Epilogue
Nadia
THREE MONTHS LATER
As I walked down the empty hallway of Firefly Elementary, there was a buzz in the air—a current of anticipation that always occurred on the final day before summer break. This was the quiet before the storm. In just a few minutes, kids would pour in, and the last day of school chaos would begin.
I had an extra pep in my step. This was the first summer I wasn’t going to be teaching summer school. I had plans, a family vacation.
Those were words I never thought I’d put together—family and vacation. After Callum’s fight, we were taking the kids on a trip. Another sentence I never thought I’d utter—kids and trip. We hadn’t decided where we were going, right now it was between the Bahamas and Hawaii. I honestly didn’t care where it was. We could be going to a motel in the desert with no WiFi or room service and live off of peanut butter and jelly, not the animals of course, the sandwiches, while playing board games and I wouldn’t complain. As long as I was with Callum, Chloe, and Matty, I’d be happy.
When I entered the teachers’ lounge, the same energy I felt in the hallway was even more prevalent. The electricity was palpable, as all the teachers had the finish line in their sights. It was a toss-up who was more excited for the summer break: the students or the faculty. I would argue the latter.
My work husband was seated at the round table in the corner, concentrating on his phone. His furrowed brow and pursed lips told me he was playing Wordle. Today was Friday so he had on a blue sweater vest. I kept my head down and did not make eye contact in a successful attempt to avoid last day of school small talk. I didn’t want to be asked if I was excited about the summer or for comped tickets to Callum’s fight, which was happening more frequently as the event got closer. It was all eighty percent of the people I interacted with wanted to talk about.
I had mixed emotions about the fight. As happy for him and proud of him as I was for following his heart and training as hard as he’d been training so he could step back into that cage at peak performance level, I couldn’t help being terrified for him. This was the first professional fight I would see in person. The only other bouts I’d had front-row seats to were when he was still an amateur and those had been difficult enough to watch.
When I made it to the corner table, I slid into the seat feeling a disproportionate amount of pride at my successful ninja-like entrance. Not one person stopped me to chit-chat. It was the small wins.
Amos looked up as I sat down. When he did, his face brightened. “You, my darling, are positively glowing.”
“Am I?” I smiled dreamily.
“That’s what a daily dose of vitamin D will give you.” Amos winked as he lifted his coffee mug to cheers me.
I smiled as our ceramic cups clinked together, even though I wasn’t getting the D he was referring to on a daily basis, more like one or two times a week. Callum had joined me in the shower this morning and given me not one, but two incredible orgasms. But this morning was not the norm.
Sexy time wasn’t easy with a teenager, an almost seven-year-old, a dog, and two cats in the house. Callum, Chloe, and Matty moved in three months ago, and it had definitely been an adjustment, but I couldn’t be happier. The three-ring circus was becoming my new normal, and I could definitely say I was never lonely anymore.
Although I could never, ever replace Chloe’s mom, and wasn’t actually her sister by blood, I felt like we shared a really special bond. We were both only children with moms who weren’t necessarily pillars of the community, at least in the community’s eyes. Danielle was definitely more motherly and nurturing than mine had been, for which I was happy for Chloe. But they were similar in that both our moms died after years of health struggles where we took on the responsibility of being their caretakers, she’d just had to step into that role a lot sooner than I had. And then there was the obvious similarity that neither of us knew our dads. Those weren’t the greatest things to bond over, but she’d told me, more than once, that knowing I’d gone through exactly what she had made her feel a lot less alone. I never thought I’d be grateful for my upbringing, but I could honestly say that seeing the comfort it brought Chloe, I was. I’d finally come to peace with it.
“Love looks good on you,” Amos said sincerely.
“Thanks. Oh, did you ask Bernie if he can get the time off?”
One of the only people I did want to come to the fight was Amos. I was going to have a lot of my friends there for support, but Amos was different. I never had a dad, and Amos was the most stable male figure I’d ever had in my life. In fact, he didn’t know it but, after the fight when Callum and I had time to get engaged and plan a wedding, I was going to ask Amos to walk me down the aisle.
Amos put his hands on the table and leaned forward, and I got an instant giddy buzz. The hand-table-lean-forward meant he was about to serve some Grade-A gossip tea.
“You know they just promoted Patricia to supervisor, and the power is going to her head. She thinks she is royalty. Queen Patricia’s crown is being held up by horns, if you know what I mean. She’s decreed that vacation is no longer first come, first serve or has anything to do with seniority. She says it’s a lottery system, but it seems all the winners of the time off lottery are from people she’s been getting gift cards, special coffees, and other such incentives from. So, no, my sweet Bernie did not get his time off, because he refused to play her game. But you know he’s a very perceptive man, he’s quiet, unassuming. People don’t notice him, so it makes it easy for him to gather information and receipts. For example, he knows what Her Royal Highness has been doin’ on her long breaks with Mr. Leonard Finley.”
“Leonard from sanitation?”
Amos nodded.
“But Patricia’s married.”
“Yes, she is, which is why she didn’t want the slideshow Bernie made sent to her husband. So, yes, my love, Bernie and I will be at the fight.”
“Oh my gosh. That is amazing! I love him so much!” I reached across the table and gave Amos a bear hug. “Can you and Bernie adopt me?”
