Page 194 of Snowbound Threat

“A lifetime of them, baby,” I reply, then press a kiss to the top of her head.

“Hmm. I love that. Merry Christmas, Detective.”

“Merry Christmas, Counselor.”

Epilogue: Shawn

Two years later.

Waves crash into the beach, the steady sound something I’m still not used to, even though we moved to Hope Springs just over a year ago when we got back from our honeymoon.

This place is just—it’s perfect.

Or maybe that’s the woman who is sharing it with me.

Dressed in a bright yellow two-piece swimsuit, Beckett lies beside me, her hand resting on her slightly swollen stomach.

The smile on my face is one I’ve been wearing for the last five months. Ever since we got the news from Doc that we were expecting. A baby.

Once I crossed forty, I honestly didn’t think a family was in the cards for me. But I should have remembered: Nothing is impossible with God. And all is in His timing.

Beckett cracks open one eye and turns to look at me. “What are you looking at?”

“The same thing I can’t stop looking at.” I roll over onto my stomach and wrap an arm around her. Leaning down, I press a kiss to her lips.

When I pull away, Beckett’s cheeks are flush with color. “You are trouble, Officer,” she replies.

I grin. “Always.”

After accepting an offer to come here and work as acting sheriff until they voted in a new one, I’d never expected this relocation to become permanent. But Jaxson Payne and the rest of the guys at Knight Security put in a good word for me on Beckett’s behalf, and before I knew it, the mayor was pinning a badge on me and congratulating me for being elected Sheriff of Hope Springs, Maine.

Seems Sheriff Vick had been wanting to retire for quite some time now and didn’t have anyone willing to take his place. Until he got word I planned to move to town.

Beckett opened a small practice here in town, too, and hired Lauren to work a summer internship. She’s decided that becoming a lawyer is her calling, and I know Beckett was beside herself when she asked to come shadow her.

The two of them have built a bond that I think neither of them thought would be possible.

It warms my heart.

Especially since, last Sunday, Lauren was baptized right here at the church in town. We’ve become a rather interesting family, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I could lie here forever,” Beckett says when I lay my head down beside her.

“Same.”

“But then we’d miss dinner with our moms, and I think they might have a problem with that,” she replies.

I groan even though there’s a smile on my face. Beckett’s mom and mine rented opposite sides of a duplex from the town’s librarian, Carmen, and her husband, Caleb. They’ve become best friends over the past two years and are practically inseparable.

Hence, the weekly dinners they host, each alternating whose house it’s held at.

“I’m sure they’d understand,” I reply.

“Then you can call and tell them. Because I know for a fact your mom’s been baking up a storm.”

Once again, I groan and roll onto my back. “Fine. But ten more minutes. This is the first day off we’ve both had in weeks, and I, for one, want to enjoy it.”

“Ooh.” She grabs her stomach, and worries race through me.