Epilogue
Duncan
Each summer, I brought Jeremy to Dublin to spend three weeks with his mother. This year was no different, except that Riley had traveled with us. She and I were going to spend the next three weeks touring Europe while Jeremy spent time with Shona.
"Darling, you grew four inches," Shona said. "And you must be Riley. Nice to meet you in person," she said as the two women shook hands.
Jeremy looked at her excitedly. "When are we going to the zoo?"
Shona laughed. "I bought tickets for later today. I have a surprise for you inside the house."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's in your room."
Jeremy darted inside the house without even looking back at us.
"Some things don't change about him, huh?" Shona said.
"No, he still loves the zoo," I said. "Still makes me feel like a second-class citizen every time I drop him off with my brothers or with you."
"Thank you, both of you, for bringing him. Riley, thanks for coming to meet me in person. Are you staying in Dublin? Do you want us to meet for dinner or something?"
I shook my head and put an arm around Riley's shoulders, kissing the side of her head. "No, I'm taking her on a tour of Europe. Our plane leaves tomorrow morning. We just want to walk around the city for a bit."
Shona smiled. "I'm so glad that you two are happy together. I mean it. I've never seen Jeremy this ecstatic."
He darted back out the door. "Dad, I have a huge Spider-Man room, like the one back home!"
She winked at us, hugging Jeremy. "I figured it would make your day."
"All right, well, Riley and I will head out now. You can call either of us at any time. We'll be in the same time zone, give or take one or two hours. But you can always reach us," I assured him.
"Have fun. I'm going back to Spider-Man," he said, darting inside the house. We didn't even get to properly hug him, but that was okay.
Afterward, Riley and I strolled toward the city center. She smiled brightly, looking around.
"What is it?" I asked.
“I can't believe that we’re here. I can't wait to experience absolutely everything on this trip.” Her joy and curiosity were infectious as she looked up at me. “How was it for you, seeing your ex?”
I shrugged. “I used to feel guilty every time I dropped Jeremy off, wondering if we'd tried just a bit harder, if we could have made it work. But now I know that everything happened just the way it was meant to be, so I could meet you and then make both our lives so damn amazing.”
"Oh, you sweet talker," she said.
“I mean every word.”
Initially, I’d planned to take her to Paris and London. I figured why not try the most romantic cities in Europe? But Riley had surprised me by saying she would actually love to see Scotland.
"Imagine all those haunted castles," she said. "And besides, I’m a Potterhead, so I'd love to see Edinburgh."
"I'm here to fulfill all your wishes," I assured her.
She narrowed her eyes. "I will never tire of hearing you say that."
"You don't have to because I'm not planning on stopping."
We were spending one night in Dublin before getting on a plane to Edinburgh. Once we’d reached the city center, my phone beeped with a message.
I groaned.
“What is it?”
“Griffin is on the front page of a tabloid.” I turned the phone for her to see the headline.
“One of the Most Eligible Bachelors in Town with His Newest Conquest.”
“Any publicity is good publicity, right?” she hedged.
“Not really, no. He should be more cautious. This isn’t smart.”
“How can this possibly harm him?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. But it could come bite him back in the ass.”
She hesitated a moment, then said, “Personally, I think you should cut him some slack.”
“I am.”
“Not everyone can be as serious or have your self-restraint.”
I raised a brow. “So, those are positive traits now?”
“I didn’t say that.”
I laughed, pulling her closer. “You almost had me fooled.”
“I did, didn’t I? And I’m so proud of it.”
“As you should be.”
“But you do have a lot of qualities, so that more than makes up for it.”
I laughed even harder. “Good to know.”
My phone beeped again. Clearly, all my brothers had seen the article. They were already giving Griffin a hard time.
Knox: Griffin strikes again. At this rate, everyone will think that you’re the most popular with the ladies out of all of us.
Wyatt: That’s your problem?
Finn: Yeah. Mine too!
Chase: Keeping a low profile would be smarter.
Griffin: Can everyone get off my back?
I started typing, then decided otherwise and slipped the phone back into my pocket.
Riley smiled from ear to ear. “What, no lecturing him?”
“Nah, you’re right. I can cut him some slack. Besides, I have more important things to do… such as making sure that you’re having the summer of your dreams.”
With that, I stopped her on the sidewalk and kissed her deeply, ignoring the catcalls and whistles.
Life was finally turning out to be everything it could be, and all I’d needed was Riley to complete it.