Epilogue
Phoenix
Three months later
“I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can,” I insisted as I came up behind Levi and put my arms around him.
He was studying his appearance in front of the floor length mirror that was attached to the inside of the closet door.
He’d dressed more formally than he needed to for family dinner, but I wasn’t about to argue with him about it.
He was already on edge about the night as it was.
He shook his head. “He says he’s okay, but he can’t be,” he insisted. “Looking at me must be a constant reminder of that night.”
I sighed because he and I had been having this argument for weeks.
Every time Seth had reached out to invite us to family dinner, in fact.
Levi had declined each time until Seth had finally showed up at our doorstep earlier in the week, Jamie and Nicole in tow, and invited himself to a playdate with Henry and Amani to force the issue with Levi.
“You’re also a constant reminder that he still has his daughter because of you,” I said as I turned him around to face me and loosened the top couple buttons of his button-down shirt.
“Those people will know I don’t belong there,” he said.
I hated that Levi’s self-esteem continued to be an issue for him, but I knew it wouldn’t be something he got over in a matter of days or weeks or even months.
I’d finally convinced him to start seeing a therapist to discuss some of the trauma he’d faced as a child, but it was a double-edged sword because, while he was supposed to be honest with his therapist, there was one thing he could never tell her, since she’d be required to report it.
And it was the one thing that still haunted him.
The attack on Seth and his parents.
In the days after T’s abduction of Henry, I’d mourned the loss of Levi.
Him telling me he didn’t trust me had hurt more than if he’d told me he didn’t love me.
The pain had been enough to have me curling in on myself.
I’d managed to find enough strength to put things into motion after Seth had come to me to tell me about his plans to help Levi get custody of Henry, but three days after I’d said my goodbyes to Levi, I’d gotten the call I’d been waiting to get for more than a year.
Amani is awake.
Even now, the doctor’s words caused my whole body to shudder in excitement. I’d forgotten everything else as I’d raced to the rehab center. When I’d run into Amani’s room, she’d turned her head from where she’d been looking out the window and she’d smiled at me.
Just smiled.
Because she hadn’t been able to talk then.
The doctors had reassured me that she’d likely regain her speech, but that she would need time and lots of therapy.
Her motor skills were compromised too. I’d held my daughter’s hand as the doctors had explained it would take months, if not years, for Amani to learn to do things like talk, walk and eat again.
But I hadn’t cared because as I’d sat there, she’d held my hand.
Not briefly as part of a reflexive movement. But really held it.
I’d been a mess for days after that .
Crying almost constantly every time Amani woke up from a nap and looked at me.
I’d been terrified that she’d close her eyes and when she’d open them again, she’d be back in the vegetative state, so every time she’d looked at me and seen me, it had been like I was reliving that first moment all over again.
Seth, Tristan and the rest of the family had come to visit me in the days that followed, but they hadn’t been who I’d needed.
That role had been reserved for one man and one man only. And he’d walked in and given me my second miracle a mere four days after I got my child back.
We hadn’t talked that night about what had happened between us, but I’d known it was coming.
When Tristan and Seth had come by the next day to sit with Amani so I could go home and get cleaned up, Levi had come with me.
But when I’d brought it up as soon as we’d walked in the door, he’d kissed me and said that it didn’t matter what had happened in the past. We were moving forward and that was it.
I’d thought for sure he’d harbor some anger towards me in the weeks that had followed, but he hadn’t. When he hadn’t been working, he’d been at my side with Amani.
Talking to her.
Reading to her.
Watching TV with her.
Seth had been the one to tell me that Levi had gotten Henry back, but that they’d had no place to stay, so I’d asked Levi to come stay with me, though I wasn’t spending much time at the house.
I’d even offered up my guest room in case Levi wasn’t ready to go back to an intimate relationship, but he’d merely kissed me, told me that he loved me, and accepted my offer.
He never left.
Amani’s therapy in the past few months hadn’t been easy, but she’d started to regain the ability to speak.
Her cognitive functions were better than her motor and physiological skills so we spent time playing games and reading books when she wasn’t working with her team of therapists.
A few weeks after she’d woken up, she’d gotten to go outside in a wheelchair and Levi and Henry and I had treated her to a picnic, though the food choices had been limited to the bland foods Amani was able to tolerate.
I’d finally stopped sleeping at the rehab center about a month earlier, but I still spent every day there.
Levi and I hoped to go back to volunteering at the soup kitchen at some point, but between Henry and Amani, we knew it wouldn’t be as often as we would have liked.
I’d donated some money to the church instead, and while I knew it helped, I still missed not being able to contribute in a more meaningful way.
Levi and Henry had settled into my home with no issue whatsoever and the one time Levi had mentioned finding his own place, I’d unashamedly begged him and his son not to move out…to stay with me and my daughter and make us a family.
He’d never brought up leaving again.
While I’d initially been worried that I’d done too much damage to our relationship to repair, Levi hadn’t seen it the same way.
The first full night I’d slept at home, he and I had made love.
It had been just as amazing as the first time.
The next night, Levi had fucked me for the first time and I’d loved every second of it.
I’d never had a more passionate or giving lover than Levi, though he had a bit of dirty streak in him.
After the first time he’d fucked me, we’d fallen asleep.
I’d woken up to him pressed against my back, his dick notched between the globes of my ass.
