Epilogue
HARLEY
Four Years Later
Quinn is sprawled across the living room floor, crayons scattered everywhere, her messy ponytail sliding down as she bends over her drawing. Easton leans against the doorway, arms folded and smiling that soft smile he saves only for her.
“She’s getting too big,” I whisper.
“She’ll always be little to me,” he says, kissing the top of my head.
I watch Quinn tilt her page up proudly. On it are stick figure drawings of the three of us, holding hands beneath a sky full of crooked hearts. My throat tightens.
“One day,” I murmur, “she’s going to ask. About us. About how it really started. And when that day comes …” I trail off, smiling. “We’ll tell her.”
Easton squeezes my hand, his calloused fingers grounding me. “Letters, fights, everything. We’ll tell her everything.”
Because ours isn’t just a love story. It’s survival, it’s second chances, it’s proof that even the broken can find a home.
And when Quinn is ready, she’ll know it all.
Five Years Later
“Tell me again, Mommy! Tell me again!” Quinn’s ice-blue eyes widen as she looks up at me, her black hair pulled back into a messy ponytail.
“It’s bedtime, sweetheart.” I softly untangle the hair tie from her wild hair and tuck her back into bed.
“I’ll never be able to sleep without knowing the ending.” She yawns, rubbing her eyes with two small fists.
“How about if Daddy tells you?” I look over my shoulder. Easton stands there, eyes red, body sagging with exhaustion, yet a bright smile tugs at his lips for his little angel.
“Daddy! You’re home!” Quinn squeals, jumping right out of bed and throwing herself into her daddy’s strong arms. He catches her like he always does, and spins her around the room, her loud giggles bouncing off the pink walls.
A moment later, he’s tucking her back into bed and sitting beside me. His hand reaches for mine, calloused fingers wrapping around my fingers.
“Which story is Mommy telling you tonight?” he asks.
Quinn looks between us and scrunches her tiny nose. “The one about the pen pals.” She crosses her arms and glares at me for not finishing our love story.
“Well, what did she tell you?” Easton glances at me before winking at our six-year-old daughter, who thinks she has more wisdom than East and I combined.
“How they wrote love letters, and then one day, they met and fell in love like it ain’t nobody’s business,” she prattles off, recounting insignificant details of the story to her father.
“So, what more do you need to know?” Easton asks, one eyebrow raised.
Quinn sighs in exasperation. “Did they get married? Live in a castle? How about kids? Did they have those? And what about living happily ever after? I have so many questions!”
“What do you know about all those things?” Easton asks, suspicion lining his voice.
Quinn rolls her big, blue eyes with a huff. “Dad, are you kidding? Do you know anything? I watch TV. Duh.”
I can’t hold in my laughter at the sass. She’s a perfect combination of me and Easton. Together, we made a beautiful little girl.
And once we get her to bed, I’m going to surprise him with the news of another baby, the one growing in my stomach right now. Placing my hand on my still flat belly, I watch as Easton answers all her silly questions and kisses her goodnight once she eventually tuckers out.
“She loves you so much,” I whisper, watching her sleep through the crack of the door from the hallway.
“She’s the best gift you could have ever given me, Little Bird.” He presses a kiss to my head, pulling me into his embrace. I sink into his hard chest.
“The best, huh?” I look up and kiss his stubbled jaw. His father has been grooming him to take over the construction company, so he and Layla can travel the world. That means Easton has been working long hours in order to learn everything. We haven’t had very much alone time recently.
“Besides giving me yourself? Yeah, she’s the best, Harley. I never thought I would have space in my heart for more than you, but then you gave me her, and my heart grew.”
“It better grow some more.” I smile into his neck, softly kissing his hammering pulse. He pulls back, looking at me with wide eyes before his gaze drops to my stomach.
“You’re pregnant?” he exclaims, and I quickly press my finger to his lips, shushing him.
“Don’t wake her. Otherwise, we can’t celebrate.” I wink, and he picks me up, my legs immediately wrapping around his waist. My arms wind around his neck, hands sinking into his thick, dark hair.
“You’re the gift that just keeps on giving, Little Bird,” he murmurs, and I melt into him. God, how I loved this man—more than my next breath.
“I love you, Easton.”
“I love you, Little Bird.”
I curl closer into him, my hand resting over the inked hummingbird on his bicep.
We fought for this.
We bled for this.
And now, we’re living it.
Someday Quinn will hear the whole story—how it began with letters, how it nearly broke us, how love held anyway. And when she asks, we’ll tell her, because our story isn’t just ours anymore. It’s hers too.
Easton kisses my temple, his voice a low whisper in the quiet. “I never thought we’d be here. You and me in this bed, a little girl down the hall, and another baby growing in your belly. I never thought I’d make it out of jail a second time, but God had a better plan for me.”
I lift my head, meeting his eyes, and the weight of everything we’ve survived hangs between us—the letters, the waiting, the courtroom, the fear. Every scar, every sleepless night has led us here.
“We were always meant to be here,” I whisper back.
His arms tighten around me, and as his lips brush mine, I know, with absolute certainty, this isn’t our happy ending.
This is our beginning .
THE END
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED Glass Wings !