Epilogue
EPILOGUE
ROYCE
T wo Months Later
I glance in the rearview mirror for the fifth time since I picked Aurora up from daycare. She’s been reticent and looked almost… sullen when I arrived. Now, I take in her lips, tugged down, and the sadness in her eyes, and I want to murder whatever little asshole has upset her.
“Do you want to stop for ice cream on the way home?” I ask her.
She merely shrugs, not lifting her head, and now I know something is wrong. In the months Aurora has been living with us, she has never turned down ice cream.
“Sweetheart, won’t you tell me what’s wrong?” I try again. I asked her this already when I picked her up, but she just shook her head. Which is the same response I get this time.
My hands tighten around the steering wheel, and I have half a mind to drive straight back to the daycare and demand answers from Ms. Everly. I knew she couldn’t be trusted to take care of our little girl. We shouldn’t have left her alone there with those snot-nosed little shits.
What if someone is bullying her? Did one of those little twerps make fun of her?
You can’t beat up little children , I fruitlessly remind myself as I miraculously keep the car heading homeward and don’t do a U-turn in the middle of the street.
“It’s supposed to be a secret, but we have a surprise for you and your Mom later,” I tell her, knowing Grayson is going to blow a gasket that I’ve said anything. I’ll endure his wrath if it means I can get a smile from her. Except, not even a secret surprise can get her to perk up. Damn, it really must be bad.
Instead of pushing her to talk, we drive the remainder of the way home in silence. She’s unbuckling her car seat as soon as I’ve parked, and the second I open her door, she’s jumping down, her little backpack in her hand as she races into the house.
The TV is already on, the vibrant colors of cartoons assaulting my vision when I walk into the house. I stop long enough to find her sitting on the floor in front of the television. She’s too close, but I don’t bother to reprimand her as I stalk past the living room and into the kitchen, where Grayson is sitting at the table, his laptop open in front of him.
We have just finished our final exams, and none of us have any more assignments due. This means Logan, Gray, and I are officially done with college, so whatever work Gray is doing must be for his company.
Logan is heading off to development camp for the Timberwolves in a few weeks before starting training camp in the fall. Thankfully, the camp is in Springview, so he can travel and still be here every night.
I turned down Dax’s offer to join the underground fighting circuit. I still enjoy the occasional fight at The Depot, but I don’t need the outlet like I once did, and I’m not interested in doing it professionally. Especially since it would mean a lot of time away from Riley and Aurora. From my family.
I’m still working on the children’s book I’ve been toying with. I’ve even elicited Aurora’s help with the story, running adventure ideas past her and showing her some of my sketches. I’m not sure if anything will come of it. If I’ll even submit it to a publisher or publish it myself once I’m done. For now, I’m simply enjoying a project that’s just for me and Aurora.
Riley has her last exam today and should be home in a couple of hours. I’m so proud of her. She’s worked her ass off to improve the grades that had slipped at the beginning of the year, and she’s once again at the top of her class. I have no doubt that she will pass these exams with flying colors and move on to her Sophomore year in the fall.
And we have a celebratory surprise for her tonight.
However, that won’t happen if we can’t determine why Aurora is in a bad mood.
“I need you to remind me we can’t hurt children,” I grouse to Gray.
“Why do we hate children?” he asks, looking up from his laptop.
“Because some little shit has upset Aurora, and she won’t tell me what they’ve done.”
In the blink of an eye, Gray is on his feet, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor. “What the fuck did they do?”
Yeah, he’s going to be absolutely no help in talking me down.
“I just told you, she won’t tell me.”
He looks downright murderous as he glowers at me from across the kitchen.
Before he can stalk into the living room and demand answers from her, we hear a key in the front door, and Logan walks in. We hear his low murmur as he talks to Aurora before the heavy tread of his feet before he appears in the kitchen.
“What the fuck is wrong with Aurora?” he demands.
“We don’t know. She was like that when I picked her up,” I tell him.
“And she won’t tell you what’s wrong?”
I shake my head, and he huffs, rubbing his hand along his chin as he thinks.
“Maybe we should cancel tonight?” I suggest.
“No,” they both argue. “We’ve been planning this for months,” Logan grouses. “Today’s Ry’s last exam. We’re officially done with college. We have two weeks before camp begins and life gets hectic. I’m not waiting another day.”
Fired up, he stalks toward the fridge and begins lifting shit out before reaching up to a cupboard for glasses.
“What are you doing?” I ask him.
“I’m going to find out who hurt our little girl and why, then I’m going to deal with them and make it all better so she’s her bright, bubbly self by the time Shortcake gets home, and we can show them the surprise we’ve been planning for months .”
Gray and I share a look before he shrugs. We both know if anyone can get answers from Aurora and cheer her up, it’s Logan.
Five minutes later, he’s calling Aurora into the kitchen.
“What?” she demands, standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. I swear, she’s like a mini Grayson at that moment with her mother’s fiery attitude and his stubbornness.
“I made you a milkshake.” He gestures toward the tall pink drink, layered with whipped cream and sprinkles and complete with a red and white straw, sitting in front of a bar stool on the kitchen island.
Her eyes narrow in suspicion. “Why?”
Crouching down, he gets to her height. “Because you had a bad day at school, didn’t you?”
