Epilogue
EPILOGUE
ZOE
Three years later
My beautiful husband is fifty. The grey’s encroaching into his dark hair even farther, but he’s as gorgeous as he’s ever been.
And utterly dedicated to his family.
I thought he’d cave when the offers flooded in when his movie was released, but he turned his back on Hollywood in every way.
Except one.
Now he mentors young actors who find fame at an early age, and he teaches them what not to do. He and Jessie formed a foundation to help people abused by the system or who need guidance in difficult situations. It’s growing every year as more celebrities want to be a part of it to try to stop the sins of the past from carrying into the future.
The work is rewarding, but for Declan, nothing beats being a father.
Pushing myself back from my desk, I stand and walk into the kitchen. A loud squeal makes me look toward the corner of the garden where my husband sits at a table, making pretend tea with our girls.
A little over two years after Daisy, we welcomed Delilah to our little family.
Declan’s never shown any signs of returning to his old life—he relishes the new one too much to ever put it at risk. He’s such a doting dad, he puts me to shame. I don’t have the patience to sit and pour imaginary cups of tea from a plastic teapot. But Declan will be there until the girls get sick of it and want to move onto something else.
“I want to go on the swing. Push me, Daddy,” Daisy cries.
“Me too.” Delilah joins in.
Tea party abandoned, they run toward the swing set nearby. Declan helps them both into the swings and gives them a gentle push.
I shake my head and head back inside to my desk. They’ll be entertained by him for long enough for me to get some work done before dinner.
When the squealing stops, Delilah comes running in and heads straight toward me. I turn and open my arms as she leaps on my lap.
“Nap time,” she tells me.
“Is it?” I kiss her cheek. “Have you had fun with Daddy? ”
“Swings.”
“I know, sweetie.”
“Del, come on. How about you and your sister come upstairs with me?” Declan shoots me a wink as he leads Daisy and then Delilah upstairs. Daisy’s growing out of her naps, but she follows her younger sister upstairs regardless. They’ll be out for at least a couple of hours once Declan works his magic.
I’m lost in thought when footsteps fall behind me.
He nuzzles my neck. “What are you up to?”
“I’m working on something new. Want to see?”
Declan grins. We called time on our family once our second daughter was born. Declan didn’t want to be an older father, and my second pregnancy was plagued with complications. Nothing serious ended up being wrong, but there were enough complications that I didn’t want to do it again.
Our life together is perfect.
But I turned out to be the one with itchy feet, and while I know I never have to work again, I couldn’t stay away.
“I’m making a new chat platform. I saw something online about a gaming company wanting to create a safe platform for the gamers to chat on. They’re widening their range of games to include a younger target market, and they have a system, but it’s pretty open. So, I got in touch with the CEO, and she loved my ideas. I’m building a trial system, but something that can scale if they opt to buy it.”
His eyebrows rise. “So, you’re working for free?”
I shake my head. “No way. Apparently some of her employees used my dating app and raved about it, so she knows my work history. Plus, doing it in-house means either employing new developers or reassigning people to do this, so I’m contracting to her for the moment.”
“What does ‘for the moment’ mean? Are you going to work for her?”
I cup his face in my hands. God, how I love this man. He’s always looking out for me.
“No. It’s just a contract. If this works the way I think it will, then I can work up a maintenance plan and hand it off to them. If they run into any issues or want more features, then I’ll come in again on short term contracts.” I plant a kiss on his lips. “It works for both of us, and it means I’m not committed to working full-time.”
“I’m so proud of you.” He runs his fingers through my hair. “But the girls are napping, so …”
“So, it’s time for me to step away from the computer.”
He grins. “Something like that.”
We walk upstairs together. Once we established ourselves in LA, surrounded by our village, we never looked back. I sold my apartment in San Francisco, and we turned Declan’s crazy house into a home with the girls.
Caitlin sometimes travels with Brandon now—especially when they come to LA to play, and their two boys are as close to my girls as they can be. He’s now talking retirement, and they want to settle nearby.
We’ve all landed on our feet.
The girls will be asleep for a couple of hours, so Declan and I take our time undressing and slipping into bed. I live for these lazy afternoons with Declan. While there are times when we rip each other’s clothes off, hungry for one another, there are also these times where things are slow and gentle.
He places his weight over me, and I grasp his biceps. I love this moment where I feel my husband’s strength under my fingers. When he kisses me, I get lost in the sensation. His kisses are as amazing as they were from day one, and I sigh a little as he drops his lips to my neck before working his way down my body. My man’s still a big fan of oral sex.
And when he slides into me, I sigh again contentedly, rising to meet every thrust until he’s the one who calls my name.
Afterward, I rest my head on his chest, which now features all our names tattooed near his heart.
“I never thought I’d be this happy. For years I thought I had to be someone to find that fulfilment from life when what I really needed was you and our girls,” he says.
I place a kiss on his chest. “You are someone. You’re the love of my life, and you’re the whole world to those girls.”
His dark eyes drink me in. “Love of your life, huh?”
“I don’t know any other way to describe you.” I smile. “All I know is that I plan on spending the rest of my time on earth with you.”
“Feeling’s mutual, babe,” he murmurs. “This. Us. The kids. I feel like I was floating for years with nowhere to land, but you brought me back to solid ground.”
Tears well in my eyes. “I’m so glad we found each other.”
“Me too.”
“Mamma,” a little voice calls from a nearby room.
I chuckle. “Time’s up, Mr O’Leary. ”
He sighs. “I knew getting this much quiet time was a lot to ask for.”
“We still have tonight.”
“And every night.” He kisses me on the nose.
“I love you, Declan.”
And I always will.