Epilogue
L EILANI
A month later
Undisclosed island
Florida
“So, we consider this still our honeymoon,” I say, my arms looped around his neck as we lounge in the pool.
“This and the next day and the next.”
I wear a wide-brimmed sunhat and more sunscreen on my shoulders than there is water in the pool.
I skipped it yesterday, and my skin is red from the sun.
I’m doing things backward as always.
“You look like a movie star,” he says.
“A pregnant one.”
“A pregnant one. No one looks as good as you do, though.”
“You flatter me, Mister.”
“It’s the truth.”
He rests his hand on my belly, although nothing shows.
“No more extreme sports for you,” he says against my lips as I start to kiss me.
“By that you mean…?”
“Head diving first into the pool. Horseback riding.”
“Noted. Can we still have sex?”
He flashes a grin.
“Absolutely.”
I kiss him with abandon, ready to have sex with him, and also to receive all the care in the world that he’s about to give me.
Things have only been smooth sailing after that bloody unfinished first wedding ceremony.
He was right.
It turned out that we could manage a wedding and a few funerals.
Our wedding was the best. I wore his favorite gown, and mine, and we had a small party after.
We took a ton of pictures.
Rory was the most excited of all the guests. She said she’d never seen anything so beautiful.
Maybe because Callum and I could show the world how much we loved each other.
Perhaps because there were no extended families and the news hadn’t made the rounds.
The crime lords were still busy figuring out the new redistricting of power.
I loved our wedding. It was all I had dreamed of.
The next couple of weeks were filled with administrative tasks.
Once Varela and Gallo were out of the picture, O’Hara, De Rossi, and Diamond became the new undisputed mafia bosses.
A triumvirate that prompted many people to request meetings with my husband, seeking clemency for past crimes and trying to get in his good graces.
While all that was happening. I found out I was pregnant with our first child. And then Nona and Cosimo announced their engagement.
Then I got word that Julian York was arrested, and he was facing years in prison.
Callum said he spared his life by pushing him into the system, so he called that a win.
One late night, Callum received a call, and he didn’t talk much. I watched his expression change as he was answering with clipped words.
‘Mm-hmm. Yeah. All right.’
That was all before he hung up.
I knew it was an important call and had to ask him what that was all about. We'd promised each other that there would be no secrets between us.
He said he received news about my father. No one had heard from him in years.
He left the country. He was a fugitive.
I found it odd.
‘How come?’ I asked.
‘I had people searching for him. I wanted to know about his whereabouts.’
Callum sounded sincere. I’m convinced there was no lie buried in his words.
‘ What is the news?’ I asked.
‘My men found him. Located his address, rather. Before they had the chance to talk to him, he got into an altercation with a neighbor and was killed. He was living in the slums in some city in South America,’ he added, evasive, yet nothing in his voice hinted at the fact that it might’ve been a made-up story.
I still don’t know whether he wanted to lessen the blow a little and to avoid rekindling some past trauma or whether my father indeed lost his life at the hands of someone else.
He was that type of man, so everything was possible.
We never talked about that man again.
I never considered him my father, since he neglected me as a parent and abused me as a man.
With that, a heavy door of forgiveness for myself shut over my past.
The ghosts of the past could no longer hurt me.
We’re still going about our lives heavily protected by his armed men. It’s part of who we are and how we live.
Callum has taught me everything I need to know about the games of power, how to spot an enemy and vet a friend.
How to trust no one other than him.
He protects me as much as he can and offers me the most lavish life I could have ever imagined.
But above all, he’s given me his heart and loyalty, and I’m forever grateful.
“I think we’ll be making baby number two,” he says, moving his hand underwater and running his fingers over my chest.
“I think they need to pick up numbers and wait in line. I can only have one at a time.”
He laughs. I smile.
“What about I take both of you to the bedroom?”
“The bedroom sounds fine for both of us.”
He invites me out of the pool, and once I touch the ground, he lifts me and carries me into the house.
It’s a beautiful oceanfront property with glass walls and large luminous rooms. One of them is our bedroom.
He places me on the sheets, and I slowly remove my hat and untie the strings of my bikini and my bra.
Naked, I’m waiting for him to take off his shorts, and I welcome him to our matrimonial bed.
We tuck ourselves under the cold covers before he takes me in his arms.
“What would you like me to do to you, Mrs. O’Hara?”
I smile against his lips, threading my fingers through his hair.
“I want you to make love to me till the end of time.”
“Your wish is my command,” he says with humor before he kisses me and pulls me under him.
There is no rush, no fear, no memories from the past.
Only the ones we hold dear, and the ones we’re about to create.
It’s only love, and two people who have taken a chance on each other, only to be lavishly rewarded in the end.
The End