51. Epilogue One
Epilogue One
Violet
-Six years later-
“ L ucas, share with Sammy before I put you in time out.”
“But, Tia, she already had her turn. It was Leo’s turn.”
"Sammy, is that right?”
“Yes, Mrs. Knight.” Meli's adorable firstborn was a firecracker, but she was an honest one at least.
“Then, let Leo have his turn.”
Sam passed the toy over to Leo, but I saw her stick her tongue out at Lucas from the reflection in the window when I turned around. I shook my head. Those two were always butting heads. Sammy could be a little bit of a bully and Leo was the quiet twin, making Lucas a bit aggressive whenever he thought someone was being mean to his twin.
The bell rang and I gathered all my students to head inside. After I had Oliver, I finished my degree in graphic design, but I decided to stay in school and crammed an education degree in three years. Despite coming leaps and bounds since I was kidnapped, being around strangers was bad for my anxiety. I could do it for short periods of time, and I had no problems with any of the pack members from my family’s packs, but I couldn’t face being outside pack grounds by myself for eight hours daily. At the time, Chris was working as a trainer for both Cory and Cade, and suggested I stay home with our pup, but I wanted to be useful.
That was when Bells reminded me about how much I enjoyed running the daycare and working with kids. So, after a long talk with Chris, and then Cory, I decided to get my teaching degree. This was my second year teaching grade two, and I loved every minute of it.
The rest of the day went by and, as usual, my mate showed up at my classroom door five minutes before the bell rang, holding Elijah, our three-year-old in his arms. Elijah was in daycare most of the day while I worked, but Chris always picked him up early once he got out of work. He was so hands-on with both of our kids. I couldn’t have picked a better mate.
Since the start of the year, he started teaching someone to take over his training position, while he repurposed the old restaurant that had been vacant for over twenty-five years. He was going to put his business degree to use, and open a bar.
It was something Cory encouraged, and I think even persuaded, Chris to do, considering how much the area and packs had grown over the last few years. He wanted the packs to have a safe space to drink and be themselves. Cade was providing the land and Cory was investing the money. Both were silent partners who were letting Chris take the reins, because that’s how much they trusted him.
Chris was still considered an elite warrior and sometimes went out on missions when they needed him. His gift made it easier on my anxiety whenever he did, and I was thankful to Selene for giving it to him.
He was still training me to fight in private, but now instead of training in the empty arena in the middle of the night, we trained in the evenings in our backyard. Sometimes Elim and his mate showed up and gave me pointers. I wasn’t fond of fighting, and I never would be, but with the war on the horizon, knowing how to defend myself was a necessity. I would not become a liability.
The moment I let Chris inside the classroom, my kids started getting excited and giggly. They loved his visits.
“Alright, settle down so you can go home,” I told the class.
Once they were properly settled, I nodded at Chris, who cleared his throat and addressed my students.
“What did the boy say to his fingers?” he asked the class.
“What?” Every single one of the children asked as one.
“I’m counting on you,” Chris told them seriously.
In the fashion of seven-year-olds, they burst out laughing and cackling. I shook my head, and let them laugh it out of their systems.
Every day, Chris told them a different joke. A few parents had asked me where they were getting so many jokes, and groaned when I let them know it was their end-of-day treat. They were all good-natured about it, thankfully, because I wasn’t about to deny my husband the joy he got when they laughed at his jokes. I even bought him a new book last Christmas, so he had more material.
“How was your day, Little Warrior?” Chris asked as he stood behind me while parents began to pick up their children.
“Good. Most of them are getting the hang of sentence structures. They’ll be ready to do their own cards by Mother’s Day.”
Once the last kid was gone, I gathered my purse to leave. I turned to my husband, and he pushed me gently with one hand until I was against the desk. He dipped his head, and lay a kiss on my lips.
“Daddy, no!” Elijah grabbed Chris’ cheek and pulled.
Chris pulled back, having to cut the kiss short, chuckling.
“We protect mami (mommy) from others, not me, Eli. I would never hurt mami.”
“Mine. My mami,” Elijah continued to push his daddy’s face from mine until Chris shook his head with another chuckle, and gave in. Once Elijah was satisfied no more kisses would take place, and settled down, Chris placed his hand on my stomach.
