Epilogue
Stone popped the cork of a bottle of champagne, grinning like a fool. A fool in love, of course. Juan didn’t fault him; marrying the love of your life would do that to a man. Not that he and Amber had gotten hitched yet, but it was definitely in the cards.
Standing beside her new husband, Juliana’s smile lit up the gardens of the house they shared.
The house they’d share for many years to come if the fates were kind.
On her other side stood Chiara, her maid of honor.
On Stone’s other side stood Mantis, still reeling from the surprise of being told he was to be Stone’s best man at the impromptu wedding.
Amber leaned over, slipping her arm around his. “Told you,” she said with a smile.
Maybe not quite an impromptu wedding. After all, Juliana and Amber, along with the caterer Simone, had been planning this party for a few weeks.
“You did,” he smiled, dipping his head and brushing his lips against hers.
While everyone had known about the party, Amber had been the only one to suspect it would morph into more.
She’d mentioned it to him ten days ago, then, out of respect for what Stone and Juliana obviously wanted—a surprise—forbade him from talking about it with his brothers.
It hadn’t been hard to hold his tongue, mostly because he didn’t think either Stone or Juliana capable of keeping such a thing secret.
And if they weren’t talking about it, then it wasn’t happening.
But sometimes, surprises were good.
Stone wrapped his arms around his wife, holding her close as he raised his glass. “To family,” he said, taking a sip, then placing a lingering, tender kiss on Juliana’s lips.
“To family,” they all repeated, raising the glasses the caterers had passed around moments earlier.
Juan’s eyes sought Zoe. Sitting safely in a large pen they’d set up for all the puppies.
The four furballs wrestled and tumbled across the grass, yet managed to never bump into Zoe.
Or not bump into her hard enough to cause injury.
Sherman kept a wary eye on all the shenanigans but seemed happy to stay by Stone and Juliana’s side.
“To family,” Juan said, turning and wrapping his arm around Amber. Happiness shone from her eyes—for Stone and Juliana, but also for herself, for them.
“To family,” she said, taking a sip of her champagne, then lifting her lips for a kiss.
“Should we tell them?” he asked after pulling away.
Her gaze traveled around the small crowd. All the Falcons and their partners, Kendall, Dottie, Chiara, Chiara’s parents, Leo, Joey, Clara, and Adrian. “I think we should wait,” she said. “Today is about Stone and Juliana.”
He nodded, the motion cut off when Stone called his name.
“Yeah,” he answered, raising his voice to be heard across the garden.
“I hear you two have some news, too?” Stone said.
His eyes shot to Amber’s. She frowned and shook her head. “I didn’t say anything. Did you?”
He shook his head. “What do you say now? Tell them?”
She laughed. “You think we have a choice?”
He answered that rhetorical question with his own smile. “Not a chance,” he said, before releasing Amber and turning to his family. “Um, we do,” he said, his heart suddenly galloping like a racehorse. He cleared his throat, then glanced at Amber. She smiled.
“Anthony’s parental rights were terminated effective yesterday.
I’m going to start the process of adopting Zoe.
” Even as the words left his mouth, he could still hardly believe it.
Nothing in this world would stop him from building the family both he and Amber wanted, but it was still hard to wrap his head around.
The roar of cheers that went up pulled a laugh from both him and Amber but startled Zoe and the puppies. Zoe’s lips turned down and started to quiver.
“I got her,” Kendall said, hopping the short fence and picking up his daughter. His daughter. Maybe not legally, not yet, but in every other way.
“Does that mean another wedding is in the works?” Dottie asked, hugging each of them. “You did say I could walk you down the aisle,” she said to Amber.
“Oh, you did, did you?” he said, drawing out the question.
He loved teasing her, but wouldn’t lie, he loved even more that she’d been thinking about it already.
“Does that mean you’ve planned it already?
” An adorable blush climbed her cheeks, and she ducked her head.
He couldn’t have that. Lowering his lips to her ear, the one facing away from Dottie, he whispered, “Name the day and it’s done. ”
Her fingers tightened on his arm, but she didn’t say anything.
She didn’t have to. It would happen; they both knew it.
But Amber wanted some time for the roller coaster they’d been on since Zoe entered their lives and Anthony’s crimes came to light to settle down and smooth out before starting the new chapter of their lives together.
Thankfully, her relationship, their relationship, with Zoe was growing stronger every day. As was the case against Anthony.
Johanna Milvela had sung like a bird when she learned Anthony’s real endgame.
She’d given him the drugs, thinking to help him with anxiety and nervous stomach he swore he had.
Why she thought that was a good idea, rather than suggest he get a prescription, Juan couldn’t fathom, but he supposed Anthony, in his way, could be very persuasive.
