Epilogue - Ten Years Later
Casey
“JJ!”
“Yeah, sunshine?” I roll my eyes.
“Not you.” Sighing, I head to the open window over the sink that looks out at the yard and shout at our second eldest, “Jeremy! Get your butt in here and wash up for dinner!”
“We really didn’t think about this naming situation.” Jessie grumbles as he toes off his shoes at the back door and I chuckle at him.
“That’s your fault. Where are the girls?” I continue with the prep for dinner. I’m making mom’s casserole because the full force of winter is now upon us and we need something hearty to warm us up. It is also Christmas eve, which happens to be my birthday, so I got to pick the meal.
“Moira is helping Allie get dressed,” he replies, joining me in the kitchen. His magnetism still sets me alight, even after all this time. Crowding me against the kitchen sink, his huge form enveloping me, and I let myself fall against him, resting my head on his chest as he wraps his arms around me and kisses my neck.
“What time is bedtime tonight,” he whispers.
“Right on eight,” I reply through a chuckle. He’d made some big promises for my ‘ birthday present’, but I think we are both dying for some alone time. Before I can say any more, crying interrupts our little moment of peace.
“I’ll get her,” Jessie assures me with one final kiss to my neck. He pretends like he is tired of it, but my big grumpy lumberjack is as soft as butter for his newest baby girl.
Jessie heads up stairs to the nursery and I take the time to admire the life we managed to build together. Feeling my heart inflate with so much joy and love. Jessie happened to knock me up only a year after we got together. Papa Baker was less than impressed, but after our first blessing, Moira, was born, any hostility quickly evaporated. That little bundle of joy was the light of both my parent’s eyes.
Jessie and I stayed in New York for another couple of years, where the studio grew to being one of the top studios in the city. The New York Times article had me in tears for a week. ‘ A world of its own: The Baker sisters have given the residents of New York a place to be at peace, to grow and become stronger versions of themselves. ’ My dream had come true just as Jessie’s second manuscript was published. Andersen Schulz I had spent so long organizing this, I can’t wait to show it to her. Of course, both her parents know about it. It’s really hard to lie and sneak around a woman whose intuition is as spot on as Casey’s, but with their help, I managed to work around it for the last eight or so months.
“I already told you; you don’t need to dress up, we aren’t doing anything crazy and we aren’t seeing anyone.” In fact, it would really be simpler for me if she wore less clothing. But I wasn’t going to say that in front of my mother-in-law.
Casey, as expected, has made sacrifice after sacrifice for our family. From the moment Moira was born, to four years ago, when we had an intimate wedding ceremony in our yard with our closest friends and family, to postponing going back to work between each kid. I know her dream is to have another studio, but she also keeps burying it, and I know it is because she thinks it’s selfish to want things for herself. Despite her always making sure my own dreams come true. So, I took it upon myself to make it happen for her. To give back in the way that I can.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming. Mom, are you good? Do you need anything?” Casey sounds breathless as she comes out of the bathroom. Dressed in her jeans and pale blue sweater. Her hair is half tied back with her signature ribbon, some light makeup on, and looks breathtaking, as always. Before I can appreciate her look, though, she is zooming past me and into another room and then she’s gone again.
“Caseyyyyy.”
“Alright, alright, settle caveman. I’m coming.” Then she finally looks at me as she smiles brightly, her bright blue eyes sparkling with excitement, and I can’t help myself.
“C’mere,” I practically growl and wrap my arm around her waist the moment she is in reaching distance. I thread a hand through her hair and steal her lips in a kiss I’ve been waiting all damn day to give her.
Just as I run my tongue along the seam of her lips to deepen it, falling further into my desire for her. A cough comes from our right, making us realize our surroundings and pull back.
“Sorry, Bev,” I mutter and give her a guilty look. Casey’s flushed cheeks tell me she was just as lost in that as I was.
“Don’t be sorry, just don’t hang around here all night doing that. Get going. I have everything under control here.” Bev gives us an honest smile before shooing us out the door.
“So, where are you taking me?” Casey leans on the center console between us in the car and I rest a hand on her thigh, completely unable to go a moment without touching her.
“Well, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, now, would it?” Her eyes narrow in suspicion, but there is a playful smile there, too.
