Epilogue Oops Emmett #2
She lifts a brow, like she knows exactly what I’m thinking. “Having fun?”
Heat floods my cheeks. “Yeees?”
“Mmm.” She looks around the yard and sighs, dropping her purse, pulling off her heels. My jaw drops as she reaches for me. “I wanna have fun too.”
A grin explodes across my face, and I hop off the bouncy castle, grabbing my wife around the legs, tossing her over my shoulders as she giggles. When I climb back on, dropping her to her feet, everyone erupts with cheers, and the rest of the girls dash over, joining us.
I wind an arm around Cara’s waist as our family shrieks with laughter around us, and I pull her against my chest. “I love you,” I tell her, pressing my lips to hers.
“I’m so lucky you’re my best friend,” she whispers, threading her fingers through my hair.
“And I’m so lucky you’re mine.”
I’VE SPENT A LOT OF time over the years focusing on a phrase I hear too often, one that’s not indicative of how much trouble I’m about to be in with my life. Everything happens for a reason.
Listen, I’ve had this phrase thrown at me too many times to count, and I can’t think of a single time it’s ever actually comforted me rather than pissed me off.
But sometimes, on days like today when I’m sitting next to the best friends a person could ask for, staring out at family that just seemed to appear one day, I can’t help but think back on those words, wonder if it’s possible… if maybe they’re a little—just sometimes—rooted in truth.
Don’t get me wrong: There’s nothing worse than hearing those five words during the hardest moment of your life.
And yet it is fucking devastating for me to look out at my family, at Abel, the most resilient, compassionate boy, and Lana, the fiercest, bravest girl, and acknowledge that Cara and I wouldn’t have them if we’d been given everything we’d wished for when we’d wished for it.
That if my parents had loved me better, I might not have pushed so hard at hockey, at a chance to leave.
That if I hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have found my home all the way out here in Vancouver.
That I wouldn’t have learned how to communicate, how to fight for what I want, and the people I love. How to be the dad I needed, but the one I deserved too.
That I wouldn’t have found the love of my life, and the people who make everything worth it.
That this family, as it stands right here today, only exists because of the years of heartache that came first. The fight. The tears, and every single grueling step.
So maybe… maybe it can be both. Maybe things can happen and fucking suck and hurt and tear you apart from the inside out.
And maybe, sometimes, there can still be a reason for it all.
To force change so you can finally heal, so you can be the one who steps up and breaks the cycle, so you can help others navigate the waves when they’re fresh.
Maybe the reason is what’s lying on the other side.
The clarity that comes one day, when the fog lifts and you realize you survived something you were so certain you wouldn’t.
The gentle love you finally give yourself after being deprived for so long, the affirmations you finally feed yourself, the same ones you actually believe after finally—fucking finally—putting your foot down, refusing to give a voice to the cruel thoughts in your head that try harder than anyone to tear you down.
I don’t know, but I do know this: It wasn’t for nothing.
I lean back in my chair, staring out at my gorgeous family, all the kids and the wives spread out on an oversized picnic blanket on the grass. “Do you think everybody finds this?” I ask quietly.
Carter looks at me. “What’s that?”
“This. What we have. What we found in each other.”
The boys are quiet as they watch their wives and kids. As they look at each other.
“No,” Carter finally answers, “I don’t. And that’s devastating.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you guys,” Adam admits.
“Or where I’d be,” Garrett adds.
“Or who I’d be.” Jaxon rests his elbows on his knees. “Don’t think I found myself until I found you guys.”
“Yeah.” I look down, nodding. “This is the version of me that I love, this one I found with you guys by my side.”
Somebody sniffles, followed by another, and then another.
“All right.” Carter climbs to his feet, gesturing at himself. “Let’s go. Bring it in. Group hug.”
Jaxon groans, and I grip his shirt, hauling him to his feet along with me.
“You think you’d be used to these by now,” I murmur as the five of us wrap our arms around each other.
“I think he secretly likes them,” Adam says.
