EPILOGUE
Jude
Christmas Morning…
Jude sat on the floor in front of the Christmas Tree.
It was lit up brightly and filled with colorful ornaments.
Cope had gone out and bought cheap plastic ornaments to fill the empty spaces left by the ones he’d broken when he’d fallen down the stairs.
They’d waited until Jude came home from the hospital before they finished decorating.
It was hard to believe that it had only been two weeks since Jude’s fall.
He’d thought long and hard about it, but still didn’t know what caused him to trip, then tumble down the stairs.
According to Cope, one of the ornament boxes he’d been carrying flew into the kitchen, while the other two tumbled down the stairs with him.
He supposed it didn’t matter much why he’d fallen, only that Jude had the strength and perseverance to get back up.
Jude was still suffering from the effects of his concussion.
He had occasional dizzy spells and felt tired almost constantly, but he was making slow but steady progress.
All that mattered was being home with his family in time for Christmas.
After the kids had gone to bed the night before, he and Cope had stayed up and put the presents under the tree.
Well, Cope actually did it, while Jude watched.
Same went for assembling Lizzy’s kitchen set.
Jude was relegated to reading the instructions, while Cope assembled the present.
When it was finished, Jude had been the one to arrange long sheets of wrapping paper around it so that Lizbet could rip it open.
“Hurry up, kids!” Jude called from his spot on the floor.
Little feet ran into the living room from the kitchen. Cope had insisted they eat breakfast before they unwrapped presents. Jude thought it was mean-spirited, to make the kids wait, but was also on board with Cope’s idea of making the morning last longer.
“Coming!” Wolf swooped into the living room. Lizzy wasn’t far behind him.
“Prezzies!” Lizbet squealed. “All mine!”
“They’re not all yours!” Jude grabbed his daughter and pulled her into his lap. “Some are for Wolf and your Dad.”
“Woofie!” Lizbet crawled off Jude and went to stand beside Wolf.
Jude clicked pictures of the siblings looking with awe at the pile of presents.
“You good?” Cope asked, sitting down beside Jude on the floor.
“Little bit sore and tired, but I’ll live.”
“Damn straight you will!” Cope agreed. “Okay, Wolf, grab a present for yourself. Lizzy rip off the paper on the big present.”
“For me?” The little girl ran to the present and started tearing the paper with both hands. “Tichen! Me cook you!”
Jude laughed. “Let’s save that for next week.” He’d lost a lot of weight since his accident. He wouldn’t make much of a meal at this point.
“Wow! Lego Death Star!” Wolf whooped. “This is gonna take us forever to build, Daddy.”
“It sure is. The doctors want me to rest and this build is gonna take a while.” Jude felt his emotions creeping up on him.
Wolf had been asking for the set for months, Jude loved that Wolf’s first thought was of them building it together.
“Cope, see the small present in the black box? Go grab that one.”
Cope shot Jude a curious look. “I don’t remember buying that.”
“You didn’t, I did.” Jude had only been out of the hospital for a week, but he’d managed to get a lot done, thanks to Ronan. They’d gone out one day last week to do some shopping of their own. With Jude’s new lease on life, he wanted to make this Christmas extra special. “It’s for you.”
“For me?” Cope wore an excited look on his face.
The box was about the size of a Rubix Cube.
It was black and tied with a bright red and green plaid ribbon.
Cope untied the bow and lifted the lid off the box.
Inside was a smaller, black velvet box. “Jude, what is this?” Cope pulled out the box. “This looks like it’s for a ring.”
“Open it. I know how much you love refrigerator magnets. Ronan and I stopped at the hospital gift shop after my PT the other day.” Jude snickered at the dirty look on Cope’s face.
“If I never set foot in Salem Mercy again, it will be too soon.”
Jude agreed one hundred percent. He’d almost died twice in that hospital. He wasn’t anxious to find out if the third time really was the charm.
Cope lifted the lid of the box and gasped. It was a thick, platinum wedding band studded with rows of tiny diamonds. It shimmered brightly in the early morning sun streaming through the window. “My mother had a cocktail ring just like this! How did you know?”
“I remembered you showing me a picture of your Mom wearing the ring and you said how much you loved wearing it. Ronan and I searched far and wide until we found a shop that sold them.” Jude held out his hand. “May I?”
Cope set the ring in Jude’s palm.
“Always and forever,” Jude said, slipping the ring onto Cope’s finger.
“When I was in the hospital, I realized everything I have is because of you. You’re the best husband I could have ever dreamed of.
The best father. The best chef. The best everything.
Every time you look at this ring, I want you to remember just how much I love you and how hard I fought to come back to you.
To our family.” Jude lifted Cope’s hand up and pressed a kiss to the ring.
“I love you so much.” Cope pressed a kiss to Jude’s lips. “This is the best Christmas ever.”
Jude didn’t want to jinx things, but they were going to have a lifetime of best Christmases filled with family, love, and laughter.
THE END