He’d fucked me in that exact position, but he’d told me if I didn’t come, he’d reward me handsomely.
He had.
First with a toe-curling blow job.
Then again in the shower as I’d pressed him against the wall while he’d wrapped his legs around my waist.
“Daddy!”
“Yeah, Peaches, in here!” I called as I began to unbutton the cuffs of Levi’s shirt and roll up his sleeves. My eyes fell on the reddened skin on his wrist. The burn was still healing all these months later, but Levi had gotten his wish. The tattoo was gone.
I pulled his wrist up to my mouth and pressed a gentle kiss against it.
Levi’s fingers brushed over my head and then he was pulling me to him for a kiss.
The whir of Amani’s electric wheelchair had me releasing him and turning to face my daughter.
I smiled at the sight of Henry sitting happily on her lap.
Amani had been home for two weeks now, though I took her to rehab every day and likely would for at least a year until she fully recovered. She’d fallen completely in love with Henry and he with her. While the pair had separate rooms, they were otherwise inseparable.
“He needs changing,” Amani said as she pinched her nose.
Levi chuckled and plucked Henry off her lap. Amani usually fed Henry and helped dress him, but her motor skills weren’t strong enough to handle the intricacies of changing a dirty diaper.
“Daddy, can I wear this?” she asked as she looked down at her pink dress.
“It’s perfect,” I said. I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “You look beautiful.”
“Will the other kids like me?” she said. “Like this?” She motioned with her chin to the chair.
I bent down in front of her and said, “They’re going to love you and they’re going to love this,” I said as I patted the chair’s wheel.
“Remind me to tell you about Mrs. Finney and her wheelchair on the way up there, okay? I suspect the other kids are going to want to see how fast you can get this thing to go.”
“Really fast,” she said with a nod.
“That’s right,” I said.
Levi returned with Henry. I took him and placed him back in Amani’s lap. “Can you watch him while we finish getting ready?”
She nodded and carefully wrapped an arm around Henry as she maneuvered the chair around and rolled out of the room.
“I should change,” Levi suddenly said and then he darted for the closet. I caught him around the waist and pulled him to me.
“No, you shouldn’t.”
I kissed him hard and said, “You’re perfect and you belong at that family dinner because you’re family. My family.”
Levi sighed and wrapped his arms around my neck. “Sorry,” he murmured .
“Don’t be sorry,” I reminded him.
He nodded against me. I knew his self-confidence was a work in progress, but he’d already grown by leaps and bounds.
He’d started taking some night classes in the hopes he could eventually get his GED, though he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his career.
He was happy at the grocery store, especially since Betty had let him switch his hours to days.
She’d also offered him on-the-job training so he could eventually become an assistant manager.
Levi hadn’t accepted yet, but more because he wasn’t sure he could do it.
But knowing Betty – and I did because I’d met the feisty woman several times now – she’d wear Levi down eventually.
Zane Devereaux had been a huge help in Levi’s recovery as well, since he’d been working diligently to clear Levi’s name.
We’d learned just this morning that Levi’s appeal for a new trial had been granted.
Zane expected the prosecutor to drop the charges next.
The talented lawyer had also continued to work on Hank’s case, though it was proving to be trickier.
But with Hank being in a prison where Levi could visit him often and have physical contact with him, both he and Hank had benefited just from that change.
I’d met Hank on several occasions and was impressed with the man.
He was still recovering from the attack three months earlier, but it hadn’t changed his outlook on things.
He’d cried when he’d gotten to meet and hold his namesake for the first time.
The look on Levi’s face as he’d watched his hero and his son meet had been priceless.
When we’d left, I’d put my arms around Hank and I’d thanked him for saving Levi’s life…
in more ways than one. My hope was that Zane could work another miracle and Hank would get out of prison while Henry was still a child.
Even if Hank eventually decided to try to reunite with his estranged wife and daughter, he’d still always be a part of our family.
“You ready to go?” I asked.
“No,” he said with a laugh.
I gently lifted Levi’s chin and kissed him. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I studied him for a long time, reveling in how much I really did love him. I smiled at him and said, “I’m going to do the thing. ”
“No,” he said with a laugh. “You don’t have to.”
I ignored him and said, “Thanks for coming over.”
His bright eyes stayed on mine as he shook his head. “God, I love you,” he murmured. I lifted my thumb to stroke over his mouth.
“Thanks for coming over,” I repeated. It was Levi’s second favorite part of the movie he’d finally admitted to me was his favorite as a kid.
Sixteen Candles.
I hadn’t ever seen it before, so one night I’d rented the movie and surprised him with it when he’d gotten home from class.
After we’d put the kids to bed, we’d watched it and I’d finally understood his reference to me as Jake months earlier when we’d first met.
As the last scene had played where the two characters finally get their shot at romance, Levi sighed over the last few lines and I’d started saying Jake’s lines to him the very next day when he’d been stressed about an upcoming test.
“Thanks for coming to get me,” he said.
“Make a wish, Levi.”
Levi smiled briefly, but then he sobered and I saw that his answer might have been a line from a movie, but it was as real for him as it was for me.
“It already came true,” he whispered.
I leaned down and kissed him. “I know, baby. For me too.”
Then I took his hand in mine and led him from the room so we could go find our children and join the rest of our family for dinner.
The End
***Scroll to the next page for a Sneak Peek of Vincent’s story (you met him in book 7, Revelation)***