Epilogue
CLAIRE
A few years later…
“Honey, we need to get going!” Alec calls up the stairs, and I scramble to find my clutch for the evening and do one final check on my makeup.
“I’m coming!”
Hurrying down the steps, I nearly trip, but I manage to stay steady and make my way into the kitchen, where Lily is in her high chair. Megan is feeding her some applesauce, and I smile as Lily starts to squeal.
“Hey, cutie. Momma and Dadda are only going to be gone for a little while, okay?” I air-kiss her and press my cheek against Lily’s soft baby hair. “You be good for Megan.”
She whacks at the high chair tray, giggling as she happily eats the applesauce Megan offers.
“Oh, she’ll be just fine. She always is. Aren’t you, Lily Pad?” The baby coos and giggles in response.
“Well, thanks again, Meg. It means so much.” I give the babysitter a hug, so glad we were able to find someone as amazing as she is in our new neighborhood.
Alec bought this house for us about six months after we started dating, and just like that first day, neither one of us has looked back.
It took some work, of course. Convincing his Boss that everything would be fine, and that Alec could still do his job and come home to a family each night.
The guy is crankier than Oscar the Grouch, but he relented eventually. He was even at our wedding, along with a host of Alec’s coworkers whom I’d never met.
If they were trying to build a company that could double as Chippendales dancers, they succeeded.
Coming in from the living room, Alec stops in the kitchen doorway. I look up at him just as he claps his hand over his chest like he’s having a heart attack.
“Damn, gorgeous.” He smiles at me, and all I can do is laugh. “No one is going to be looking at the paintings.”
“Well, I really hope that isn’t true.” I wander over to Alec, leaning in for a hug as I peck a kiss on his lips, careful not to get lipstick on him. “Because it’s a gallery showing, and I’d really like to sell some.”
“Oh, you’ll sell tons. I’m sure of it.” Alec squeezes me, then leans back, keeping his hand on the small of my back as he calls out over his shoulder. “Night, angel cakes! Thanks again, Megan!”
I look up at him, frowning slightly. “You’re not going to give Lily a hug?”
Alec chuckles, rolling his eyes. “I just did before you came down, and I was rewarded with applesauce on my suit. I had to wash up in the powder room. Not risking it again.”
Stifling a laugh, I follow Alec to the front door. He locks up behind us as we head to the car. It’s a beautiful spring evening, and I only need to wrap my shawl loosely around my shoulders.
“You really do look so damn good, baby.” Alec opens my door and helps me into the passenger seat. “Does that gallery have a back room, perchance?”
“Alec!” I swat at him playfully. “I have no idea, and if you start hunting for one when we get there, you’ll be in big trouble. I have to look professional.”
He walks around the car and gets in behind the wheel. Leaning across the center console, he kisses my cheek, his hand sneaking between my thighs.
“I promise to uphold the integrity of your makeup and hair.”
Laughing, I try to scoot him away, but I’m hardly trying hard, my cheeks warm as I smile. “You’re such a bum. I love you.”
“I love you, too, darlin’.” Alec fires up the car, and we back out of the driveway to head to the gallery.
As we pull onto the main road, I catch him glancing over at me with that look. The one that still makes my stomach flip after all this time.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing.” He shakes his head, but he’s smiling. “Just thinking about the first time I saw you. Pacing through your apartment, looking scared out of your mind.”
“You mean when you were stalking me with your fancy binoculars?”
“Surveillance,” he corrects. “Very different.”
“Uh-huh.” I roll my eyes. “And then you broke into my apartment and chased me through the hallway.”
“You threw a water bottle at my head.”
“You deserved it.”
Alec laughs, low and warm. “Probably. But I also knew right then that you were something special. Terrified and still fighting. Still throwing things.” He reaches over and takes my hand. “Look at you now.”
I glance down at our intertwined fingers. His wedding band catches the streetlight.
It’s funny. Back then, I couldn’t afford groceries. I was dancing to pay for school, drowning in fear and shame, and convinced I’d never amount to anything.
Now, my paintings hang in galleries. Real galleries.
With price tags that still make me dizzy.
Alec jokes that he’s going to retire early and become my trophy husband, but the truth is, we built this together.
Every late night in my studio. Every pep talk when I wanted to quit.
Every time he told me I was talented even when I didn’t believe it.
He found peace, too. I see it in the way he sleeps through the night now. The way he laughs easier. The way he holds Lily like she’s the most precious thing in the world—because to him, she is.
We saved each other. That’s what I’ve come to understand.
“I’m so proud of you, hun,” Alec says, pulling me from my thoughts. “You’re really doing it.”
I look over at him as he drives, and he notices, lifting my hand to kiss my knuckles. Butterflies stir in my stomach for an entirely different reason.
“Thanks to you. To all the support and love. I’m so grateful you’re here with me.”
“Me, too, Claire.” Alec looks over briefly, offering a grin. “And we can always sneak out to the car if I can’t find a room.”
Laughter overtakes me, and I relax, the nerves fading into the background. I have everything I want in the world right now.
A happy family. A loving husband. An amazing gallery showing just for me and my art. And a small circle of overprotective uncles and one fantastic babysitter I can count on.
I never would have believed this would be my life, but I’m so damn happy that it is.
“I’m not getting a steering wheel in my ass again.” I stick my tongue out when Alec fakes a shocked face at me. “But… maybe there’s a wine cellar or something? And, well…”
Alec glances over before looking back at the road. “What?”
Smirking, I walk my fingers up his arm and lean in to whisper, “I’m ovulating.”
He clears his throat as I sit back in my seat. Alec does his best to keep his eyes pinned to the road, but I can see his grip tighten on the steering wheel.
“Well, I think it’s going to be an early night then.” I chuckle when he winks at me. “And I swear to god, I’m going to do everything I can to get those paintings sold as quickly as possible.”
We laugh together as we continue down the highway. After a moment, Alec’s hand finds mine again, and he squeezes.
“Hey,” he says, his voice softer now. “I meant what I said. I’m proud of you. And I’m the luckiest bastard in the world that you let me stick around after I broke into your apartment.”
I lean over and press a kiss to his shoulder. “Best break-in of my life.”
He brings my hand to his lips one more time, holding it there.
“Mine, too, darlin’. Mine, too.”
The city lights glow ahead of us, and I settle into my seat with a full heart. This man—this life—was never part of the plan.
But sometimes, the best things never are.
THE END