Three days after Anthony’s arrest, Callie finished tracing all the payments, drawing a clear, if twisted, line between each of the beneficiaries of the murders and Anthony’s bank account.
Interestingly, none of the six who confessed when questioned suspected Anthony was the one supplying the drug.
They’d simply assumed he was a guy who knew a guy.
A middleman. The other five still hadn’t said a word to the FBI.
The police, then the FBI, had even brought Corey Osborne in for questioning regarding his role in the events that took place the night Zoe was born.
He hadn’t caved yet, but it was only a matter of time.
The man’s character was about as strong as a wet tissue.
The last two pieces in the puzzle—small ones, but every detail counted—were Dr. Georgia Lansing and Philip Calder.
A casual word from the police chief to the good doctor about the autopsies not being a priority had given her enough of a reason to put them off.
Apparently, no one ever told her that being lazy and being a doctor didn’t go well together.
As for Calder, Anthony had fed him a lie, telling him Clara was his aunt and Adrian her wayward daughter, and that he was worried that Adrian would harm her mother, so wanted them found.
He’d begun to suspect otherwise and willingly turned his records over to the FBI when he found out the truth.
“Congrats, you two,” Clara said as she and Adrian approached. “This is more than we ever hoped for our little girl.” All four of them looked to Zoe, who now sat happily in Kendall’s lap, tossing a tiny ball to the frenzy of fur scrambling around.
“We thought it would take longer,” Juan admitted. “I’m glad it didn’t.” He suspected HICC, and Amber’s lawyer, had something to do with how quickly Anthony’s rights were terminated, but hadn’t asked. He didn’t need to know the details; he just appreciated the outcome.
Clara and Adrian shared a look before turning back to them. A hint of anxiety flashed in Clara’s eyes, raising the hairs on Juan’s neck.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
Another look between the mother and daughter. Then Adrian took a breath and spoke. “We’ve been thinking we might like to stay here. But we don’t want to encroach if you think it will cause any issues with Zoe or confuse her,” she said in a rush.
Amber drew back in surprise, then threw her arms around both Clara and Adrian. “Nothing would make me happier, and Zoe would be the luckiest girl to have you both in her life. We all will be.”
The emotion in Amber’s voice resonated through him, tugging at all his heartstrings. A beat later, he was hugging the women, too, echoing Amber’s words.
“I’m guessing there’s maybe even more good news?” Mantis said, ambling over with Charley, Joey, and Leo.
“Clara and Adrian are going to stay in Mystery Lake,” Amber answered, still clutching the women’s hands. “I’d hoped you would, but it seemed too much to ask after everything you’ve already done.”
“Nonsense,” Clara said, after the others expressed their delight. “Grandparents move to be closer to their grandkids all the time. I’m just doing the same.”
Juan didn’t think that was really true, but what did he know? He’d never met any of his grandparents.
“And I like Mystery Lake,” Adrian said. “It might take us a while to get used to the winters, but it’s so much more laid back than Virginia that I think we’ll find more of a community here than we ever had there. Now I just need to find a job.”
“Talk to Kara,” Charley said; Joey nodded. “She works at the hospital. It seems they’re always looking for nurses. Let me give you her contact.” The three women wandered away, presumably to find Charley’s purse and phone.
“You’re welcome to stay at the clubhouse as long as you like,” Mantis said.
Clara smiled. “We actually looked at a place today. A Victorian shotgun-style house—”
“The one over on Baker Street?” Leo asked. Clara nodded. “That’s a great house.”
Clara smiled. “It is. It’s been turned into a duplex, which is perfect for us. I’m not old by any stretch, but it will be easier for Adrian and me to look after each other, and house-sit when one of us travels, if we share a place. It needs a little work, but nothing structural.”
Mantis nodded. “You think you’re going to make an offer?”
“We were just waiting to talk with these two,” Clara answered, jerking her head to him and Amber.
“Make the offer,” Amber said, her enthusiasm pulling a smile from the older woman.
“We’ll put it in tomorrow.”
Mantis looped Clara’s hand over his arm. “Let’s go talk to Monk about what you’d need done. We’re all pretty good at renovations, but he’s the best.”
He and Amber watched the two walk away, Leo excusing himself, too, as Superman waved him over to the horseshoe court.
Juan’s gaze swept the gardens. Marley had joined Kendall and Zoe in with the puppies; Stein and North were studying the trees, deep in conversation about something; Dottie sat with Philly and Callie, basking in the late-afternoon sun.
The others stood in groups talking, laughing, nibbling on the plentiful appetizers circulating.
He dropped his gaze to his flute of champagne, then looked at Amber. He traced the lines of her beautiful face as she drank in the scene. Sensing his regard, she turned to him. Their eyes met and held, then together, they smiled.
“To family,” she said again, raising her glass.
He lifted his, touching it to hers. “To family.”