Epilogue
Five years later…
I swear to the Gods, if those two have destroyed my cabbage again, I am going to be pissed.
I suck at growing just about anything, which is oh-so-very comical given the fact that I’m a witch, but I seem to manage cabbage just fine.
That is when two incredibly ornery little children aren’t destroying it.
Where the fuck are they?
I rub my ever-growing belly and waddle around the other side of the house towards the waters.
“Delilah Cordelia Grimshaw! I know you are hiding in that water. Your tail is sticking out. Get back to the house and get washed up for dinner.”
A tiny curly raven-haired little head pokes up, followed quickly by two copper-red eyes. Her pouty lips beg for a few more minutes, but there is one thing I have grown incredibly stern about.
Everyone is present for family dinners.
No excuses.
I quirk an eyebrow and place my hands on my hips. A telltale sign that I am nearing the end of my patience. She complies by trudging out of the water as if walking through sludge. Swishing her tail behind her until she touches dry land, causing her tail and little webbed feets to transform.
She pauses and calls over her shoulder, which makes me suppress my laughter. “That means you too, Uncle Ronan.”
Cheeky Ronan thought he could hide from dinner and leave me with his nearly laborious wife.
However, Midori is convinced she knows exactly when the baby will come. Yes, just one this time.
Lucky bitch.
I get to carry two all over again.
My last two, if I have any say over it. My crazy fucking mates, however, want me to be pregnant forever. That thought makes my vagina scream in terror.
It’s ok, girl. We made it through the first two, we can do it again.
I hope.
Delilah bolts to the house, and hopefully her father’s, to get cleaned up for dinner.
I make my way over to the back side of the healer commerancy– Midori’s new sanctuary– and spot my red-headed demon imp pumping his little wings as hard as he can. They only came about a few weeks ago, and Lucian says they are too small for him to get much air, but that won’t stop his little bullhead from trying his damnedest.
He flaps a few times and nearly lifts up but loses his balance and falls flat on his ass.
“Well, shit!”
I clear my throat loudly, and he jumps at the sound.
“Orpheus Taryn Grimshaw, since when have you been allowed to use adult words?”
I know, I know. Pot. Kettle. Blah. Blah.
“Oops. Sorry, Momma. It slipped.”
He bats his long lashes at me, giving me a good view of one beautiful golden eye and one stunning emerald green eye. I would never claim to have a favorite child, but for some reason, that look he does just melts my heart.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get a move on before your sister eats all the bread I baked this morning.”
Those words light a fire under his ass, and he zips right past me.
I sigh as I turn around and waddle back to the house. I absolutely should have made one of the guys do this, but I wanted too badly to move around a little. This pregnancy has been a bit rougher than the first, resulting in my need for rest, rest, and more rest. But I am cleared for a little walking every day, so I am taking it.
I pass by the forsythia bush Blake has been randomly planting around the village and smile. The smell is amazing, and they make me think of my parents. So I don’t fuss when I see the new bushes popping up.
Movement by the water catches my eye, and I manage to catch a glimpse of a dragonfly.
I know it’s not her, but a piece of me will always see a dragonfly and think of it as my mother’s way of telling me that I am doing something right.
Which is lovely because most days, I feel like a hot mess.
If you would have told me six years ago that this is where my life would lead me, I would have laughed.
I was a witch with no magick. no trust for anyone but her raven, and no yearning for anything more.
Now?
Now I have everything I could ever want in this life.
Maybe all heroes do eventually get their happily ever afters.
It just takes us a while to realize what that means for us.