The rest of the car ride is in a peaceful silence, one neither of us gets too often, the sound of the road and the low volume of the radio, the only sounds as we pull up to the destination.
The main strip in town is quiet. In the late hours of the night before Christmas, there are only a few couples walking to and from late night venues and restaurants. It’s the perfect amount of peace I wanted for this moment. We pull out in front of a shop in a line of newly constructed commercial buildings, the building I have spent almost the last year getting ready for her.
“What is this?” Casey queries as we step out of the car, looking up at the building we pull up in front of. The signage still wasn’t done yet, so it added an element of surprise, which I was suddenly grateful for. I send her a knowing look but remain silent as I gesture for her to head through the door first.
The moment she steps in, I see her spine snap straight, a hand flying to cover her mouth.
“ Jess. ” I’ll never tire of hearing her whisper that name. “What am I looking at right now?”
I come up behind her and wrap my arms around her.
“Your new studio,” I say gently, letting my lips linger on the shell of her ear, allowing her intoxicating scent to envelop me.
“I don’t understand.” She spins to look at me. “When, and how…why?”
“Because you were never going to take the time to do this yourself. I’ve spent the last eight or so months working on this. Grace agreed to a partnership deal again, if you wanted, so you can both still be in it together just in different locations, a third studio. Or you can make it completely your own. The signage isn’t done, so it’s your choice.” She looks at me with a mix of appreciation and wonder before the dam breaks and tears spread down her cheeks.
“Hey, baby, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” She chuckles, wiping at her tears, and falls into my chest. I waste no time wrapping my arms around her and burying my nose in her intoxicating floral scent.
“They are happy tears. I have wanted to get back into a studio so badly. It just seemed like so much, having to organize it all.” She pulls back, her arms still wrapped around my waist and her blue eyes shine behind her tears. “Thank you, Jessie. I honestly don’t think thank you is enough; I love you so damn much.” I have to blink back the sting in my own eyes as I lean down and give her another kiss. I try my best to not let it get away from me, wanting to show her around before we christen the place. But Casey stands on the tips of her toes, wrapping her arms around my neck, before her tongue sweeps into my mouth and steals the breath from my lungs.
“Easy, sunshine. Let me give you a tour. We can try out the yoga mats after,” I say as I rest my forehead against hers. She chuckles and bites her bottom lip, giving me a gentle nod. I reach for her hand behind my neck and interlace our fingers and pull her further into the studio.
We walk around for a few minutes. I show her the different studios–there are three in total and one room that is slightly smaller but has a thicker padded flooring for the self-defense classes. They have become fan favorites in the original studios back in NYC. The added addition to this one, though, is the kids’ corner. “I figured there may be days you either need the kids with you or want them here, and this is a safe and fun little space for them.” I gesture to the small TV and kid-sized armchairs with the gaming console. A small bookshelf stocked with kids’ books and a trunk full of toys that would suit a toddler and a five-year-old.
“Jessie, you thought of everything!” she boasts and bends down to check out the books. “Hey, this could work for the mom’s and bub’s classes, too.” She beams, her gigantic smile setting me alight, and this time, I can’t fight it anymore. I pull her against me.
“I’m glad you love it, sunshine.” I kiss her forehead and she hums happily as she wraps her arms around my waist, settling into my chest where she fits perfectly. “I was nervous. I wanted it to be everything you had wanted it to be.”
“It is, Jess. It’s everything.” Her grip around me tightens, and she breathes a heavy breath before looking up at me and I frame her face with my hands. Swiping at her soft skin with my thumbs as she continues, “This life, with you. I never could have imagined something so perfect, and yet it has been everything I’ve ever dreamed of. It’s everything I hoped for, and so much more.” Emotion clogs my throat. I can barely breathe, but I feel my chest constrict with all the love I feel for the woman I hold in my arms. The gratefulness that she has given me so much in this life. I could never imagine my world without her in it. I lean my forehead against hers, breathe her in and bask in this feeling with her.
“You’re everything I ever hoped for. You are my everything. This,” I wave a hand around the studio, “is the least I could do.”
“It’s our forever?” She smiles up at me, biting her bottom lip with her sparkling blue eyes.
“Yeah, sunshine. It’s our forever.”