Epilogue - Wilder
Ten Years Later
“Your pottery skills have gotten better over the years, husband.” Aspen slides into the chair behind me like she’s done numerous times in the ten years we’ve been together.
I turn my head and capture her lips in a kiss, “I have a wonderful teacher, wife.”
Aspen slides her hands along my arms, lacing our fingers together and gliding them over the clay as the wheel spins, deepening the kiss.
“Yuck, Mom and Dad are kissing again,” our five-year-old son, Dalton, announces to his siblings.
“It’s so romantic.” Our eight-year-old twin daughters sigh in unison. “Just like that old movie they watch all the time,” Molly says. Little do they know, we named our twin daughters after the main characters in the movie Ghost. Not Oda Mae, but Molly and Samantha, Sam for short.
Our oldest son escaped the Patrick Swayze name fate only because Aspen wanted to honor me by naming him Wilder Jr. Well, almost, since our shared middle name is Johnny.
“Don’t you rascals have your own artwork to finish?” I raise an eyebrow at our children, each working on a different art project in Sadie’s workshop. We’ve kept up the tradition of renting Sadie’s workshop once a month for family time.
“Show us what you’re working on,” Aspen says as I spin her around and set her on my lap, while our children take turns showing us their paintings.
Wilder Jr.’s painting, of course, has superheroes, while the twins have flowers. But Dalton’s painting stumps us as we count the family members and come up with one extra.
“You have one extra person in your painting.” I point to what looks like a baby crawling on the ground between Aspen and me on his paper.
“Well, the other night, I heard Mommy tell you she wanted you to put a baby in her belly.” At Aspen’s sharp intake of breath, Dalton continues, “I know. I wanted a puppy, but I guess a baby is okay.” Each of our children shrugs in agreement.
I place my hand on Aspen’s still-flat stomach, over Dalton’s new baby brother or sister growing there. We haven’t told the kids about the baby yet, but by the looks of it, they’re ready for a new baby brother or sister—just as long as nobody puts baby in the corner.
-The End-
Thank you so much for reading Fake Dating the Mountain Man.