Epilogue 1
EPILOGUE 1
JOSH
Four Months Later
M y phone pings from the desk beside me with the video footage of Kelli driving through the front gate. She’s been working at the hospital in town for just over three months now and she loves it. She works three ten hour shifts a week, which is a dream. Brian and I have hired more staff, so we never work more than forty hours a week anymore either. It has been a nice change for all of us. We have kind of been waiting for that honeymoon-phase feeling to end, but it hasn’t, and I’m not sure it ever will. We all just enjoy each other’s company too much.
Brian’s physical therapy is going better than expected; he is already back to eighty-five percent mobility and they are hopeful it will continue improving. He spent thirty minutes yesterday chopping wood with no complaints of pain or issues. It’s been a huge weight off of all of our shoulders. Kelli’s house was also sold over asking price and her case has been closed for two months now. Everything has kind of been falling into place for us.
Brian and Kelli are both still seeing Krystal for therapy, and it has been amazing for them. Kelli hasn’t had a nightmare in two months, and Brian has been lighter than he has been in years. He’s been open and honest with all of us, and the guilt that he used to carry around is almost invisible . Laughter rings through our house daily now, and there are no unhappy tears from anyone. Brian has been groveling for months, even though Kelli forgave him immediately.
Preparing our home for Christmas might have been the most over the top I have seen him go. We currently have five trees spread throughout the house that we decorated together, thanks to his sucking up. I wanted to bitch about it, but Kelli’s delighted squeals when we took her to the tree farm and he told her how many trees she could get were totally worth it. We all pretend like we run the house, but Kelli’s the one who is really in charge.
I head out of the office to find Logan and Brian in the living room. “She’s pulling in now. What should we surprise her with first?”
“I want to say the upstairs because it’s the least exciting, but I’m not sure we can hide this one.” Logan looks over at the puppy sprawled out on the floor.
“She’s sleeping, so as long as she doesn’t wake up, we can do the other surprises first.”
Brian disagrees. “Nothing is going to top the dog, so might as well start with the smaller things.”
Christmas is next week, but we did a few things early. Mostly because she is off of work next week and we needed her to be gone to work on one of the surprises, and the puppy was ready to be picked up so we are doing some celebrations early. The front door opens as Kelli strides in and we all rush to the entrance to greet her.
“Hey, baby girl, how was work today?” Logan wraps her in a hug.
“Long. I am so glad I have the next week off to be a bum with you guys.” She puts her purse on the entry table and kicks off her winter boots. “I’m going to shower then we can make dinner.”
“Actually, we have something we want to show you.” I take her hand in mine, leading her up the staircase. Luckily, Brian and Logan have been wearing out the puppy all day so she stays asleep, sprawled out on her new bed. As we get to the top of the landing I pause and look at the guys. “I know Christmas isn’t until next week, but we did a few small things early.”
I head toward Logan and Brian’s rooms first. Both of their doors are open, showing the new Alaskan king beds they have. Kelli stops in her tracks, looking from one room to the other before turning around. Her glassy eyes travel between ours. “You did this for me?”
Brian steps into her, wiping his thumb over her cheek to catch the rogue tear falling. “Yeah, baby, we did. All the rooms have these beds now, so you can be the center of a snuggle sandwich any night you want with no complaints of the beds being too small.”
There may have been some complaints these last few months. We aren’t small guys and spreading out with three or four people in a bed is not easy. I know our backs will thank us as much as Kelli will. Brian drops a chaste kiss to her lips before I lead her down toward my room. I have been slowly moving all of my computers and work equipment down to the office over the last few weeks to make space in my room. Kelli has been using the closet in her room for all of her clothes and things, but she never sleeps in there. She’s been mentioning turning that room into solely a guest room since we have had family come visit more with the holidays.
Over the last three days while she was at work, Logan, Brian, and I have built a walk-in closet in my room where my office stuff used to be. We even moved all of her things over since we have Brian’s parents coming to visit in a few days. As she steps into my room, her eyes go wide as she takes in the double doors along the side wall.
“What’s this?” Her voice is quiet as she tentatively steps forward. Logan steps around her, opening the doors so she can see in. The outside of the drywall still needs to be painted, but the inside is done to perfection, complete with a small chandelier hanging in the center. Kelli steps in and spins to take in every inch of the space we crafted for her. “It’s beautiful,” she croaks, the tears spilling down her cheeks now. She turns and leaps into my arms as I bury my head in her neck. “Thank you,” she whispers to me.
When I set her down, Logan grabs her hand. “That’s not all, pretty girl. We have one more thing downstairs.”
“I don’t know if I can take any more surprises.”
“You’ll want this one, trust me,” Brian says from in front of them, leading the group downstairs. “We know you said you aren’t ready for babies yet, and that a dog is the logical next step. So, we got you a new addition to the family.” We all stop in front of the empty dog bed in the center of the living room.
“Shit, we left her right here,” Logan says scratching his stubble.
“It’s a her? What’s her name?” Kelli squeals looking around.
“She doesn’t have one yet. We thought we would name her together.” I start walking around the room trying to find her. She’s a fluffy chocolate lab, she couldn’t have gotten that far. We all start searching the house when a small yip comes from the kitchen. We rush in to find her pulling a bag of chips out from the pantry. Kelli rushes in, scooping her into her arms. The puppy lavishes her face in sloppy kisses as Kelli’s laughter rings out.
“Nala. I think we should name her Nala.” She brings her back to the living room with all of us in tow as we circle around her, giving her the pets and attention she demands.
“It’s perfect,” Logan declares as Nala climbs all over us on the couch.
“Thank you for her. For everything, this is the best Christmas ever.” Kelli takes turns giving each of us a kiss.
“Christmas hasn’t even started, baby, this is only the beginning.” I wink at her, letting her see all the dirty promises in my eyes.
Brian leans over, putting his lips to her ear. “We got you the puppy, baby, you know what we want next.” His hand trails down over her stomach, “We can practice anytime you want.”
Logan strides over, throwing Kelli over his shoulder. “I think I’m going to start that practice right now.”