Epilogue
Gideon
Penn leaned against the doorframe, coffee in hand, and watched as the new chief, commissioner, mayor, and governor walked through the house toward the front door. He didn’t say anything until I approached him.
“How’d it go?”
“It was months in the making, but Northchester will be what I’ve worked so hard to keep it.”
He hummed. “You convinced them not to sell their drugs here?”
“I have. Of course it wasn’t cheap, and it wasn’t without violence.
See, two things men like that understand—money and power, and I have both.
The mercs Lorcan had hired to come to this house and take my kids and kill you, they’re dead.
I explained that regardless of what office they hold, I will do the same if they cross me. ”
Penn moved to the sofa, placed his mug on the table, and sat. I gladly joined him. “They have the backing of the government if they want to bury you.”
I chuckled and tenderly rubbed my thumb over his cheek. “Government’s power lies with those who give it to them and without me, my connections, my money, they’ll be the ones buried, Penn. I always have contingency plans, and they know it.”
“If you say so.” He leaned in to kiss me only to be stopped when the door opened and the pitter-patter of running feet echoed through the house.
“School’s out.” I smiled.
Owen and Olivia didn’t slow themselves as they jumped on top of me and Penn. I oofed, and Penn didn’t even react.
“How was school?” he asked Owen, who grinned at Penn. Owen truly loved Penn; they connected in a way that pulled Owen into the light. I wasn’t jealous or upset—instead I was grateful. I loved Penn, and knowing my children loved him too was everything to me.
“Good. I painted a picture.”
The two of them went on and on, but Olivia snagged my attention. “We going to see Uncle Dean and Auntie Rita’s house tonight?”
They had just started moving in two days ago and were organizing. Rita had invited us over for dinner, but I told her I’d bring the food since everything was in disarray.
“We are, so maybe go clean up, put your school stuff away, and we’ll go.”
She wiggled off my lap, grabbed Owen’s hand, and practically dragged him up the stairs. We still had a few hours before we had to be there, but that wouldn’t stop her.
As soon as we were alone again, I asked Penn a question I’d been avoiding for some reason. “Did you call Tenny’s family?”
“I did.” When he didn’t elaborate, I gestured for him to continue. “They were happy to hear I’d settled somewhere.”
“Do you think they’ll visit?”
Penn cocked his head. “Probably, maybe, I don’t know.
Family has always been different for me than it has been for you, Gid.
Tenny, she was my family, my safe place growing up.
She taught me things, helped me become the man I am today.
Her family, they cared about me a lot—I don’t doubt that, but I never experienced things with them that I have here. ”
“The running for your life experience?” I smirked.
He playfully shoved me. “No…well, yes, but that’s not what I meant.”
“Tell me.”
After a beat, he did. “I was in the Sunshine House. Other kids came and went from there, everything was unsettled. We couldn’t have traditions because things changed all the time.
Tenny was the only constant. It wasn’t home.
I was there with a woman who loved me, but she couldn’t adopt me, I don’t know if she even tried.
She had a house she went to often so it wasn’t like she lived at Sunshine House. I guess…”
He sighed. “I think part of me never felt like I belonged, was never settled.”
“Penn.” He looked at me, those green eyes full of trepidation.
“I love you. My kids love you. We want you here with us for as long as you want to be here. I very much want this to feel like a home to you. We’ll make traditions, you’ll learn to tolerate Rita’s karaoke nights, and the way Dean always complains every time he has to take out the garbage.
” He laughed. “I’m serious, he always asks what’s in it. Like, what does he think is in it?”
Penn’s grin was wide, his eyes full of happiness. “I want all that, Gid. I spent my life running away, but maybe I was actually running toward something.”
“Me?” I waggled my brows.
“Yeah,” he said seriously. “You, the kids, your insane life.” He pressed his hand to my chest. “My home.”
I covered his hand with mine. “This is your home, no matter if it’s under this roof or another, Penn. I promise you that.”
“Then my roots are gonna be deep, Gid. There’s nowhere else I’d rather grow old than here with you, Owen, and Olivia.”
When I married Ella, I’d thought that was it, she’d be my forever. I’d never imagined life without her. After she died, I’d figured I wasn’t meant for happily ever after love. But Penn walked into my life, maybe sent by Ella herself, and here I was, grasping on to forever once again.
“You’re stuck with us now, Pennsylvania.”
He scooted closer and took my lips in a searing kiss. Once we parted, his eyes sparkled.
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
THE END