Page 76 of Wrangled By the Cowboy

“I want everything with you.”

“On a ranch that’s fighting to survive. In a family that’s patching itself together. In a world that keeps throwing punches.”

“Yes.” She doesn’t blink. “All of it.”

My chest cracks open. Not breaking—expanding. Making room. “I love you.”

“I know.”

“I’m going to love our kids.”

“I know that too.”

“And I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never regret choosing me.”

She laughs—that bright, sharp sound I’d level mountains to hear.

“Too late. Already no regrets.”

We stay on the porch until the cold wins. Wrapped in each other and the blanket, with the future stretching ahead.

LandCorp’s not done. Ethan’s closing in on names, but the fight continues. The ridge is valuable. We’re targets.

But we’re not scared. Not scrambling. Not alone.

Gabriel’s mystery will unfold. Jacob and Ben seem to be mending bridges. Henry walks around with little Max like he invented fatherhood, and watching him, I’m starting to understand.

Maybe, eventually, our own.

We’re building past a ranch now. Past ourselves. A family. A legacy.

Delaney is asleep, her breathing slow against my chest as we lie tangled in bed. Moonlight spills through the window I leave cracked even in winter—she runs hot, and I’ve learned which battles matter.

Her hand rests on her stomach. Maybe nothing there yet. Maybe someday.

Her wedding ring catches the light. Three generations of Sutton women wore that ring. My great-grandmother for fifty years. My grandmother for forty. My mother until she died.

Delaney is the fourth.

Maybe there’ll be a fifth. A girl with her mother’s sharp tongue and her father’s stubborn streak. A boy who’ll ride Captain Winky’s foal and argue with Uncle Ethan about technology.

But tonight?

Tonight I’m holding my wife in our bed in our home, dreaming about our future.

The control freak and the chaos coordinator. The soldier and the survivor.

We made it.

And we’re just getting started.