Epilogue
ELOWYN
Five years later
The room is quiet, other than the sound of my breath.
My hand shivers, the pen threatening to slip from my fingers.
I can’t let that happen. I have to sign these papers.
But I can’t steady my hand either.
“Elowyn,” my husband says. His large hand on my arm is soothing. Grounding. “You’ve got this.”
His touch, his assurance, it’s what I need. My muscles relax. The pen stops bobbing.
Air flows into my lungs, clean and fresh.
Then the room comes into focus.
The papers on the desk in Duncan’s office—our office now—are no longer smudged. Black ink is clear. Details of the sale are familiar. They’re the ones we’ve been negotiating for weeks now.
All I have to do is sign or initial each page marked with a yellow tab.
Just a few signatures, and the dog shelter I’ve been dreaming of for years will finally be underway.
I really should get on with it, but my God, my heart is about to explode.
Happiness, warmth, and excitement swirl inside me, and I can’t help it. Instead of signing, I look at him.
My soulmate is waiting there, sitting in a blue suit, with a broad smile on his face.
But Duncan isn’t just handsome. He’s glowing.
Has been for a while now. Ever since that positive first pregnancy test five years ago.
Turns out, my instincts were right. I’d been pregnant when my brother kidnapped me, carrying Dylan in my womb.
Before he was born, though, we had a scare. Not with the baby.
With Jayden’s and Victor’s families.
They started search parties, hired detectives and PIs, kept at it for months. Of course they did. Two grown, influential men don’t just disappear without raising questions.
Questions that went unanswered. My brother had been careful. Too careful.
When he kidnapped me, he made sure to change cars. Used a burner. Took me to a warehouse that had apparently been ours—and hidden from me—for years.
The last nail in their proverbial coffin was that his friends had left their phones at home. It was something we only realized when none were found in the warehouse. The news confirmed it later.
Barclay must’ve instructed them to do that too.
A parting gift to his sister and her chosen one, I suppose.
Anyway. No one’s figured out what happened to them, let alone pinned it on us.
Other than that, everything’s been smooth sailing.
A day after we went to the OB-GYN’s clinic to confirm my pregnancy, Duncan transferred his joyous energy into a mission.
He made a few calls, and within hours, we were married.
Less than nine months later, we had a new, smaller, cozier home on top of the same hill. We tore down the old house, trading the three floors for one that spans our property, and added a six-bedroom guest house for Mary and Herbert to live comfortably next to us.
Once Dylan was born, we moved in.
And no, our little family didn’t stay little for long. My husband and I were both eager for more kids, which we’ve been having practically one after another.
I love being a mommy to my three precious kids.
I love that Duncan doesn’t take on as many commissions, too, being a doting father right next to me. Thanks to the smart investments he made over the years, we want for nothing.
Financially.
While I’ve been popping out babies, other dreams have started brewing inside of me.
Dreams about saving dogs. About showing them kindness and affection. About giving them a home until the perfect dog parents find them.
As soon as I voiced that wish, my husband was on his phone again, breathing life into my dreams.
To him, I’m never foolish. He never forces me into one role or the other.
His sole purpose in life is to see me happy and fulfilled.
Now, I am.
“Go on, little moon.” He slides his hand to my other shoulder, scooting over with his chair to fold me into a side-hug. “Sign, and it’s yours. Rourke, Sweet Rourke.”
My eyes tear up at the name of our future shelter. Nodding, I initial and sign the sale contract as Elowyn Faye Rourke.
As I move through the contract, one page at a time, Duncan’s quiet pride warms the room.
“You made it,” Duncan says as I hand the final page to our lawyer. “It’s finally yours.”
It’s not just mine. It’s ours. Actually ours.
“Couldn’t have done it without you.” I stand, smoothing down my gray dress.
Our lawyer outstretches his hand to shake mine, but my husband doesn’t care. He cradles both my cheeks in his palms, his fingers long, calloused, and perfect.
“You’re the reason my life makes sense.” His low voice sends tingles throughout my body. “You’re the reason all of this is possible. Only ever you.”
After years of being belittled and treated as less than, it’s still hard to accept what he’s saying.
I give it my best, though, whispering, “Yes,” before returning to our lawyer.
We shake hands, and then he lets himself out.
For a brief moment, it’s just Duncan and me here. Two people who lost so much but somehow got even more in return.
“I love you.” Duncan’s lips brush mine before he leans in for a rougher, deeper kiss.
He’s kissing me as if it’s the last time.
It definitely doesn’t feel like the first one.
I’m no longer an innocent girl who’s never been kissed. My lips, teeth, and tongue know what turns my husband into a wild animal who groans into my mouth.
And he, my king, doesn’t rush it like he did in the hallway of my childhood home.
There’s no one to hide from. Nothing to be ashamed of.
Our love is beautiful. Free. Ours.
“Fuck, I’m dying to bend you over this desk.” Duncan’s mouth traces the length of my neck, his hand tugging on my hair. “Need inside you.”
“Tonight,” I laugh, and moan. Just a little. “After we tuck in the kids.”
“Ugh.” The way he growls, my panties are instantly wet. Always. He pulls back, his dark eyes staring down at me. “Fine. Tonight, I’m going to rail you so hard, Mrs. Rourke. Going to fuck a fourth baby into you.”
“Okay.” I grin wide, butterflies fluttering in my belly. “I’m ready for number four too. So ready.”
One more kiss, and we step into the living room, where the world explodes into chaos.
The good kind.
The best kind.
“Mama!” Dylan, my firstborn, darts out of the kitchen.
Four years old and already so much like his father. Dark hair with dark eyes that take in everything. His seriousness cracks only when he sees me.
He launches into my legs, and I pick him up.
“Hey, you.” I inhale the sweet scent of him. “I was only gone for an hour.”
“Felt like a lot.” He lifts his head, brow furrowed.
I almost laugh at how sweet his expression is.
It’s another reason I’m grateful to have started my business. I can bring my little ones to work or take them home without anyone telling me what to do or where to be.
Speaking of my kids.
Kai waddles in our direction with Varn at his feet. Our gray-eyed, three-year-old wild child’s golden-brown hair sticks up in every direction.
“Daddy!” He opens his arms, and Duncan scoops him up, but not before stroking Varn behind his ear.
“Were you a good boy?” Duncan asks Kai in that faux-stern voice of his. “Helped Mary and Herbert?”
“Yup,” Kai confirms. Varn barks his approval.
Just as he does, Lady, the little rescue mutt we adopted a year after we got married, sprints into the living room from the kitchen. She’s skittering circles around my feet, tail going so fast it’s a blur.
Aurie wobbles after them, our youngest and first daughter. Mary’s right behind her, watching over our little one since she’s just learning to walk.
Aurie’s silver-gray eyes blink up at me before she lifts both arms, demanding to be held like her siblings.
“Aurie wants you, Mommy,” Dylan says, and I could eat him.
I kiss his cute nose instead, putting him down to lift his sister. My heart melts as soon as she’s on my hip, warm and soft and smelling faintly of oatmeal.
Mary smiles at us, and so does Herbert, who appears behind her. He nods at Duncan, giving him that quiet, proud look of his. My husband returns him a clipped nod.
Then his eyes meet mine over Kai’s shoulder. “Are you happy, little moon?”
“So happy,” I whisper. “Are you?”
“The fucking happiest.” He leans in for a kiss.
Someone goes, “Ew.”
We all laugh. We all smile.
We all have our happily-ever-afters.
The End.