Epilogue
DARCY
FIVE YEARS LATER
“I t’s smaller than I was expecting.”
Wren looks up at me in surprise. “You sound disappointed.”
“Not disappointed. Confused.”
He sniggers. “I think this is normal. They’re just made this way.”
Normal? I glance down again, dubiously eyeing the size. “This can’t be right. We’re going to break it.”
My wonderful husband chokes on his muffled laugh and wraps his arm around me. “First of all, I think step number one is to stop calling our daughter it .”
Daughter .
I bury my face in my hands. Whose ridiculous, ill-thought-out plan was this? And second to that, what idiotic human being gave me— me —an actual child to be responsible for?
I can barely look after myself. A conglomerate? Sure. A living, breathing thing? I once killed an “unkillable” houseplant.
“What’s step number two?” I ask from behind my hands.
Wren pulls them down, turning me to look at him. “Stop freaking out.”
“I don’t see that as being a possibility.”
His face drops slightly. “We’ve been on that list for four years. Been going to parenting classes and jumping through all the goddamn hoops they threw at us. Tell me you’re not having second thoughts?”
My mouth drops. “ That’s what you think?”
“How else am I supposed to take—” He waves his hand over me. “—all that?”
“I’m not freaking out over Charity—she’s ours now. I’m freaking out over how the hell I parent someone when I can’t even tell myself with conviction that it’s time to put work down and stop playing with numbers.”
“I can guarantee you’ll never have to tell her that.”
That gets a small laugh from me. “I’m serious, Wren. What if I mess her up? What if she turns into me?”
“A sweet, caring man who’ll do anything for his family and loves with his whole heart?” Wren slings an arm over his face. “No, the horror! Make it stop!”
I shush him and quickly glance back at the tiny—and I mean tiny —sleeping human. “We really should get her size checked, right?”
“No.” Wren plants both hands on my shoulders and steers me from the room. “She’s had her health checks, she’s smack bang on average, which means she’s already taking after her papa and not her overachieving stress-head dad, so now you don’t have to worry.”
I drop down onto the couch. “I really do hope she takes after you.”
“I know, Darce. But we wouldn’t have this kid if I didn’t think you’d be an amazing father.”
I tug Wren down next to me and climb into his lap. “How do I stop myself from turning into … him?”
Wren shrugs. “I dunno, honestly. We both know he made some bad calls, but he also didn’t do too badly from where I’m sitting. You still work too much, but everything else about you is perfect.”
“Perfect is horseshit, but knowing you have faith in me helps.”
“All this uncertainty is kinda a turn-on, if I’m honest. It’s been years since I’ve seen you look anything less than in control.”
It’s true. It took us close to a year to get the company back to smooth sailing, but the important part was that we did it. Then, my brothers and I worked to break down the legacy laws of MediaCorp, and it feels good to know my daughter won’t grow up with the same expectations on her that I had.
I hope she ends up working for the company, that she has interest in it and does it because she loves it, but that will be her call.
Who knows, when Wren and I are gone one day, she might decide to sell it for parts.
It’ll kill me if she does.
But she’ll never know that.
Because her inheritance will never be an obligation.
I lean in and kiss Wren once, twice, melting into how I can feel so topsy-turvy in love with him after all these years. It was hard work to get to where we are, but our life together was worth every second of fighting for it.
I’d expected more teething issues in the beginning, more stress fights and bickering, but if Wren has proven anything to me over the years, it’s that when he said he was there for me, he meant it. Our arguments are few and far between, and they never last long.
It makes me more sure than ever that Wren and I were made for each other.
“We still meeting your mom tomorrow?” Wren asks.
It’s been something I’ve gone back and forth on a lot.
After everything broke out, she up and moved to her house in Lyon and wants nothing to do with us or MediaCorp anymore.
She keeps up appearances if she has to but has made it clear she’s disappointed in all three of her children.
I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve seen her since she left, and only two of those times I didn’t walk away angry.
“I think so.” I’m still not completely convinced I’m making the right choice.
“She wants to know Charity, and while part of me thinks Mom should continue to suffer alone for how she treated you, the other part remembers that she was there for me for most of my life, and she came through in the end.”
“You know I’m good with whatever you choose.”
“I know. Which is why I told her that if she wants to know Charity, she has to respect her fathers. Both of her fathers. I’m expecting her to cancel at any minute.”
“You’re really getting in and testing her love early, aren’t you?”
I cup his face, rubbing my thumbs over his rough stubble. “No one ever disrespects my husband.”
He pumps his eyebrows. “Except you.”
“And only in the bedroom.”
A teeny tiny wail comes from the bassinet.
“Though I get the feeling you won’t be doing that for a while.”
I frown. “Never mind that, doesn’t she sound … quiet? Like a squeak toy? Is that normal?”
Wren throws his head back on a laugh. “Something tells me you’re going to do fine as a dad.”
“And if I don’t?”
He slaps my ass to get up, and I climb off him so he can see to our daughter. As he walks away, he throws back to me, “Then we’ll bump up the timeline on number two. And if that doesn’t work, well, third time lucky.”
Urg , asshole.
But he’s an asshole who always knows how to make me smile. I still thank my lucky stars every day that I somehow ended up with my all-consuming romance. That love is a part of my every day, and now, with the baby, it’s only going to grow.
I think of all those times I wished he’d disappear and want to shake past Darcy, who couldn’t see what was right in front of his eyes.
I’m so glad Wren never gave up.
I’m so glad he fought for me.
And now, I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting for him.