She stares at him for a moment before her shoulders drop an inch, and she nods.
Goddammit, I fucking knew it. I knew I should have gone back to that damn school and demanded to know what happened.
“Well, there is no problem a milkshake can’t fix,” Logan tells her, scooping her into his arms and depositing her on the bar stool. However, before she can clasp the glass in her hands, he pulls it out of her reach. “I have one condition, though… You have to tell us what happened today while you drink it. Can you do that?”
Lips pursed, she seems to think it over while staring longingly at the pink drink, before eventually nodding.
“That’s a brave girl,” Logan praises, pushing the drink in front of her.
We wait impatiently while she takes a long sip of the drink, smacking her lips together. A small smile brightens her face for the first time since I picked her up, and it loosens some of the anxiety rattling around in my chest.
“Tell us what happened, Pumpkin,” Logan encourages, his arms resting against the top of the island opposite her. “Did somebody say or do something to upset you?”
Her eyes drop to the tabletop, and that sadness is back. I fucking hate seeing it. She nods, her bottom lip trembling before she says in a small voice, “Sally and her friends were making fun of me because I don’t have a daddy.” Sally and her friends are dead. I don’t care if they’re practically babies. Tears well in her eyes. “They said it’s because I’m not love-ble.” God fucking dammit . I really am going to have to scare a three-year-old into line, aren’t I?
I arch a brow at Grayson, hoping he knows how the fuck to fix this since Bertram is—was—his dad, too.
Lips pursed, he appears resigned as he moves to sit on the stool beside Aurora.
“I think you mean loveable, sweetheart,” he begins slowly, “And you’re plenty loveable. In fact, you’re so loveable that you have three daddies .” Logan holds up three fingers to emphasize my point.
“I remember Sally,” I say.
“She’s the one with that weird nasally voice,” Logan unhelpfully interjects, making Aurora laugh as he imitates her.
“The way I see it,” I continue, ignoring him. “Sally is jealous. Only very special people get to call three people daddy.” The three of us move to surround the stool where she’s sitting. “We all love you so much, sweetheart,” I tell her. I don’t need to look at the others for confirmation because I already know they feel the same way when I say, “You’re our baby girl. Our kid. We’re always going to be here for you. Support you. Love you. No matter what.”
“What are we doing here?” Riley asks when we step out of the car in front of a sprawling single-story ranch-style home with a craftsman twist to fit the northeastern landscape. It has a wide, welcoming front porch that runs the entire length of the house, with sturdy stone pillars and wooden beams.
I can’t take my eyes off her as she takes in the mix of natural stone and sage green siding that blends seamlessly with the surrounding landscape. Oversized windows allow plenty of light and offer unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape. Since the house is located in the country between Springview and Halston, we are surrounded by forested woodland that I imagine will make a picture-perfect landscape when the snow begins to fall.
“Let’s just go inside,” Grayson says vaguely, already striding toward the front door and letting himself in. Frowning, Riley hesitates before following, not exactly being left with much of a choice when her daughter bounds in behind Grayson, seeming keen to explore.
The inside has an open floor plan with high, beamed ceilings and plenty of space. The living area is central, with a large stone fireplace as a focal point. It is perfect for cozy evenings spent huddled in front of the fire with a movie.
At the back of the house is a modern kitchen with rustic accents, granite countertops, and high-end appliances. There’s a large island for all of us to gather around and a dining area that opens up to the backyard through sliding glass doors.
“What do you think?” I hedge, watching as Riley spins in a slow circle, taking it all in.
“It’s beautiful, but I don’t understand. What are we doing here?” Tearing her gaze away, she looks at each of us, puzzled. “Are you thinking of buying this place?”
“Mommy!” Aurora’s loud screech jolts her into action as she moves through the house in search of her daughter, the three of us on her heels.
“Mommy! Look!” Aurora is standing in the doorway of one of the bedrooms, and Riley gasps when she steps up behind her. She peers into the perfect princess bedroom we have spent weeks setting up.
In fact, we’ve spent the better part of the last two months getting the house ready—upgrading it, painting, and making it a home fit for the five of us… and hopefully more one day.
“Look, Mommy, there’s a princess bed!”
The princess bed is a large, pink four-poster bed with gauzy drapes hanging above it. On the wall opposite, a castle resembling something from a Disney movie has been painted, along with unicorns and other girly things I recall from Aurora’s room at Lydia’s.
Mouth agape, Riley whirls toward us as Aurora moves to explore the room. “How?”
Crowding around the doorway, the three of us surround her.
“The townhouse is too tiny,” Grayson tells her. “Aurora needs her own proper room, and we need a bed big enough for the four of us.”
“Five for the mornings Aurora wakes early and climbs in with us,” Logan adds teasingly.
Tucking my finger beneath her chin, I direct her focus my way. “What do you think about making this place home, Ry?”
“Live out the rest of our days here,” Logan murmurs, ducking his head to run his nose up the column of her neck. “Watch Aurora grow up.”
“Give her a couple of siblings,” Grayson adds, stepping up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.
“So what do you say?” I encourage, when it seems all she’s capable of is gaping at us. “Wanna spend forever here with us?”
“I—” Gaze filled with love and shining with unshed emotion, she looks at each of us before her eyes fall on Aurora, who is playing peacefully with her new toys in her new room. “Yes.”