Epilogue
Dallas, TX
Many years later
There were days when Theo Taggart wondered what his life would have been like had he not had his past ripped from his brain. Days when the memories that were still gone would surface and whisper along his mind like a ghost trying to take him to the past.
He’d learned long ago how to deal with them.
Despite the crowd milling around Top’s private banquet hall, he let the world shrink down, followed the training that had become so engrained in him by the deeply caring professionals who had created whole protocols to help him deal with his trauma.
In that moment he thanked them. Kai and Eve. He said a quiet prayer of gratitude and began the process.
He took a long breath and let the memory flow over him. A vision of the most beautiful woman in the world punching him in the gut assailed him. He could practically feel the air whooshing from his lungs.
Damn, that woman took his breath away. He didn’t fight to stay in the memory, simply let it be.
“You okay, Dad?”
He opened his eyes and his baby girl stood there looking up at him. She was her mother’s mini me at one point, though there was zero doubt that kid had a lot of his soul.
“I’m good.”
“What was it?”
Devi Taggart-Reed might be a mother of two and wife with many years of happy marriage under her belt, but she remembered her childhood.
They talked about what happened to him. Even when she and TJ were kids. He’d never hidden the fact that it was hard for him to remember most of his life before Hope McDonald had experimented on his brain. He’d gotten back a lot, but it was by using methods like this one. Not chasing the memory. Simply letting it come, feeling the emotions connected to it, and then talking.
Sometimes he wasn’t completely sure if the memories he had from those methods were true or some variation his brain created to fill the void.
He no longer cared. All that mattered were the feelings. The love. The passion. The deep sense that this was right and he was home.
“I got a little flash of how your mom and I met the first time.”
Devi grinned.
“You mean the first time she kicked your ass.”
He couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yes, that is absolutely what I mean. That woman took my breath away within seconds of meeting her.”
He looked across the elegantly decorated room and found her. His whole fucking beautiful life stood there in a black sheath dress that clung to her curves and made his mouth water. Her glorious red hair had only a hint of steel in it after all these years. But then he was pretty sure the woman was made of it. He’d never met a woman stronger than Erin Argent, and the joy of his life—the salvation of his life—was that he’d made her love him so much she dragged him back from hell.
His brothers often teased him about being the girl in their relationship. They could be toxic assholes sometimes, but he loved them. It never bothered him because he quite liked being Erin’s prize. It was a good thing to be.
“She likes to tell everyone how she did it. I believe it was an elbow to your solar plexus,”
Devi said, sounding infinitely amused.
“I know this is well-worn territory, but I still wonder how you thought it was a good idea to raid your brother’s company in the middle of a workday.”
“I wonder about it, too.”
Because he really couldn’t remember. It was odd what came back and what didn’t. What surfaced at the strangest times, but lucky for him his baby would tell him stories.
“I believe your mother would say I was an arrogant shit who stormed her castle and thought I would get away with it.”
It wasn’t true. He had been on a CIA team and following orders, though there had been something deep inside that told him when Ten Smith had ordered them to storm the building because he mistakenly thought his sister was in danger, he’d been excited. Not because of Erin. He hadn’t met her at that point. But at that point they’d met Ian Taggart and knew about Sean Taggart, and he thought he would have wanted to get to know his other brothers. He liked to think he’d been a young dumbass and the world had seemed like an adventure.
How odd to have gone through all of that and be right back here. Where his knees creaked and he had to worry about cholesterol and the world still seemed like a big, gorgeous adventure.
Devi threaded her arm through his and leaned her head against him.
“Well, I personally think having parents who had an epic love story led your kids to find their own. At least with me and Zach. All Lou had to do was lay out a trail of sandwiches to get TJ to fall into her web.”
He snorted because that was so not true.
“I think Lou would say there was a lot more to it.”
Devi and Zach had been much simpler. Zach had seen her, fallen in love, fucked it all up, and then wooed her back by kidnapping her and keeping her with a bunch of rescue animals. It had taken TJ and Lou years.
