Page 73 of The Spare (The King Dynasty #2)

Epilogue

Two Months Later

" H ow many did they lay?" Mason asks softly.

I hum as I open the little hatch top at the side of our chick inn, and he presses his front to my back as he works to peek impatiently over my shoulder as I raise the wooden top.

I look inside, holding my breath. "Five -no, six! Trixie is laying now!" I say happily as I reach into the straw and grab the chicken eggs and place them carefully in the basket he holds towards me.

This is our morning routine: we get up for a five o'clock run, do a little harvesting in our small garden, then we check the eggs before we start our day with work. It's a very fulfilling life, very different from the one we led in New York.

The chickens cluck as they walk around, picking at the feed and vegetable scraps Mason threw out for them.

We close the pen, and I look down as our beagle Betsy runs up to us, excited and whining for pets.

Mason bends down and scratches her behind her ears as our other dog, a golden retriever, runs off after a bird in the distance.

I wrap my arm around his waist as we make our way to the back of our house across the expansive grounds of the property and look up at him.

"I love you."

"Not as much as I love you." He bends down and kisses me slowly, not breaking our stride as we make our way into the house, and then place the eggs into the fridge.

"I'm about to head in." I eye him as he sits at the breakfast table and changes out of the boots he wears when we're outside in the gardens or the chicken coop, and puts on a pair of nice shoes. "Am I going to see you in time for dinner tonight?"

He glances up sharply and gives me a wink. "You can bet your pretty little ass on it. What are we having?"

"Egg drop soup and lo mien." I giggle, shaking my head as I try to evade his hands and head to change my own shoes.

Six hours later I'm in full swing at the bakery, teasing my boss Charayl about her non-existent love life. As I always do.

I tried to set her up with Stephen, but she just won't do it for some reason. She rolls her eyes, unbothered by my teasing, and shoves a big plate of steaming brownies topped with vanilla ice cream and warm caramel glaze to me. I grab it carefully .

"Help me take this out to the table," she says in a weary voice, no doubt sick of my teasing.

She picks up the other two plates, and I follow her out to the customers, where they are sitting patiently waiting for their desert.

We stand and chit chat with them for a while.

Charayl is amazing at customer service, and it never fails to amaze me how she knows everyone.

And not only does she know them, she actually remembers the little details about them and always has follow-up questions.

Her brain is a bit intimidating, but under her tutelage I can tell I've grown a lot. I'm not quite as shy and feel a lot more confident in my abilities.

Right as we're turning to walk back to the front, the little door bell rings, and I turn back to greet whoever is walking in. But seeing it's just Mason, I break out into a wide smile and laugh because I just knew he wasn't going to go all week without seeing me until dinner time.

"Babe," I laugh, walking to him and giving him a hug, reaching out to playfully slap Luca's arm as he walks in behind Mason along with three of his men. "What are you doing here?" I ask in an accusatory tone.

"Well we had to come for the cinnamon chocolate chip cookies," he says in a sexy, thick accent that let's me know him coming here wasn't all for the cookies. I mean, maybe a cookie, but not the dessert type.

I roll my eyes. "Sure you did."

He gives me a wicked grin and lowers his voice. "Come on, butterfly-"

"Don't you ‘butterfly’ me!" I whisper futilely in his ear. “I'm not leaving early just so you can fuck me!" He chuckles, and I turn to my cousin, seeing he's been quiet this whole time. "Hey, Luca," I call, but he's not paying me any attention .

My brows furrow at seeing him standing still in place as a shocked look melts away to an amused one, and a grin tips his lips. "Hello, Rabbit," he says in a low tone, and I frown, pulling away from Mason to turn to look behind me, seeing Charayl looking like a deer caught in headlights.

My brows rise. "Charayl?" I call slowly, seeing her struck mute.

I've never seen my sharp-as-nails boss struck stupid before. My eyes cut to Mason who just shrugs and brushes his hand down my hair. "Guess that explains that ugly as fuck rabbit statue on his mantle," he breathes, making me giggle.

Seeing Charayl just blinking at him I smile. "I guess so."

I walk over and bump her lightly with my hip, trying to snap her out of it. "Charayl, meet my cousin Lucien."

Her head snaps to me and her eyes widen. "Cousin?"

I nod. "Yep!"

"Charayl, would you like to come to our house for dinner tomorrow? We're hosting," Mason says.

"We are?" I ask, failing to play it cool. It's not effortless for me like it is for him.

"Hmhm. Remember? You wanted to test out the new jam you made from our berries."

Oh, yeah!" I say, smiling. "So, dinner at our place tomorrow. I'll text you the address."

But Charayl’s not paying attention, and neither is my cousin. Her and Luca are too busy eye-fucking or something to listen to what we're saying.

"Okayyyy," I trill, deciding to leave anyway because this is a little awkward. "Gotta go. See you tomorrow." I say to them both, then Mason and I walk out the door, leaving them to whatever is happening. " Talk to your mom today?" I ask as we walk down the sidewalk towards our car.

"Yeah, she's been staying with your mom."

I wince, "I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry." He cuts his eyes to me. "How about you, love? Have you returned your mother's calls this week?"

"No."

He nods, looking ahead as we meander slowly. "I think maybe you should think about that, butterfly. Being upset is one thing, but holding a grudge this long is another."

I breathe in deeply, knowing he still hasn't made amends with Richard, who stopped calling when he saw Mason wasn't going to answer.

"That was a big secret, Mason," I say sadly. "I don't know how to move past it."

He puts his arms around my shoulder and presses his lips to my temple. "Together, Melly. We'll move past it together. I believe in us. Don't you?"

I nod. "Yeah, very much so."

We get in the car and drive in silence, not needing to talk any more about it, and as I look past the palm trees and to the bright aqua water crashing against the sandy beaches, I firmly believe we will get past it. It'll just take time.

I squeeze his hand, thankful to have the love of my life at my side to go through this with. Because patience and the passing of time is something neither of us are strangers to. So, we aren't scared.

As long as he's by my side, I know there's nothing to be scared of.