Epilogue
Roughly Eight Months Later
“I hate you!And if you ever come near me again, I’m going to rip your di?—”
Ana’s words are cut off by her screaming as she pushes for what feels like the millionth time. She’s been in labor for over forty hours. The doctor mentioned having to do a possible C-section, but our little boy just needed to come on his own time.
“You got this, Red,” I tell her as she pushes through another contraction.
“I see the hair,” the doctor notes. “One, maybe two more pushes, and he’ll be out.”
Another contraction, another push, and then he’s out.
We both watch as the nurses clean him up, clearing out the fluid, and then he cries for the first time, and it’s like my heart splits into two—my wife owning one half and my son owning the other.
The nurse brings him over to Ana and lays him down on her chest, and I take pictures as they both cry and bond. It’s been a rough few months with Samuel’s cancer taking a turn for the worse and Ana trying to remain strong for him and the company while preparing to become a mom.
But as she looks up at me with our son in her arms, I know that every hard moment led to this moment right here.
I give our little boy a kiss on his forehead, and the nurse takes a picture of the three of us and then takes him back to get him cleaned up and checked out while other nurses do the same for Ana.
About a half hour later, Ana is wheeled to recovery, and our little boy is brought in. She’d like to breastfeed for as long as she can, so the lactation specialist shows her how to latch him on, and I swear to everything, there is nothing more beautiful than watching my wife feed our son for the first time.
Without her seeing, I snap a picture of them. She might not feel beautiful right now, but one day, she’ll want to see this.
After she’s fed him and he’s swaddled up and asleep, she asks me to bring her dad and Selene in first. When I step into the waiting room, both our families stand.
“Mom and baby are both doing great,” I tell everyone. “She delivered naturally and is in recovery. He’s seven pounds exactly and twenty inches.” I look at Samuel, who looks like he has aged ten years in the past eight months. “She’d like to see you first.”
Since everyone knows about his health issues, nobody is surprised. Selene says she’ll come soon but lets him go see Ana alone. I walk him back, and when we enter, Ana’s face lights up.
He quickly washes his hands and then walks over to her bedside.
“Dad,” she says through her tears, “I’d like for you to meet your grandson.” She lifts our little boy and hands him to her dad while I take pictures. “Kingston Samuel Parker.”
Samuel chokes out a sob at hearing his name. “Oh, Ana. He’s perfect.” He glances at his daughter. “Your mom would be so proud of you.”
At his words, Ana breaks down in tears.
Samuel hands me Kingston and pulls his daughter into his arms.
“Thank you,” he murmurs. “Thank you for coming home and giving me another chance and for giving me a precious grandson. I couldn’t have asked for anything more in this life.”
“No, don’t say that,” Ana snaps. “That sounds too much like goodbye. And us Kingstons are fighters. Besides, I still need you to walk me down the aisle.”
Because she didn’t want to get married while pregnant, we’ve planned the wedding for later this summer, and she’s determined to have her dad walk her down the aisle. With her dad having lung cancer, he had to have surgery, and then there were some complications with blood clots, but now, he’s doing better, and he’s in the middle of getting chemo. If anyone is determined to make it through this, it’s him.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Samuel tells her, giving her a kiss on her forehead.
After holding Kingston again, he excuses himself to go let everyone else know they can visit.
While he’s gone, I sit on the edge of the bed and give Ana a kiss.
“Thank you for giving me everything I never knew I wanted,” she says, her voice filled with emotion.
“You never have to thank me for loving you, Red.” I give her another kiss. “This thing between us was inevitable. The moment I laid eyes on you, I was drunk on you.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “You’re so cheesy, Mr. Parker.”
“Only for you, Mrs. Parker.”
Anastasia
Four Months Later
“You look beautiful. Like a princess.”
I spin around to find my dad standing in the doorway of the dressing room, dressed in a black tux, ready to walk me down the aisle. It’s been three months since he finished his cancer treatment, and he’s officially cancer-free. Of course, he’ll have to get rechecked every so often, but right now, he’s okay, and that’s all that matters.
“Thank you,” I choke out, my emotions getting the better of me. “And look at you.” I stand and walk over to him, adjusting his bow tie so it’s perfectly straight. “As handsome as ever.”
“This is from your husband,” he says with a chuckle, handing me a small box.
I already had his mom bring my gift over to him—a bottle of scotch I had made for him for today, along with another last-minute gift he’s going to freak out over.
I open the top and find a gorgeous Tiffany bracelet nestled inside with a few charms already attached. The first one I look at is a heart-shaped locket that has Marry Me inscribed in the middle. On the back, it reads, Forever drunk on you.
I laugh at my romantically cheesy husband. My engagement ring also has the same inscription. He had it engraved before he proposed again while we were on a babymoon vacation, which he surprised me with, at the place where we fell in love—Maui.
