Epilogue
Elijah
One Year Later
I don't think I’ll ever get tired of seeing her smile.
It's the first thing that sets my day right—the way she looks at me when she wakes up, like I’m worth everything to her. I’d spend the rest of my life chasing that look, doing whatever it takes to keep it there. She deserves that.
More than anyone.
Because somehow she's made me the happiest man alive.
Water suddenly splashes across my face, dragging me out of it, wiping it away just in time to catch her laughing. She drifts backwards through the water, that spark in her eyes, all playful and teasing.
The sun hits her from behind, turning her hair molten copper, her skin glowing like it's lit from within.
All I can think about is wanting this entire beach to be empty. Their eyes don’t deserve the pleasure of seeing her. She’s all mine. Forever.
“Your head is in the clouds again,” she calls, drifting closer. “Are you thinking about me?”
Always.
I just smirk, watching her like she's the only thing worth looking at.
For the past half hour, she's had me attempting that ridiculous lift from Dirty Dancing, and obviously, I said yes without giving it a second thought. I always do when it comes to her.
Not that I’m complaining at all, because I get to have my hands all over her.
If anything, I've been dragging it out, pretending to struggle with the lift just to keep her close a little longer. Hearing her laugh every time I “mess it up” is absolutely worth it, too.
“You're always on my mind.”
“Some might call that a little obsessive.”
I don't hesitate—I grab her hips, and I haul her flush against me, water shifting around us. “I call it romantic.”
Her hands glide up my arms. "Don't worry, you're always on my mind too.”
I chuckle under my breath as she wraps her arms around my neck, her legs sliding around my waist as we drift together in the water.
“What do you fancy doing tonight?” she asks softly, stroking the back of my head. “Before the crazy family arrives tomorrow.”
We are in Newquay, and we lucked out with the weather. Not a cloud in the sky. It's been great to have a break and just spend time with each other.
We decided to do this every year now. Every summer, we will come back here, and I can tell how much it means to her. She grew up here and has memories with her dad, whom we are actually visiting today.
Willow has been under the weather recently, a lot more tired and cranky, but nothing serious. At least today she's perked up, so I suggested the beach and that instantly pulled her out of bed.
The rest of the family is coming down tomorrow for the week. It’ll be Miles' first time here, our nephew who stole my girl's heart the moment he was born. Millie has become very attached to her, too.
To be honest, she's become important to them. To all of the family.
Slotted in like she was always meant to be there—the missing piece none of us realised was missing.
Willow has a special way with the children, including those she teaches.
I've caught the end of her classes when I've picked her up, and I've observed how she doesn't just interact with them—she truly understands them.
She is patient, intuitive, and vibrant, which draws the kids to her effortlessly.
She ensures that they are listened to, that their voices are heard, and that each one feels equally important.
She makes it look beautifully effortless.
It's made me feel a possessive need to get rid of her birth control at times and throw it down the toilet.
I don't, though, because at the end of the day, it's her body, and when she decides she wants a family with me, I'm all on board.
She won't be leaving my bed till I get her good and pregnant.
“Are you still feeling okay?” I ask, concern threading through my voice.
She just tilts her head and nods. “You don't need to worry so much about me. I’m fine.”
“You don't know me at all if you think I’ll ever stop worrying about you.”
Her green eyes shine, catching the sunlight, and she slides her fingers through my hair. The brush of her touch makes goosebumps prickle across my skin.
“I know, and I love you for it. But if you keep worrying, it will give you more worry lines.”
“Are you insinuating that I look old?”
“Nooo,” she trails off, lips twitching. “I think you're very handsome… lines and grey hairs included.”
I growl low, playful, lifting her slightly in the water. Her laughter bursts out as she clings to me tighter. The water splashes around us, glittering in the sun.
“You're beautiful.”
Sometimes I still can't believe she's mine.
“Even when I look like a drowned rat?” she counters, her lips hovering just a breath from mine.
“Especially then.”
I mean it. I’ll spend every second, every minute, every hour making sure she knows it—until it's no longer something she questions, but something she carries with certainty.
Something shifts in her then, the playfulness softening into something more tentative.
