41. Epilogue
One Month Later…
I pace the living room, anxiously waiting for the doorbell to ring. It has been one month since my father was killed.
It has been unnervingly peaceful. I haven’t felt the need to consistently be on edge every time we leave the house. Feeling the need to look over my shoulder every moment.
There hasn’t been a single question aimed our way in both the disappearance of the Mullen Pack or my father. Or the man that had been playing as my father. It's been hard to not think of him as that. He was my father for 23 years. A piece of shit one at that.
Three days ago, we received both the funds from where they have bounced around in offshore accounts. Jax said it was the easiest way for them to clean the money or something along those lines. To be honest, the paperwork side of the family has confused me to no end.
Instead I have found myself enjoying being in the armory as the guys worked. I take stocktake of the weapons we have, clean each of them after being used and log them out whenever a soldier comes down to prepare for a mission .
It's a small role but I still feel proud of my place. A weapon in my hand feels right and after being gifted the Beretta from Ledger, it has become a new love besides my Alphas.
“You need to sit down, my love. They will be here soon.”
Theo’s tone is quiet and gentle as he tries to coach me into sitting down but I can’t. I tried that earlier this morning but I couldn’t. I needed to move otherwise the doubts began to creep into my mind.
What would they be like? Would they like me? Do they even want to get to know me?
It only took Jax a few hours to find my fathers. To say that I was overwhelmed to know that they are actually out there is an understatement.
They had been looking for my mother since the day she left to tell Calvin that she found her mates. Because they hadn’t marked each other yet, they didn’t know that she had died. The sounds of one of my fathers, Amos’ grief as he tried to hold back tears, broke my heart.
I think it helped to know that I was a product of them though. The phone had gone eerily silent as I gave them the news. Tears on both sides were shed. I had to put them on loud speaker so that Jax could speak to them because my sobs became too much to speak through.
Immediately they wanted to meet me but due to work commitments and the fact that they now live in Australia, it made that near impossible. They explained to me that they opened a chain of restaurants there only a few years ago after holding out hope for so long and staying in the States.
Grief overcame me at the thought of them waking up day by day, hoping that it would be the one where they got to see my mom again. That she would knock on the door and explain what happened .
Over the past few weeks, I have spent hour upon hour on the phone to each of my fathers. It's crazy to think that I have four of them.
Amos is my biological father. It was instantly obvious when I saw him on video chat for the first time. His hair is as auburn as mine, with a beard to match. He keeps his hair longer on the top and shorter on the sides. What surprised me the most is the thick Scottish accent which is something one of my other fathers, Nolan laughed that ‘they could take the man out of Scotland but they couldn’t take Scotland out of the man’ about. It seemed like an age old joke they played between them as I heard Amos mouth off in the background.
Polar opposite to Amos, Nolan has pitch black hair, his eyes almost as dark with fair skin. It's clear that he is the joker of the pack, making me laugh until my face hurts each time we speak. There is also a softer side to him as he has opened up with me about his childhood. Like me, Nolan was abused by his father. We were able to bond together over it as he began teaching me ways that he has dealt with the nightmares that he suffered with; ones that now also plague me.
Rhys is a quiet and gentle soul. His features are much softer in comparison to my three other fathers. What was once brunette hair is now slowly turning grey. He is the eldest of the pack and laughs that he is always reminded of it.
My last father, Oliver, is the brute of the bunch. He stands a good six and a half feet judging by the array of photos he sent through. Along with his rugged exterior, he also has an Australian accent to top it off. He spends the majority of his time telling me wild stories from the bush and his encounters with drop bears which have terrified me to no end. I have already flat out refused to come over to visit. All he did was laugh and assured me that he would make sure I was stocked up with some drop bear repellent. I’m concerned to know that the fuck that even is.
“Please, Little Omega,” Ledger startles me from my wandering thoughts, as I turn to look at him, the security alarm pings, letting us know that someone is at the gate.
I jump, my heart rate climbing rapidly in my chest.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
My mood quickly changes from pacing to standing completely still, unable to move. I look at Ledger in desperation.
He stands up, his hands going straight to my shoulders as he looks me in the eyes, “It will be okay, baby. They are going to love you. You already know that they love you.”
I nod, knowing that Ledger’s words are true. But what if in person, I'm not what they expect? What if the one memory of my mother is too much for them to handle and they decide that it's too much for them. They have already boasted about how much I look like her.
“It will be okay. We are right here if anything goes wrong,” he assures me, waiting for me to nod before he lets me go.
My heart is still in my throat as I suck in a brave breath. The entire way to the door, I reassure myself over and over again with Ledger's words.
