EPILOGUE
GIDEON
Eighteen months later...
I can’t get over how magnificent Kate looks against the backdrop of an endless Italian sky as she stares up at the giant rollercoaster. Her face is luminescent, her hair a rich espresso tumble of curls softly framing her heart-shaped face. Adventure lights up her dark eyes as she contemplates the track’s steep slopes and sharp curves.
A mild feeling of nausea swells inside me every time I look at the rollercoaster so I’m focusing on Kate. My eyes linger on the sweet curve of her lips, so lush and full. She’s slicked on red lipstick, probably to torment me.
“Hey, Big Boy, eyes up here.”
I direct my best frown her way. “I object. Big Boy feels, um, objectifying. I’ll be happy with Sir . Even Your Magnificence will do, if you’re really stuck.”
She shakes her head at my teasing. “Careful, a few other names are springing to mind, and I doubt you’ll like any of them.” She goes up on her tiptoes and plants a soft kiss on my lips, resting her palms on my chest. “What about Husband ? Is that more to your liking?”
“I like the sound of Husband ,” I murmur, “because it’s so accurate, Wife .”
My arms close around her and something sweet and tender unrolls in my chest. This beautiful, brave, challenging, and sometimes maddening woman is mine for all of my todays and tomorrows.
Once upon a time, she was a woman in a photo who captured my attention and then captured my heart.
We were married almost a year ago. I wasted no time asking her to marry me and our engagement period was mercifully short. There was no way I was suffering through a long engagement. Not when I’d endured four seasons of waiting for her to fall in love with me.
Also, I didn’t want to take the chance I’d do something monumentally stupid and risky again. Like concealing my identity. And hiding my past.
Our relationship started in secrets and lies, but we clawed our way back from that bleak beginning.
When I think of how close I came to losing her, I have to stop for a moment and remain perfectly still, as if the smallest movement has the power to rewind time and catapult me back to the moment Kate discovers the photo, but this time she won’t hear me out and she won’t forgive me and nothing I do or say can change her mind.
I don’t deserve her forgiveness, but she’s given it to me. And I’m so unbelievably grateful that if I have to spend the next twenty, thirty, forty years groveling, I’ll do it.
“Will you wear a dress to dinner tonight?” I ask.
“Why?”
I smile. “They’re easy access. Saves me the trouble of dealing with buttons.”
She whacks my arm, all mock outrage. “Gideon!”
“Hey, you’re my wife. But I’m also a guy and we’re sometimes shallow.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Sometimes?”
“Did you pack my favorite outfit?” I ask hopefully. She knows exactly which one I mean. When Kate is meeting a particularly difficult client, she wears her don’t-mess-with-me outfit, a black tank top and black cargo pants. Which I’m a total sucker for.
“No, I didn’t,” she says. “But back to the dress for dinner. I suppose you’ve booked us into some ridiculously expensive restaurant tonight?”
“You suppose right. Only the best for you, sweetheart.”
She holds back a sigh and I hold back a grin. My money still makes her uncomfortable. I bought her a diamond bracelet a couple of months ago and she thanked me with a kiss on the cheek. Then I gave her a color-coded organizational chart and she practically hyperventilated from excitement.
The money is coming in handy, though, when it comes to fueling Kate’s strange obsession with rollercoasters. She’s on a mission to try them all, no matter which country they’re in. The bigger the better, she maintains. Which, by the way, is a statement I’m totally on board for.
I’ve been taking her and Lisset to theme parks all over the world. This is our third theme park holiday and the first one without Lisset. Tess insisted it should be just the two of us this time and I didn’t put up a fight. Although I adore the miniature version of Kate, I’m head over heels in love with the adult version.
“I still can’t believe we’re in Italy,” Kate says now. “It’s magical.”
It’s a country that suits her. The lilting accents, the breathtaking scenery, and the people passionate about life. I chose Italy because of Gardaland, an amusement park in northeastern Italy. There are seven rollercoasters here and we’re going on them all.
We’re staying at the penthouse suite of a five-star hotel. Kate whispered self-consciously that she feels like a celebrity, but that’s not enough for me. She should be made to feel like a queen. That’s who she is to me. My Queen.
I lift her hand and kiss her knuckles. I keep holding her hand while we wait in line for the ride.
Recently, Aaron joked that I couldn’t go five minutes without touching my wife. “And what’s wrong with that?” Tess retorted with an elbow jab to his ribs, knocking that smirk right off his face and right onto mine. I notice he’s been doing a whole lot of touching since that rib-cracking elbow jab.
It’s taken a while for her family to come around to me. Fortunately, their capacity to forgive matches their capacity to fiercely protect their own. They’ve all pretty much forgiven me for hurting Kate. Tess has been especially helpful. She made it a point to remind everyone that Aaron broke her heart, but they all forgave him. There were a few grumblings, but they’ve softened toward me.
We reach the front of the line. I’m not too keen on the whole rollercoaster thing, but if my wife wants to ride one, she will. And I’ll sit strapped in next to her and have her nearly burst my eardrums with her screaming.