“I need to tell you something.”
“Okay.”
She goes quiet.
“I don't know how you'll take it.” Her eyes drift away from mine. “I was going to wait until we visited my dad, but… I feel sick keeping it from you. Like I can't breathe, and I keep thinking you're going to hate me or leave me.”
She's definitely nervous now. I can tell when she starts to ramble on.
“Are you breaking up with me?”
Her head snaps back to me, eyes wide with disbelief. “What—no, you idiot. Why would you even think that?”
I shrug slightly, a faint smirk tugging at my mouth.
“Well, it got you to stop shaking.” Her lips part, but I don't give her the chance to spiral again.
“And for the record, there's nothing you could do that would make me hate you.
Not a damn thing. Unless you suddenly decided my brother was better than me—which we both know isn't true.”
She snickers, some of the tension easing, and I lean in, resting my forehead against hers so she can't look away this time.
“Tell me, baby.”
Our breaths mix, warm and uneven, the distant sound of waves and voices fading into nothing. It's just her. It's always just her. And I can feel it—how hard, how deep I've fallen. Like there's no bottom to it, and there never will be.
Her fingers tighten slightly against mine.
“I’m pregnant.”
That… wasn't what I was expecting.
Maybe I’m hearing things.
“Are you serious?” I ask, trying and failing to contain my excitement.
Her eyes fill instantly, and my chest tightens. I can't tell if it's fear or hope sitting there, and I hate that she even thinks she has to worry about how I’ll react.
“I know it's soon, and we’ve never really talked about kids, and you like your naps, and I’m on birth control—but then again, I’m not surprised because we practically go at it like Duracell bunnies—”
My hand covers her mouth, cutting her off, my shoulders shaking with a quiet laugh.
“I love your rambling.” I brush my thumb over her cheek. “You have no idea how happy you've just made me.”
“Really?”
“I love you, Willow, and you've just told me we’re having a piece of us… so yeah—I’m fucking ecstatic.”
I’m over the fucking moon.
My gaze drops to her stomach, knowing in a few short months she will have a bump. She will look so god damn radiant; I don’t even know how I will keep my hands off her.
I never thought I would have more children, and this incredible woman who chose me is carrying ours.
“How do you feel?”
She drags her tongue over her lip, nerves flickering across her face. “I’m scared,” she admits. “I think just because I wasn't ready for it, but knowing it's with you, it makes it easier. You make everything easier, and I know I've given this baby the best dad they could ever have.”
That means more than she could ever know, and I’m not one to get emotional, but I’m seconds away from bawling like a baby.
I press a kiss into her hair.
“I’ll always be here. Every step. Every second. If you want some weird-ass craving at two in the morning, I’ll find it. Don't care where I have to go to find it for you.”
A soft, broken laugh escapes her. The tension finally loosens as relief washes over her.
“We're having a baby,” she whispers happily.
I nod, a grin breaking through, impossible to hold back. “We’re having a baby,” I repeat, like I need to say it again to make it real.
“I’m going to be a mum.”
I cup her face. “You're going to be the best damn mum—no question about it. And your dad will be right here with us. Watching over you and our baby. I know he would have loved this little one more than anything.”
Her fingers lift to the necklace at her throat, holding it for a moment before they drift over the ink on my skin, the marks I carry for my little girl.
“So would she.” The words brushed against my lips. “She would have been the best big sister.”
My eyes close, just for a second.
If there is a place where she exists beyond this, I’d like to think Leon will be there with her… watching over her and keeping her safe in a way I couldn't.
It's mad to think you can miss someone so much when you never even met them.
Willow's lips find mine, and the pain deflates.
Everything does.
They fade into the background until there's nothing but her. The warmth of her mouth. The softness of her touch, the steady presence that anchors me every time I start to drift.
I’ll always be grateful to her for showing me what true love is really like.
With her, we don't sink beneath the pain. We move through it. We endure it. Together, stronger than anything life has thrown at us.
I kiss her back with everything I have in me while the waves softly crash into us, as if the ocean itself is trying and failing to compete with the gravity between us.
She wasn't my first love. But she will be my last.
The one my soul recognised long before my heart did.