Epilogue
Jett
Five years later
Iwalk out of my office after going through a round of interviews.
It’s official. The board voted yesterday. As much as I’d like to say the position is mine by a landslide, it definitely wasn’t. The vote was as close as it was years ago when I first joined.
Five to four.
Words like nepotism, coercion, and bullshit floated on muttered hisses under angry breaths. But it’s just like I told Lennon years ago when she went public with her father’s atrocities, I ignore it all. They’ll find something else to be pissed off about eventually.
Ask me if I thought I’d be right here when I was diagnosed with PKD, and the answer would be fuck no.
A wife.
Two kids.
Another on the way.
A kidney that’s still going strong.
A family.
And a new title behind my name on my business card.
Jett Parker Cross, CEO of Stonebridge Capital.
Yeah, I even added my middle name that was handed down to me by my mother. My grandmother always said she wanted to make sure I had a piece of her wherever I went. It only seemed fitting.
I yank at the knot on my tie and pull the damn thing off. When I work from home, I only have to wear a suit when I’m on a conference call, unlike when I’m back in New York. There, I’m all business all the time.
I walk into the kitchen and hear them before I see them.
Parker just turned four last week and Emily is two.
When I drilled Lennon with questions about how many kids she wanted, it was rhetorical.
But after her father died, everything went into fast forward.
It was easy to fall into our new life once she got past her fear of the future.
She was all in.
Lennon might be young, but I’m not. We were married before Harlow and Devon had time to say I do. There was no time like the present to dive into our lives ... and our futures.
I might be a Madison by blood, but I don’t carry the social claim that Patrick and Harlow do. I don’t want the pomp and circumstance that comes with having that last name. I told Lennon we might want privacy one day, but I had no idea how much we’d crave that.
The nosy Nellies of Winslet are nothing compared to the rest of the world. I’m the long, lost son of Patrick Madison. My father hasn’t minced words over the last few years. The board of directors, the company, hell, the whole world knows he was grooming me for the top spot.
The vote yesterday was not a surprise, but the last couple of years in particular have put me on the hot seat so much, the privacy fence and gate on our property has been upgraded more than once.
Let’s just say, privacy and security for my family is something I take fucking seriously.
It took one freak trying to get through our gate to make a bogus delivery for me to call in the big guns.
Eli Pettit’s Statum Security now manages The Manor at Winslet and everything Stonebridge on the west coast.
Pettit’s job is about to get bigger.
For the past few years, we’ve been slowly moving parts of Stonebridge west. I might have an apartment in New York City, but as the kids get older, I’m not anxious to go back and forth. Harlow wants this, and so do I. It makes sense for so many reasons.
We’ll never give up all our offices on the east coast. There are benefits to being where the action is on Wall Street.
But, going forward, my trips across the country will be fewer and farther between.
Harlow and I will make decisions from here.
Chrissie has proven to be the backbone that holds Stonebridge together between the coasts.
She’s gone from Harlow’s assistant to just her best friend.
My sister moved into an advisor role, and Chrissie reports to Patrick and me.
It's a new life for Stonebridge.
A new generation.
It’s lunchtime, and my family is sitting around the dining table that’s seen so many dinners and get-togethers, it’s become the heart of this home.
Yesterday was Monday, which means today is leftover meatloaf Tuesday.
Felicity is doing everything she can to get Emily to eat instead of tossing handfuls of mashed potatoes to Shadow.
Panther is perched on a barstool—close, but not close enough to act like he cares.
Parker is on his knees in his chair dipping green beans into ketchup.
If there was a mutual fund for condiments, I’d invest in it.
Our son won’t eat anything unless he dips it in something first.
Felicity doesn’t bring lunch every day, but she does do it twice a week.
She’s declared Tuesdays and Fridays leftover-lunch days with the Crosses.
We still eat at the Fahnestocks’ every Sunday that we’re in town.
She said she wants us to spend at least three meals a week together, even though there are plenty of times we see them more.
To this day, Lennon has not cooked one meal for the Fahnestocks.
Lennon quit her job at the manor after she had Parker. She went from claiming to not know how to be a mom to being the best one ever. She loved her job, but she wanted to travel with me back and forth to New York.
And my wife is more beautiful every day I’m married to her. She reclines in her chair with a plate balanced on her belly and eats meatloaf like it’s the best thing in the world.
Parker talks around the green bean he just shoved in his mouth. “Daddy, you can eat lunch with us! Grammy made you chicken.”
Felicity takes a wet rag and wipes Emily’s sticky fingers. “It’s in the warming drawer, Jett, and your salad’s in the fridge.”
“Thanks, Felicity.” I toss my tie and jacket on the back of the sofa and go straight to my wife. I lean down to kiss her on the lips right after she just shoveled more leftovers in her mouth. “Mmm. Your potatoes are tastier than my salad.”
Lennon smiles as she chews but ignores my comment. “How’d it go?”