By the time I get to the foyer, I have psyched myself up to take the step into meeting my fathers for the first time.
Sucking in a final breath, I open the door, shocked when I find Amos with his fist raised, about to knock.
His hand drops away as he stares down at me in shock. His green eyes are wide as he remains frozen. We have spoken to each other countless times over the phone but in person it’s different. For some reason, it seems more real.
“Hey, Papa.”
The fatherly term instantly breaks him, a sob is wrenched from his chest as he rushes towards me, pulling me straight into his chest.
The dam of tears that I was holding back breaks. Emotion streams down my cheeks as I am pulled from Amos into another’s hold. This father smells like sage and eucalyptus. His chest rumbles as I hear him choke around his own tears. Eventually he pulls back and I find my father, Oliver looking down at me.
“My little girl. I can't believe you are actually real. It's one thing to know you over the phone but it's another to see you in person.”
The tears running down his face seem so at odds with his gruff exterior but in a way, it's refreshing to see him showing the emotion and eliminating the facade of men who have to be tough. He only holds onto me for a moment long before he is stepping away, making room for Rhys who rushes towards me. I smile brightly through my tears as he picks me up, just like he would have if I was a child. It feels like a part of the little girl that had to grow up way too quickly heals slightly at the embrace.
“Pa,” I choke into his shoulder.
His arms squeeze tighter around my midsection where they hold me, “My daughter.”
He lets me down after a moment but doesn’t move for my last father to greet me. Instead, he looks at me with such wonder.
“I thought that the Gods had cursed us for so many years. That they just dangled happiness in front of our faces. But even though we lost her, we gained the most precious thing that we could have ever imagined.”
Tears stream down my face uncontrollably but he just wipes them away before stepping back.
Rhys stands just behind him, his smile wide as he envelopes me into a tight hug. He laughs which is a shock through the tears. It does break the emotion clogging the air though as I chuckle. He lets me go, stepping back to my other three fathers. His eyebrow is raised as he looks at me in thought.
“I always thought that you were an ugly fucker Amos, but that can’t be true when half of you made the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”
We all laugh at his expense. Turning my head, I find Amos frowning at Rhys but there's no heat behind it. He shrugs his shoulders after a moment before turning to me with a grin,
“You don’t have to hide the fact that you have always thought that I was beautiful behind lies, Rhys.”
We descend into laughter again.
I feel the moment that Jax, Theo and Ledger come through the door. I’m thankful that they gave me a moment alone to meet my father pack for the first time.
Any lingering worry I have is already a distant memory as I introduce my Alphas to my fathers. Each of them goes through the usual dad speech which I think surprises them as well.
It makes me feel thankful though, knowing that I have such good men like that in my life that would protect me if I needed it. God only knows its about fucking time that I catch a break .
We spend the next few hours talking, laughing and at times crying with each other. It feels insane getting to know my fathers face to face after only talking on the phone.
The day flies and the time for my fathers to go back to their hotel comes.
Rhys is the first to stand and pull me into a hug.
“It's okay, Kennedy. We are here for the rest of the week. Now that we have found you, we plan on being the fathers that we wish we could have been all these years.”
I tear up again as Oliver comes to stand beside him, “He's right, sweetheart. We are honored to be here and watch as you celebrate your mating this weekend. Because we couldn’t be there for your firsts as a child, we want to be there for everything else.”
“I don’t know about you lot, but I also plan on being the first one to meet baby Duran when they enter the world.”
I chuckle as Nolan puffs up his chest.
“Baby Duran?” Amos shoots up as he looks at my stomach with hope in his eyes.
I laugh, “No, I’m not pregnant. I promise that you guys will be some of the first people to know.”
Each of my fathers settles at that. It warms the place inside of me that desperately wants to bring life into this world.
Even though I want nothing more than that, after all we have been through, I also want to just savor some of my time as me and my Alphas before we bring another life into the world.
I give each of my fathers a hug goodbye, forcing myself to not cry. They give my mates hand shakes each, aside from Nolan who gives them a hug instead .
I watch as their tail lights disappear down the driveway.
The sky is dusky now. Looking up, I find a single star shining in the night sky.
“I wish you were here with us, Mom. That instead of a life of abuse, you got to find your
happiness. Wherever you are, I hope that you are free of pain.”
Clutching my chest, I allow a single tear to drop.
“I miss you.”
Blowing out a breath, I turn around finding my Alphas looking at me with so much love. It's overwhelming after only being fed scraps my whole life.
But looking at them, I see my new life.
I see hope.
I see love.
I see my future.
And it looks so fucking good.