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“It’s the way she’s staring at the painter.” Dani practically leaves a nose print on the glass she leans in so close, hip checking Sebastian out of the way. “It’s like she’s looking into my soul. That’s how Honey looks at people.”
I snort. “Shut up.”
“I’m serious.” Dani slides an arm around my waist. “You look at the world like you’re seeing everything. You don’t miss a thing.”
“She’s right.” Jaxon presses a kiss to my temple. “The way you seemed to look straight into my soul nearly knocked me to my knees when we met.”
I don’t think they’re right about me, but I know when to give up an argument. “I wish we could have met her. I think I would have liked her.”
“She died in a horse riding accident,” Sebastian says from behind us. “According to Mom, she was racing three men who claimed women couldn’t ride.”
“And she died?” Dani shakes her head. “What a way to go.”
“She beat them all first. But on the way back to the stables, the horse caught sight of a snake and reared up. Grandma Weston slipped off and hit her head on a rock.”
“That’s so sad.” I wrap my arms around the waists of Dani and Jaxon, pulling them tight against me like I can keep them safe.
“A freak accident,” Dani says. “At least she won her race first.”
“That’s what I said.” Sebastian grins. “May we all endeavor to do the same.”
I laugh. “How about we take the map and the riddle to the curator and get the right name put on this display?”
Dani squeezes me. “Sounds like a plan, sister.”
EPILOGUE
Honey
The crowd cheers as we finish our set, and I can’t stop smiling. I love being on stage with my sisters and Jaxon, to finally make an old dream come true.
The club is small and, when we started our gig, there were only about ten people here, but word must have spread that Jaxon Hayes is in the role of lead singer with our little blue grass band for the night, because the club has filled steadily over the past hour that we’ve performed until I’m worried the fire Marshall might show up and start kicking people out.
“I have a couple of things I want to say.” Jaxon leans into the microphone.
He’s such a natural on stage, so at ease and energetic. I’ve toured with him on and off for the past ten months, and now he’s back home for at least a year. He’s pushing for longer than that.
On tour, I saw him perform over a hundred times, but it never got old and, whenever he had downtime, he made sure to spend it with me and to show me as much of every city he possibly could in the short time we had. In some of the biggest cities in the world, he rented out art museums so we could tour them together. It was an experience beyond anything I’d ever imagined.
We’ve written a few songs together and, toward the end of the tour, he brought me out on stage to sing with him. It was a high like nothing I’ve ever experienced, but being on stage in this tiny club with my sisters is still better.
Dell never went to the press with all the dirt he has on me and he hasn’t gotten in touch with me or Jaxon. According to Maya, he’s actually gone straight and is working in an auto repair shop that doesn’t belong to his uncle.
Unfortunately, with all the focus on me as Jaxon’s girlfriend, a few stories about my past have come out, but far fewer than we’d expected and most of them hearsay.
Most of Jaxon’s fans have been kind to me, but I’ve had to deal with a few haters.
It’s worth it to be with Jaxon.
And I’ve never been happier to get home and hug my sisters and the animals on the farm. So much has changed at the sanctuary farm, even just in ten months, and Dani and I have big plans for the future.
It’s good to be back in my art studio, making ceramics on tour didn’t work out at all, and to work on the farm again.
Barley and Begonia, the proud parents of four adorable kids, are beyond happy to have us both home, and they love the expanded play yard Jaxon built them at the farm.
He’s moved into my house permanently.
And it is my house. Dani and Grant built a house on the property with an industrial kitchen. Goldy got her own place in town, but I suspect she’ll be moving in with Henry very soon. Asher and Clover are still living in the house, but they plan to leave next month. And Daisy and Noah bought an adorable house in walking distance to his clinic.