Louisa. His sweet daughter-in-law. He’d always worried about her working with the Agency, but she’d survived something horrific in those last few months when the team had fought Emmanuel Huisman and she still thrived. It had taken a while. It had taken love and therapy and a family surrounding her, but Lou had beaten all those beasts back and she was a wife and mom, and more importantly to the world, she was Lou again.
Devi stood up straight and her hand came out, catching the five-year-old trying to race by at breakneck speed.
“Mitchell, what did I tell you? You cannot run around Top like it’s a park.”
“But Uncle Lucas lets us.”
His grandson had the Taggart looks. Blond. Blue eyes. A smile that belied what would absolutely someday be a sarcastic wit.
“He says the olds need a jolt of… It was something that starts with an A. I don’t know but Thea does.”
Thea Calliope Taggart. His first grandbaby. She had TJ’s smile and eyes, and thank the universe her momma’s intellect. Thea ran the little cousins’ group with smarts and kindness and joy. She was eight and would one day rule the world.
“And what did Thea tell you?”
Devi asked.
Mitchell shrugged.
“That I shouldn’t listen to Uncle Lucas because he’s going to get us in trouble with the grumps.”
“Do not let your grandmother hear you,”
Devi said, glancing around.
“Eh, I’m okay with it.”
The light of his life was suddenly beside him. Erin looked down at their grandbaby and winked.
“If Big Tag can be Grumpa, I probably deserve Grumpma.”
She made him smile. He leaned over and kissed her.
“You do not, sunshine.”
“Only for you, babe.”
Erin knelt down with a grace that always took his breath away. She put her hands on Mitchell’s shoulders.
“Sweetie, you should totally call your Uncle Ian an old. You should go do it now.”
Mitchell’s eyes had gone wide, and he shook his head.
“Thea told me I should never say that word around any of the grands. I’m supposed to call them grands if I want to survive.”
Damn, that kid was cute. How did he have grandkids? How was his heart so damn full? Every time he was certain his soul was as full as it could get, someone put another baby in his arms and his soul grew.
“Thea is very smart.”
Erin winked and stood.
“Come on, buddy. I think your Uncle Lucas put out the kid’s buffet, and he promised to make plain hot dogs this time.”
Because Lucas Taggart believed in elevating every food. He loved his nephew, but he was a food snob. Sometimes a bag of chips was just a bag of chips.
“Seriously?”
TJ walked up with a tiny toddler asleep on his shoulder. Ella Taggart was three and the youngest of TJ and Lou’s brood. Their middle kid, Jonah, was likely running around with Cooper and Kala’s small army. He still wasn’t sure how those kids would go. They would either protect the world or become amazing supervillains. Theo was deeply interested in either outcome.
“He always tries to mess with the perfection that is a hot dog. Like it doesn’t need to be elevated. I swear he’s gotten to be even more of a food snob, and given who he married I thought he would soften up.”
The fact that Lucas had gotten married at all was a miracle, but then it all seemed like a miracle to him.
“Come on. Let’s go and get my boys their dinner.”
Erin winked back at Theo, taking Mitchell’s hand.
Devi’s head shook.
“You are choosing the kid’s buffet over your father’s birthday dinner? You know it’s Wagyu ribeyes with potato puree and grilled asparagus, right?”
Her brother was already walking away, his hand on his daughter’s back.
“I was going to eat both, sis. Happy birthday, Dad, and you, Uncle Case.”
“Thanks, kiddo. Erin, you are looking gorgeous.”
Case Taggart was his twin, though they were fraternal. They looked a lot alike, but they had never been able to fool anyone like their nieces had.
Erin gave him a wave.
“You and Mia better be at my house for dinner on Sunday.”
“Will do,”
his brother promised.
“We’re having dinner on Sunday?”
Zach walked up, his big chest covered with a baby carrier and Theo’s latest grandbaby, who watched everything with wide eyes. Erika Reed was almost one and seemed to think the world was one big ball of fun.
“We are.”
Erin stopped and kissed the top of Erika’s head.