“Secretly?” Garrett snorts a laugh. “He’s always the last to let go.”
“No,” I say. “That’s Carter.”
“Oh, well, fuck me and Jaxon for being secure enough in our masculinity to want to cling to our friends a little bit longer,” Carter argues.
Jaxon sighs. “I didn’t say that.”
“Shhh. It’s okay, Jaxon. Just cling.”
Another sigh, and he squeezes a little tighter. We all do.
Because the truth is, friends like these, this family we’ve found, built from the ground up, fought for every step of the way… they’ll save you every damn time. And that? That is something I will always cling to.
I was unstoppable before them. With them, I’m indestructible.
“I hope we find each other in every lifetime.”
“Ewww, they’re doing it again!” Ireland calls just before we break apart.
Lana makes a face as we settle back in our seats. “Don’t you guys ever have anything better to do than hugging?”
“No!” Carter hollers back, folding his arms behind his head. “We just retired! Now we have even more time for hugging!”
“Lana? Hey, Laaana?” Hunter climbs out of the garden where he’s been digging with Brodie, Theo, and Iris. He’s got dirt smeared across his cheek, his hands behind his back, and trouble in his dark green eyes as he slowly approaches my daughter. “Wanna see the worm I found? Laaanaaa.”
“Gross, Hunter, get it away from me! How many times I gotta tell you?” Lana stands, shoving him away, placing her hands on her hips as she scowls at him. “I don’t like bugs.”
“But they like yooou. C’mere, Lana.” He holds the worm out, making smooching sounds. “Don’t you wanna kiss him?”
“Ew! Get that thing away from me! Mom! Dad! Uncle Carter! Hunter’s annoyin’ me again!”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Am not!”
“Urrrgh!” Lana stomps her foot, hands on her hips. “I can’t stand you, Hunter Beckett!”
“Hunter Beckett!” Olivia hollers from across the yard. “Leave her alone!”
Hunter flashes her a toothy smile, pulling in his dimples.
“Yes, Mommy!” He turns that conniving grin back on my daughter.
“Yeah, well, you better get used to me annoyin’ you.
My daddy annoys my mommy every single day, and they’re married.
You know what that means? It means I’m gonna marry you one day. ”
Lana rolls her eyes. “As if I would ever marry you.” She sticks her finger in her mouth and pretends to gag. “Vomitrocious.”
“Oh, fuck.” I chuckle quietly, rubbing the back of my neck as I glance at the guys, all watching with intrigue, even though this is a fairly normal occurrence between Lana and Hunter.
Kids can’t seem to get along no matter how hard we try to make them.
“It’s her word of the day. Can’t believe she managed to use it, and accurately too. ”
“You wanna bet?” Hunter crosses his arms over his chest. “Five bucks says you’ll lose, Lana Brodie.”
Lana holds out her hand. “Double or nothin’, Hunter Beckett.”
“Well, then,” I murmur as the two of them shake hands.
“That escalated quickly,” Carter adds. He snickers. “Imagine? A Brodie and a Beckett?”
“No fucking way,” the two of us mutter.
“I’m gonna take all your money,” Lana taunts, getting right in his face as she sticks out her tongue at him,
“That’s my girl!” Cara hollers. “Take him for all he’s got, baby!”
Hunter just grins that signature Beckett grin, like he knows something the rest of us don’t. Then, he leans forward, and the little shit presses a loud smooch right on my daughter’s surprised mouth.
Not as loud as the sound of her fist hitting his cheek, though, as she sends him ass first into the grass, Olivia screaming about consent as she rushes toward them, while Cara gives our daughter a standing ovation, complete with whistling and the kind of language she usually reserves for the arena.
“Uh-oh,” Adam mumbles.
“Ouch,” Jaxon whistles.
“Nailed him,” Garrett says.
Carter and I glance at each other, rubbing the backs of our necks as we chuckle, maybe a bit anxiously. He tucks his hands in his pockets. I rock back on my heels. We clear our throats, and then whisper the same word.
“Oops.”