Another one is of a heart with Mom engraved in the center. My heart swells. These past four months of being a mom have been the best of my life. I was so worried about failing at it, but what I didn’t consider was that unlike when I isolated myself in London, here, I have family. Even my best friend, Paige, made the move to the States—after her boyfriend took a job in Houston and she moved with him—and is now working for Kingston as the new chief marketing officer.
The next charm is a crown, obviously meant to symbolize Kingston—how we met, my maiden name, and our son’s name. It’s sterling silver with tiny diamonds dotting the tips. It’s beautiful.
And the last charm is of a champagne bottle. It’s absolutely adorable. All the charms are. Julian couldn’t have picked a more meaningful gift if he tried.
Under the bracelet is a note. I open it up and find Julian’s chicken scratch.
Red,
Today isn’t the beginning, but rather a continuation of the life we’ve already begun. I can’t wait to marry you again, and I look forward to all the memories we’ll create together.
Love,
(Jul)ian
“I love that sound,” Dad says when I laugh at the way Julian signed his name. “And I love seeing you happy.”
He envelops me in a hug, and I kiss his cheek.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” I whisper. “And you need to stay that way.” I back up and smile at him. “Especially since you’re going to be a grandfather again in nine months.”
Dad glances down at my stomach with wide eyes, then looks back up at me. “You’re pregnant?”
“I think so,” I say with a laugh. “I took a test this morning, and it came out positive. I’m going to make an appointment with the doctor once we get back from our honeymoon.”
Since neither of us is anywhere near ready to leave Kingston overnight, we’re keeping it simple and spending a week on the beach at a resort in Galveston.
After the wedding photographer we hired takes a few pictures of me with my dad, the wedding march begins, telling us it’s go time.
The walk down the aisle is far too quick, and I choke up when my dad and Julian shake hands and hug, Julian promising to continue to love and care for me.
We say the vows we wrote for each other, and as hard as I try not to cry, I give in and let it happen when Julian surprises me with a new wedding band.
“This one has two bands interconnected,” he explains. “They represent both times we’ve said I do, weaving our lives together until eternity.”
He slips the band on and then puts my engagement ring back on. I stare at it for several seconds, loving that he made sure it fits perfectly with my ring.
“I did the same thing,” I tell him with a watery laugh.
Since we don’t have a ring bearer, Ryder, Julian’s best man, is holding the ring. I take it from him and show it to Julian. The platinum wedding band is made up of two cables twisting around the entire band, symbolizing the two times we’ve gotten married.
“I love it,” he says as I slide it onto his ring finger. “And I love you.”
The officiant pronounces us husband and wife, and Julian cradles my face, then kisses me with such passion that it’s as if our souls are connected, and I guess in a lot of ways that’s true because this man doesn’t just own my body and heart. He owns my soul too. For so long, I thought being successful would make me happy, but now, I know I was looking for happiness in all the wrong places.
But that’s okay because everything happens for a reason. I had to experience the downs so I could appreciate the ups. And because of the loss I felt from losing my mom and the years I spent feeling alone, I know how precious love is. And there’s no one I would rather experience it with than Julian.
“So, you’re pregnant, huh?” he murmurs when we break the kiss.
I glance over at him and roll my eyes at his cocky smirk. “You’re not going to be laughing when we’ve got two babies only a year apart.”
Julian
“Marriage and fatherhoodlook good on you,” my best friend, Ryder, says, clasping my shoulder. “Congrats, man.”
“Thanks. And between you and me”—I lean in so no one will hear since Ana doesn’t want to announce the pregnancy until she’s sure and twelve weeks along—“I think Ana’s pregnant again.”
I waggle my brows, and Ryder chuckles.
“Better you than me,” he says, shaking his head.
Ever since his marriage to Nora ended abruptly a few months back and he became a single dad, he’s been struggling a bit.
“How’s everything going?”
“It’s rough,” he says, sounding as exhausted as he looks.
“I know it’s hard right now, but you did the right thing.”
“I know,” he agrees. “But most days, I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Trust me when I say, we all feel that way. It’s not just you.”
“Yeah, but at least you and Ana have each other,” he says. “Anyway, enough of this depressing shit. It’s your wedding day!” He grins at me. “Go dance with that beautiful wife of yours.”
I glance over at Ana, who’s on the dance floor, holding Kingston in her arms and twirling him around to a pop song. She nuzzles her face into his neck, blowing raspberries, and his face lights up. I can’t hear him from here, but I can see him laughing. He started doing it a few days ago, and it’s the most addictive sound.
“I think I’ll do that,” I tell Ryder.
When I reach my wife and son, they look at me with smiles.
“May I have this dance?” I ask as I pull them both into my arms.
“Always,” she says.
As we dance together with Kingston in our arms and a baby growing in her belly, I can’t help but think about how far we’ve come from the day I found her on that trophy-wife site.
Our relationship might’ve started out as fake, but the love we’ve created is real, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I wasn’t kidding when I told her I was drunk on her. She’s my addiction, my reason for being, and I crave her love more every day.
Thank you for reading!