“Oh, honey, we already have.” Amos patted my back. “You know you’re our girl.”
I felt myself tearing up as the bell rang. We stood, and I sniffed back the emotion before anyone saw me. Ever since Callum came back, it was like I had all these emotions right at the surface. I was still getting used to them.
“Okay, last day, let’s do this!” Amos clapped his hands, and the rest of the faculty cheered.
I walked into the hall and took a deep, cleansing breath, ready to end the school year with an easy, breezy day. Then, I was going to spend the next month focusing on the kids while Callum continued training camp. There were only four more weeks left until Callum’s fight. He’d been working so hard to get ready and heeding the wise and musical advice of Japeth the goat from Hoodwinked, he would be prepared, but I still worried about him, which I felt was totally rational. The love of my life, the person who was the most important person in the world to me, was going to step into a cage with a man who wanted to beat the shit out of him. Not just beat the shit out of him, but was getting paid millions of dollars to do so. Who wouldn’t be concerned?
Now that Callum and I were together, I’d gone back and watched his fights. Hindsight being twenty-twenty, that might not have been the best idea. Call me na?ve, but I forgot just how violent the sport was. When he started out, I’d seen him fight, but the difference between amateur and pro was drastic. The level he was competing at now might as well be an entirely different sport. It was brutal. It was savage. It was barbaric.
Callum promised me that after this, he would officially retire for good. I wanted to believe him, but I knew that it might not be a promise he could keep. This was his career. A career he’d dedicated his life to and accomplished great things in. I had to prepare myself both mentally and emotionally for the truth that this might not be the final time he stepped into that cage and faced an adversary.
I shook off those thoughts as the second bell rang and students came flooding into the school. I stood beside my door in the hall to greet each one of my students for the last time.
“Morning, Miss Nadia.”
“Morning, Lisa.” I gave her a high five.
“Morning, Miss Nadia.”
“Morning, Ruben.” We did a little dance.
Reece Miller, the pastor’s granddaughter, was next in line. I knew she would tap the hug. I was getting ready to hug her when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“Nadia.”
I turned around and saw Lorraine Shelby, the event planner. Since she didn’t have a child, I was confused as to why she might be at the elementary school. “Hi.”
“I’m so sorry to bother you. I was wondering if you’ve heard of the bachelor auction.”
“Yeah, of course.” It was such a strange question to ask me. Every year, there was an auction at Abernathy Manor. One of the things that was auctioned was bachelors, so people referred to it as the bachelor auction, but that was a small percentage of what the event was.
“Well, I’m in charge of organizing it again this year.”
“Okay.” Was she going to ask me if Callum could be auctioned off? First of all, I wasn’t his keeper. But also, no , he absolutely could not.
“And I was wondering if Josiah and Grayson might be interested in being part of it. I really need two more guys.”
“Oh.” That made a lot more sense. Josiah and Grayson were Callum’s trainers. They were both single, attractive, good guys who would make excellent bachelors to auction off.
“Um, I can ask them and pass on your info.”
“Thanks!” I started to turn around, and she squeezed my arm tightly, almost to the point it hurt, stopping me and pulling me into a hug. “You’re the best!”
This woman had never hugged me before, which I thought was strange, but maybe I was giving off hug vibes now that I was with Callum and around Nora and Buzz more. They were a family of huggers. I had been hugging Chloe and Matt. And I’d just initiated a hug in the teachers’ lounge with Amos. After what felt like several minutes but was probably only fifteen seconds, she let go and said goodbye.
I turned around expecting to see Reece Miller’s blonde curls, I instead saw Callum standing in front of me.
“Callum…what’s wrong…what are you?—”
My words were cut off when he hit a sticker on the wall that showed a man kneeling, holding a ring in one hand that was placed over the sticker for the high five. Then, he lowered down onto one knee and my entire class was standing behind him, holding large papers with block letters spelling out NADIA WILL YOU MARRY ME? Amos, Bernie, Nora, Michael, Buzz, Chloe, Daphne, Ashley, Reagan, and Zoe were also there, standing behind the kids.
Tears filled my eyes, and I clasped my hand over my mouth.
“Nadia Carson, I have loved you since the day I saw you on the pier and offered you some Big League chewing gum. Life took us in different directions, but thankfully, it brought us back to each other because life without you wasn’t fun- zero stars, do not recommend.”
I laughed.
Callum grinned. “You told me once that I have the best heart of anyone you know, but the thing is, it’s not mine. From the moment I met you, my heart belonged to you and only you. You are my safe place, my calm, my home. You anchor me, you challenge me, you inspire me. Everyone can see how beautiful you are, and there is a lo t I have to say on that subject, but it’s not appropriate because you’re at work.”
There was a ripple of laughter through the adults in the crowd that was gathered.
“So, Nadia Jane Carson, will you marry me?”
“Yes.” I nodded my head up and down. “Yes.”
Callum slid the ring on my finger, stood and picked me up, then spun me around. Cheers erupted in the hallway as his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, and I buried my head into the crook of his neck, which was my favorite place to be, for now, for always.
THE END
If you enjoyed the SATC girls finding their HEAs in Firefly Island: Southern Nights, then check out the Wells sisters in Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings, starting with FALLING IN FATE.