Page 50 of The Lilac River (Silver Peaks #1)

Free – Zac Brown Band

Lily

I t had been a couple of months since Mayor Miller had been arrested.

A couple of months of bliss as me, Nash, and Bertie fell into a wonderful kind of normal.

The kind of normal that didn’t feel boring or small but sacred.

Earned. Like something built carefully with callused hands and late-night promises.

I stayed over at the ranch most of the time, but I still liked to be home for Grandma if Mom was working a night shift.

On those nights, Nash and I spent hours video calling or texting, sending blurry photos of the sky or our dinner, trading stupid inside jokes that always ended with my cheeks hurting from smiling.

He often came over once Bertie was in bed but had to leave by ten, so he’d be up at dawn for ranch work.

Tonight, though? I was staying over, and the five of us were spending it together. No interruptions. No stress. Just dinner and games, and my heart full to bursting at the fact that I was part of this. Really, truly part of it.

After dinner, with the kitchen wiped down and Bertie bouncing on the balls of her feet, we all sprawled into the living room for games night. It had become routine around the Miller house the last two months and had somehow become an official tradition without anyone saying it out loud.

Gunner flopped onto one of the brand new comfy couches that the boys had me pick, with the grace of a collapsing tree. “I demand to be on the winning team tonight. No carrying Nash’s sorry ass like last time.”

“You’re dreaming, little brother,” Nash fired back, scooping Bertie into his arms as she squealed with laughter. “You’re about as useful at trivia as a fart in a windstorm.”

“I know all the important stuff,” Gunner said, puffing up. “Like how many chickens it takes to?—”

“Nobody cares,” Wilder cut in, dropping beside him with a groan and tossing a deck of cards onto the table. “Let’s just play.”

“Okay, okay, okay!” Bertie shouted with her arms flung wide like a tiny general. “I’m Team Captain tonight! Uncle Gunner, you’re on my team!”

“Yesss!” Gunner fist-pumped the air, grinning like he’d just won the lottery. He threw a triumphant look at Nash. “Suck it.”

“Language,” I said, lifting a brow. But I was already laughing.

Nash set Bertie down beside me and claimed the seat at my other side, stretching his long legs in front of him. He winked at me, just a flash of that private smile, and my heart did a whole backflip.

“Alright, Captain Bertie,” Wilder said, pretending to interview her with an imaginary microphone. “What’s your game plan?”

“First, we win,” Bertie said seriously. “Then we celebrate with ice cream.”

“You had me at ice cream,” Gunner said, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

We landed on a trivia card game. Kid-friendly, but competitive enough that the Miller boys could still trash-talk like the oversized delinquents they were.

The first question landed with my team.

“What’s the tallest mountain in the world?” I read from the card, already grinning because I knew she’d get it.

Bertie scrunched her nose and tapped her chin like a little professor. “Is it… Mount Silver Peaks?”

All three brothers went wide eyed, clearly holding back a burst of laughter.

“That’s our town, Bert,” Wilder said softly, poking her belly. “Not an actual mountain.”

“But it’s big!” she defended. “What about the hill with the statue on top?”

“That’s a monument, sweetheart,” Nash said with a chuckle, brushing her hair behind her ear.

“Bertie, you know this answer,” I prompted gently.

“Hey!” Nash protested. “She’s not on your team. No coaching.”

Bertie rolled her eyes. “So dramatic, Daddy.”

“Says you, Judy Garland,” Nash said, ruffling her hair again. “And the answer’s Everest, sweetheart.”

“Tomorrow, we’ll climb Mount Silver Peaks,” Gunner said with a wink. “Bring snacks, though. I hear it’s at least three feet tall.”

“I did know really,” Bertie huffed. “I just felt sorry for you all seeing as I’m the brightest person here.”

“Not brighter than me,” Wilder gasped. “I eat my cabbage, unlike you. And it makes my farts better.”

Bertie collapsed in giggles, snorting as she leaned into me, nearly falling off the couch.

The night unraveled in chaotic laughter and fake outrage.

Wilder made stupid faces every time Gunner tried to concentrate.

Gunner insisted Bertie was the only teammate worth a damn and threatened to bench himself.

Nash kept quietly whispering the correct answers to Bertie with the kind of pride that could break your heart in the best way.

At one point, when Bertie was deep in thought, I caught Nash watching me. That soft-eyed, quietly content look that never failed to stop me in my tracks. Like he still couldn’t believe I was here. Like he couldn’t believe we got this second chance.

And maybe I couldn’t either.