I rustle Parker’s dark overgrown hair and lean down to blow on Emily’s neck.
She squeals and tries to spoon more meatloaf into her mouth.
“It went like we thought it would. I answered the same questions for hours. The last I checked, we’re in the black again.
It’s a show of confidence. A good thing after the vote yesterday. ”
She swallows and reaches over to toss a green bean back onto Parker’s plate. “You have a stray one, baby.”
I grab my lunch and sit on Emily’s other side. “I think he’s hiding them.”
Parker grins from ear to ear and doesn’t care how guilty he is. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
Lennon grins back before turning to me. “I’m glad it’s done. I’m so proud of you.”
Felicity helps Emily scoop more food before handing the spoon back to her so she can feed herself. “Harold and I are going to watch your interviews tonight after dinner. He set the recorder so we don’t miss one second. Lennon is right. We’re so proud of you.”
I shake that off from both of them. “All I did was put the right people around me. I’m looking out for the future.”
Lennon puts her plate down and grabs my arm to pull me to her for a kiss.
“You’re not giving yourself the credit you deserve.
Harlow partners with you on the big decisions, but the day-to-day is all you.
Patrick trusts you with everything. You might’ve been given the role, but you made it yours.
The stock valuations are up. What more proof do you need? ”
She’s right. Stock prices are up big compared to when I started five years ago.
“I’m done talking about work. What are we going to name your baby brother?” I ask the table.
And with that, all talk of Stonebridge flies out the window.
This is the newest game. Parker is determined we name him after a dinosaur, because of course he learned all about them from Harold and Felicity.
All Emily does is blurt out colors left and right, like we’re going to name our third baby purple.
Felicity giggles and eggs them on.
Lennon nudges my knee with her toe. “Deflecting, just like normal.”
I take a bite of chicken. “Two weeks and counting. It could be any minute. We’re going to have a new normal soon.”
Her toe slides down my leg before she hooks it behind my calf and whispers only for me, “I’m so sick of being pregnant. We might need to do something to speed that along tonight.”
I know what that means and shoot her a smirk. “I can make that happen.”
Lennon
“Oh, Jett.”
He presses his lips to the skin below my ear. “Shift your legs, baby. Can you do that for me?”
My entire body is heavy. Almost nine months of pregnancy will do that to you.
I lift my leg and hook it over his.
Jett slides into me from behind as he plays with my clit. This is the only way we can be together when I’m in my third trimester.
Jett puts his lips to my ear. “Fuck, I love it when you’re like this. I may have to beg you for a fourth. If I’m securing the future for the next generation, we might as well go for it, right?”
I don’t have the capacity to answer, and I learned a long time ago not to make promises when I’m this close to an orgasm. Jett doesn’t play fair and knows how to work me. It’s how he got me to ditch the condoms before he ever put a ring on my finger.
I press my lips together and shake my head. “Don’t you dare.”
I feel his smile against the side of my head. “Are you close?”
“You know I am.”
I lose his touch on my clit as his hand slides up and over my belly. It goes straight to my sensitive nipples that he’s given plenty of attention. He knows my body and what I like at this point in pregnancy. This is how we had Emily two weeks early, after all.
“Don’t stop. You’re driving me mad.”
“Do you want to go into labor or not? I can’t rush perfection.”
He’s gentle when he rolls my nipple between his fingers and slides his cock between my legs against my wet sex. I can’t think about labor right now. All I can focus on is the orgasm dangling in front of me like a carrot.
I wiggle my ass against his bare cock. “Please. If this doesn’t work, we can try again tomorrow. This is the fun part of being this pregnant.”
His touch drags down my body possessively at the same time he angles his hips. When he slides into me from behind, I let out a little moan. His fingers gently caress my clit as he slides in and out of me slowly.
“Never thought I’d have this, baby. Never thought I’d have you or be doing this the third time around. You’re the dream I never thought would happen. Love you more than anything. Love our life and the babies you keep giving me.”
He gives my clit another circle, harder this time.
I’m too overcome to tell him how much I love him and how he changed my life. I don’t know where I’d be without him.
He continues to slide in and out of me—faster but not harder—and works my body in a way only he can do. My sex spasms around his cock as he works me. Every muscle in his body tenses when he comes with me.
I bite back my gasps and moans because the kids’ rooms are just down the hall. Jett’s low groan rumbles through my body.
When we both finally come down from our orgasms, I lay against him, spent.
He supports my weight just like he’s done from the moment we met—with his whole being.
He doesn’t pull out or move. We rest here like this, like we don’t have a thing in the world to do, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Our lives might be chaotic with a young family and Jett’s career, but we wouldn’t change a thing.
He nuzzles my neck. “Thank you, baby.”
I tense, because that’s new for him. I’m always the one thanking him. “For what?”
“For making all my dreams come true.”
I lean into him farther. “Thank you for dreaming for both of us. I love you, Jett.”
He presses his lips to the side of my head. “Love you, too, baby. Love you too.”