right, and she was beyond ready to start their life together.

But first, they would enjoy a mini vacation in his beautiful home country.

Gävle, Sweden was amazing. Audrey had never seen such beautiful green, lush scenery in her life. Tate’s family home was shaped like a large dome barn, and it sat along the river. Every time she glanced out onto the river she could see big wooden sail boats off in the distance. They were massive and beautiful. The day before, she and Tate sat on the long wooden dock that Tate and his father had built when he was a kid and watched the boats pass by out on the open water. Tate had told her he used to spend his whole summer on that dock. He also informed her he had lost his virginity on it too. It didn’t take long before she was naked and being loved in the same exact place.

Thank God, his closest neighbors were five miles away.

Tate also had acres of land, with hills and beautiful flowers in patches, making it look like the hills were wearing band-aids of bright beautiful flowers. Big trees with bright green leaves served as a canopy to most of the land, but Audrey had to admit her favorite place was the dock. It was such a romantic place, or maybe it felt romantic because she was so in love?

Either way she was happy as all get out.

“I’m surprised Fallon hasn’t called a thousand times,” Tate joked as they climbed the hill to where his family was.

Audrey grinned, “She’s busy today,” she said. Fallon had been on her like white on rice since she left the hospital. The whole experience had scared her to the core and she said she just wanted to make sure Audrey was okay. It didn’t bother her, but it didn’t keep Tate from teasing Fallon about it. It seemed like so long ago that everything had happened when really it had only been four short months. Audrey was completely recovered and she knew it was because she had so much love and support from all of her family. Things were still a little tense with Tate and her father, but she didn’t care. It would all work out and she had bigger things to worry about.

Like their wedding and the birth of their child.

“Have they decided on a name yet?” he asked, swinging her arm back and forth as they walked.

“Yes, Aiden didn’t tell you?” she asked, when he shook his head, she said, “Hmm, I found out from him before Fallon told me.”

“Nope, that little booger hasn’t told me anything.”

Audrey giggled, “Well, our second nephew’s name will be, Asher William Brooks.”

“Good strong name,” Tate said with a nod, “now if only we could decide on something for our little chicken.”

Audrey laughed, “I knew you were going to bring that up.”

“Well if we could decide on something, I wouldn’t have to bring it up.”

“She isn’t going to be here for another four months, why do we need to rush it?”

“Because I want to call her something other than chicken.”

Audrey pouted, “I love my chicken name.”

Tate chuckled as he brought her in close, kissing her temple, “I do too, but I think Alice is a nice name.”

“Ew, hell no,” Audrey said as they finally reached a black iron gate. Tate took in a deep frustrated breath before pulling the gate open and bringing her inside. He didn’t say anything else as they made their way through the graveyard to three large tombstones that were covered in fresh flowers. Tate smiled, crouching down and running his fingers over each of their names. He looked up at Audrey, and brought her down beside him. She laid flowers they had brought with them on each grave and leaned over to kiss Tate’s cheek just so he knew she was there for him.

He had done so well the last couple months. His anxiety was getting better. He really didn’t freak out as much and he seemed to be recovering. She knew it wasn’t going to be quick and easy but she was proud of what he had accomplished so far. He even didn’t freak out when she would sing in the car, so that was a big plus in her book.