A mild earache afterward is worth it simply to observe her face after she finishes the ride. As if she’s conquered something.
I don’t know what the deal is with the rollercoasters, but I suspect her grandmother does, judging from the secret smile they share whenever the subject comes up.
It’s fine. The two of them can have their little secret. I still have a few of my own. One in particular that Kate will hopefully never uncover.
Loving her has brought me more joy than I thought possible. The fact that I get to love her daughter as well is an added, incredible bonus.
Right before Kate and I got married, Lisset asked if she could call me Dad . If ever there was a question to break me, it was that one. Punched the air right out of my lungs and drove me to the bathroom to cry like a baby. Of course, then I had Kate banging on the door.
“Hey, if I can’t cry in the shower alone, you can’t cry in the bathroom alone.”
I had to unlock the door just to save it from permanent damage.
Kate held me tight while I said over and over, “She wants to call me Dad . Did you hear that?”
“I did,” she assured me, smiling through her own tears. “I guess it’s better than some of the names I wanted to call you when we first met.”
That’s my wife, always ready to make me laugh when I’m sad.
Three months into our marriage, we moved into a new house I bought in Brown Oaks. A mansion, Kate calls it, but she might be exaggerating. Yes, there’s an infinity pool, a library for Lisset, a cinema room, a fully-equipped gym, and a professional kitchen, but it’s hardly a mansion. What sold me on the house, though, were all those extra bedrooms.
When Kate turned to me, her eyes full of questions, I explained, “For our children.”
She blinked at me in shock. “How many children are you planning on?”
“Since I’m not completely insensitive, we’ll start off with six and then reassess.”
Those smoky eyes of hers widened in disbelief. “Gideon Garrett Walker, if you think—”
And then I solved our argument like I do all our disagreements. I captured her mouth in a long, leisurely kiss and effectively quieted the flow of words.
“Fine,” I relented when I lifted my mouth from hers. “I’ll go easy and we can start with five... Oooff .” These Miller women and their elbow jabs.
I have to admit, though, I find it unbelievably sexy when my real name slips out of her mouth. We opted to remain with Gideon Walker and preserve our anonymity. It’s a relief not to be hounded at every turn. I’m working on another project idea and Kate is making a heck of a name for herself as a food stylist.
She also serves as a helpline volunteer offering real-time support to women experiencing domestic abuse. Although it’s difficult work, she tells me she feels she’s making a difference in the lives of these ladies.
We celebrated our one-year anniversary before we left for Italy. What better way to celebrate than to recreate the food tasting challenge, except this time I was the one blindfolded and tied to the chair. I do believe Kate thoroughly enjoyed her power trip. I know I did.
At our next celebration, Kate will be the one sitting in a chair. I have a particular scarf in mind for the occasion. And who says we have to wait another year to celebrate? I’m all for celebrating every month actually. I also know exactly which room we’ll be doing the tasting challenge in. A perfect opportunity to show my wife exactly why I insisted on a soundproof cinema room.
I’ve lived a selfish life for so long, and now I have the opportunity to live a selfless one, loving and cherishing two people for the rest of my life. Putting their needs above my own. Heck, I would die for both of them in a heartbeat.
I’ve broken the law for them, and I’d do it again.
Kate never asked me where I disappeared to in those two weeks before she agreed to go on our first date. It’s a secret I’ll probably take to the grave with me.
I spent those two weeks in France paying a visit to Oliver. It was easy to track him down after I heard rumblings he was planning to contact Kate and drag her through the courts to lay claim to Lisset. I doubt he suddenly got all sentimental about being a father, he only wanted to spite Kate. I did a little digging and found out he hadn’t changed at all. He was still violent, this time with the woman he was living with, the one he left Kate for.
I paid him a visit when he was alone in his apartment. Much of what took place that day I’ve blanked from my mind. What I do remember is the rage bunching my shoulders, the relentless need to hurt him. Like he’d hurt Kate.
I thought maybe I’d hate myself in the morning for what I did, but when I looked in the mirror the next day my conscience was clear. Yes, the man staring back at me had broken the law, but at least he wasn’t a man who stood by and let a monster continue to hurt women.
After I finished with him, Oliver ended up in hospital. I made sure he stayed there for a long time. And I used a lot of my money and resources to dig up enough dirt on him to bury him. Blackmail is an effective weapon. He’ll never speak about what happened and he’ll never set foot in this country again. Or ever attempt to contact Kate or Lisset.
Aaron is the only person who knows what I did. He’ll keep it a secret. He’s just as invested in keeping Oliver away from Kate and Lisset as I am. He might have hinted at something to Tess, but her sister code involves protecting Kate at all cost so she’ll keep silent while silently applauding me.
The ride operator announces that it’s our turn to board the rollercoaster.
I hold out my hand to Kate. “Are you ready?”
Without hesitation, she places her hand in mine. “I’m ready.”
“Let’s do this,” I tell her.
As we climb into the carriage of one of the world’s scariest rollercoasters, I glimpse in her face the knowledge that the ride will be both terrifying and thrilling, but it’ll be the ride of our lives.