“Theo’s going to make a brisket.”
News to him, but he was happy to do so.
“It’ll be a big one.”
His kids could eat. He watched as his wife walked away. Damn, that woman was gorgeous. The years rolled by but his wife simply got more beautiful.
“Awesome. It’s been a week. Devi’s got a massive order and we’ve been living on takeout,”
Zach explained.
Devi’s company, Tag, was considered one of the world’s premiere luxury lingerie and fet wear lines. Zach Reed had learned how to run the business end so Devi could spend her days designing. It turned out to be an excellent partnership. All of his fears dissolved when he’d realized how much Zach loved his daughter.
“Well, there’s only good stuff tonight,”
Devi promised with a grin. She slid her hand against her husband’s, tangling their fingers together.
“Let’s find a place close to your mom. I can’t believe she got on a plane.”
“Well, Big Tag sent a private jet for her and managed to get Henry and Nell on it, too. Let me tell you the carbon offset he had to buy to make that happen was a lot of fun to get by the new CEO,”
Zach said with a chuckle.
“Your cousin says you owe her some serious fet wear.”
It was great to see the kids were keeping up all the family traditions, including ribbing each other at all times.
“Watching Kala and Coop take over McKay-Taggart gives me hope that one day my brother-in-law will be able to retire,”
Case said as they watched Zach and Devi walk away to find his mom.
Shannon Reed. He’d spent a lot of time with the brilliant, troubled woman. They had a lot in common, though it might not look like it on the surface. Trauma had molded so much of their lives, but he’d had the right partner and that had made all the difference. He was so glad she’d been able to spend these later years in the peace of Bliss, living in a cabin with her sister and enjoying the love of her new family. She taught science at the school and had found a real home.
Like he had.
Home, Theo Taggart had found, wasn’t really a place. It was people. It was family, no matter how that family formed.
“Drew is never going to retire. He’s going to drive the younger generation crazy.”
Case’s in-laws ran a huge tech company that now employed one Louisa Ward-Taggart. He would forever be in Drew Lawless’s debt for building an office in Dallas for his research and development branch. At first the job had been a cover for Lou’s Agency work, and then it was a refuge and blessing for her whole family.
“I don’t know.”
Case smiled and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“He gets jealous of Big Tag and Charlotte’s adventures. I think big brother has the right idea. Let the kids take over and we’ll spend the rest of our lives traipsing around the world with our wives and friends.”
It sounded perfect, and what his wife didn’t know was that it might be his birthday, but she was getting the present.
“Does Mia know?”
“Does my wife know that we’re spending the next month on a yacht in the Mediterranean?”
Case grinned.
“No. It’s going to be a surprise. She finished her latest book last week, and she could use a break. She asked if we could spend some time here in Dallas so she could hang out with Erin.”
They would spend plenty of time together. Just in a different place.
“And Ian promises he’ll fly Sean out when we’re anchored in Greece. He and Charlotte are touring the islands for the next couple of weeks. I see a fishing trip in our future.”
Case looked over the restaurant and let out a deep breath that let his twin know he was getting a little emotional.
“How the hell did we get here, brother? We grew up in a trailer park.”
Theo shrugged.
“Dude, you’re asking the guy who got his memory wiped.”
Case laughed, the sound booming through the room and bringing their older brothers to join them.
“Hey, are we making fun of Theo?”
Ian asked.
“We should be making fun of Luke for those hot dogs,”
Sean said with a shake of his head.
“They’re Wagyu. I cannot convince that kid that a hot dog can just be a hot dog. Also, one of the kids got into the mustard. Luke made it himself and put it in a bowl. So now the buffet is an art project.”
Ian put a hand to his still taut belly. Big brother still had a hell of a metabolism.
“Wagyu hot dogs sound kind of good.”
Case nodded.
“They do. What do you say we join the kids?”
“I’m pretty sure yesterday I was a kid,”
Sean complained.
Theo followed his brothers.
The world was a beautiful place when surrounded by friends and family.
* * * *