“How’s my other little warrior doing in there?”
“She made me throw up once today,” I tattled.
“Well, at least that's an improvement,” he chuckled.
We’d only found out our third pup was a girl a week ago, though I’d already guessed this one would be different. Like the true protectors they both were, neither Oliver nor Elijah gave me any trouble during my pregnancies. But this little girl was giving me a fight. I was three months along, and still had the occasional nausea.
We walked to the park near the school and let Elijah run and join Oliver and Bells’ kids, Liz, Cora and Ian, who was almost five, as they played in the jungle gym. Every day, Bells picked up Oliver when she picked up Liz and Cora, and hung out at the park until I was done with work.
Chris and I sat down on the bench next to Bells, as she watched the children play.
“Where’s Cade?” Chris asked, eyeing Bells suspiciously.
“Annoyed and stuck in a meeting,” Bells chuckled. “It’s going on so long. I was so happy to ditch him there, and come pick up the kids.”
“He lose the rock, paper, scissors?” I asked.
“Nope. I used the pregnant lady needs some air card,” Bells grinned, unrepentantly.
Bells was due in two weeks and she insisted this would be her last pregnancy. She was expecting twins again and already threatened to cut off Cade’s equipment if he didn’t get a vasectomy. It appeared five pups splitting her open was her magic number.
Evie and Cory showed up with their brood a few minutes later. Lucas and Leo ran straight to the kids, while Anna appeared to take after her mother and already loved having her nose stuck in a tablet, though she did put it down when the kids called for her, and she joined whatever game they were playing. Their fourth, Alex was not walking yet, so he was firmly stuck on her hip despite his attempt to wiggle off to join the fun. Emi and Luis came barreling into the kids a few minutes later, Lucien running to keep up while Cecilia trailed behind, her four-month pregnant stomach making it difficult for her to move very fast.
Dad had a running joke about how his kids kept coordinating their pregnancies. Evie and Cecilia had gone through parts of their first pregnancy together. After that, Bells, Evie and I had our babies. Then Bells and Cecilia went through another pregnancy together a year later. Two years after that, I was pregnant along with Areli. Last year Evie and Areli had been pregnant together, and now Bells, Cecilia and I had fallen pregnant within a month of each other.
All of our kids were close in age to each other, guaranteeing no one ever felt alone. All of us brought our kids here to bond after school. Areli was too far away to make it during the school days, but she always brought her three every Saturday morning for breakfast and lunch at grandma’s, something everyone was still more than willing to attend.
“Hey, am I late?” Adrien called from behind us.
“Nah, they just got here.”
“Go play!” Adrien told his shy five-year-old while he gave him an encouraging little shove.
Elias and Adrien had adopted Rowan at the end of last year, and he was still trying to find his spot with the kids. He was a quiet little guy who’d been through a lot. Thankfully, our kids were used to having a loud, big family and took to him quickly. We offered to help try to bring him out of his shell a little, so we told Adrien to join our after-school shenanigans.
As we watched our kids play, I sensed a mood shift in Bells. I looked over at her and noticed her fiddling with the dog tags around her neck. She still missed Adam like crazy. The research into the Forbidden Plane wasn’t going well, but she and Cade refused to give up.
“It’s his birthday today,” Bells whispered with a quiver to her lip, when she noticed me staring. I put my arm around her and hugged her tight.
“Want to go home, eat some ice cream and tell some stories? Chris got me snickerdoodle cookies sandwiches.”
Every one of our children knew about Adam. We made sure of it. They knew he was their cousin or sibling, but had to go away so he could get better. Bells showed them pictures and told them about him every so often, though, I knew it was still hard for her. I think in a lot of ways, Adam had saved her that year she was alone trying to juggle the world, and she was determined to save him back.
We all coped in our own way. Our traumas never quite left, they just got easier to deal with. But, we were Chantico’s children, and we don't break. We bent under the heat and stood back stronger. We evolve into something better.
Tezcatlipoca was still out there, and when he finally came for us, we were going to be ready. We had a lot of pain to reciprocate.