When Bertie finally declared herself the “World Champion of Trivia”, a title no one dared dispute, Gunner swept her up onto his shoulders and paraded her around the room while she waved her arms like royalty.

“All hail Queen Bertie!” Wilder cried, bowing so low his forehead nearly hit the carpet.

“I want ice cream now!” she declared.

“Your wish is my command, Your Majesty,” Nash said with mock formality as he bowed. “Tomorrow, after dinner you get two scoops.”

As I leaned back into the couch, surrounded by the people I loved, I realized this—this chaotic, joyful, perfectly imperfect scene was what I’d been searching for. And maybe…maybe it was just the beginning.

The room buzzed with lingering laughter even after Bertie flopped dramatically back onto the couch, her crown slipping sideways.

“I am the Trivia Queen!” she declared, yawning through the words like a monarch after a long campaign.

“You sure are short stuff,” Gunner said, brushing her hair off her forehead. “No one else knows how many legs a ladybug has.”

“Or that the sun is a star, not a planet,” Wilder added, shaking his head. “I still call bullshit on that.”

“And again, language,” I said, wagging a finger at him with a mock scowl.

He only grinned and flopped deeper into the armchair. Gunner, never one to let a moment pass quietly, tossed popcorn at him.

“Alright,” Nash said, standing and swooping Bertie into his arms. “Time for bed, Your Highness.”

“Nooo,” she whined, even as her eyes fluttered. “One more game.”

“You’ve had six,” Nash said, starting up the stairs with her cuddled against his chest. “And you’re about to turn into a pumpkin.”

“But I’m not even tired,” she said, yawning wide enough to disprove the point.

I smiled and started cleaning up, placing cards in a stack, dice in a cup, empty bowls shuffled toward the kitchen. Gunner and Wilder had wandered into the den, still arguing about who cheated the most. Probably both of them.

I had just loaded the dishwasher, and was on my way back to the lounge, when Nash reappeared at the top of the stairs, then walked slowly down, his mouth curved in that soft, secret smile that always made my heart ache.

“She’s asleep,” he said quietly. “With the crown still on her head.”

“Long may she reign,” I replied with a grin.

He held out his hand. “Come with me.”

I didn’t hesitate. The moment our fingers twined together, something in my chest exhaled.

He led me through the front door and out onto the porch, into the stillness of a Colorado night.

The stars were blinding, thousands of them, each one sharp and clear against the deep velvet sky.

The kind of sky that made you feel small, but in a good way.

Like you were part of something vast and infinite.

Without a word, Nash guided me down the steps and across the grass to where the pasture stretched wide and quiet, bathed in moonlight. We stopped near the old fence post. He turned, pulled me close, and wrapped his arms around my waist.

“My girl,” he whispered, his forehead resting against mine.

I closed my eyes, breathing him in. Soap, leather, earth. The smell of home.

“We’re really doing this, huh?” I whispered.

“We’re doing it,” he said. His voice rough with emotion. “For real this time.”

We stood there in the quiet, listening to the chirp of crickets and the breeze rustling the tall grass.

“You don’t know how many nights I stood out here,” he said finally. “Just… staring out at nothing. Wondering where you were. Wondering if you ever thought about me.”

Tears prickled behind my eyes.

“If you were like me…” I said softly, “…then every single day. There wasn’t a day that passed that I didn’t.”

He kissed my temple, holding me tighter.

“You fit here,” he whispered. “Always have.”

I pressed my face against his chest, feeling the slow beat of his heart.

“I missed your brothers almost as much as I missed you,” I admitted, voice catching. “This family… it’s everything to me.”

“You still have it,” he said fiercely. “You have all of us.”

I wiped at a stray tear with the back of my hand and chuckled lightly. “You think Bertie’s still wearing that crown in the morning?”

“She’ll make us call her Queen Bertie for a week,” he said, laughing quietly.

“Worth it.”

For a long, perfect moment, the past didn’t exist. Neither did the trial, or the years we lost, or the wounds we still carried.

Then Nash shifted, his hand slipping into mine, fingers lacing tight.

“We’re almost through the hard part,” he said. “Dad’s trial starts soon. Once it’s done, it’s over. No more shadows. No more looking over our shoulders.”

I nodded, even though fear curled low in my belly.

“I’m scared,” I admitted. “Scared, all this beauty is going to unravel.”

“It won’t,” he said, pulling me in close. “You’re not alone, Lila. Never again.”

I looked up, and the love in his eyes stole every breath I had.

“We earned this,” he whispered. “Every damn second of it.”

And under the stars, I believed him.

I wasn’t just standing in the arms of the boy I’d loved since forever.

I was standing in the arms of my future.