Epilogue
EPILOGUE
PENNY
“Josie!” I cried out down the hall. “Are you ready to go yet?”
Next to me, Gavin leaned in and kissed my cheek. “She’s been so excited all week. I can’t believe she’s taking so long.”
“I’m here!” Josie called back and then she jumped into the hall, startling Gavin and me. “Ta-da! What do you think!?”
She flung out her arms and jumped in a circle. Behind me, Gavin hid his laughter in my neck. I fought against my own.
“You are a vision,” I declared. She most definitely was in her pink and red and purple striped leggings. On top, she had a red and purple knee-length dress that she’d covered with taped on white flowers. Gavin had braided her last night, so they were loose and slept in, but there were two pink bows tied into the ends. She was dressed to celebrate Valentine’s Day at school, where we were spending the day having one giant, school-wide party, and her outfit would have been perfect as is, but then she’d gone and somehow found a red headband with two hearts that stuck up from the top of it, on springs, so every time she moved, they bobbled right along with her. Topped off with her purple snow boots and a pair of pink, heart-shaped sunglasses, the girl was ready.
“You look great,” Gavin said and then bent down to scoop her up. “I love having you for a Valentine.”
She wiggled out of his hold until he set her on her feet. “I can’t be your Valentine, Daddy.”
“Why not? Did someone else ask you? Who? Tell me his name because this boy and I need to have a talk.”
She giggled behind her hand, headband hearts and braids flopping every which way. “No, silly! Penny’s your Valentine.”
“Ahh. That she is.” He shot me a look that was full of heat and memories of our early morning, private Valentine’s celebration before turning back to his daughter. “Then I’m a lucky man because I get to have two.”
“I guess,” Josie agreed, but she didn’t sound quite so certain at the idea.
“All right, you two, Josie and I need to get to school to finish decorating.”
Gavin loaded up my new-to-me Hyundai Santa Fe with the remaining sparklers and streamers I needed to hang from the ceiling along with cardboard boxes we were using for life-sized dice and red blankets I’d bought from the Dollar General a few towns over and turned into Bingo cards.
“And grab your lunches,” Gavin declared. He went to the kitchen island where he’d packed both Josie’s and my lunch bags.
In the last two months, we barely spent a night apart. As soon as Josie was comfortable with us together with her, Gavin had started asking me to stay the night. At first, I’d sneak out before Josie woke up, but she caught us kissing one morning at the front door and said it was silly for me to go home before breakfast.
That was it. Since then, my rental home had become more of a storage unit, a place where I went to pack and wash clothes and occasionally stock with foods for lunch. For the most part, I was living with Gavin and Josie, even if he hadn’t officially asked to move in.
Josie never skipped a beat or seemed to need an adjustment in the time we all spent together, and with every passing day, I not only fell in love with her more like she was my very own daughter, I started imagining what it would be like if I did have one.
More recently, especially.
“Thank you.” I kissed Gavin and picked up my lunch bag. “Are you still coming to the school later?”
“I wouldn’t miss the performance,” he whispered against my mouth.
The second and third graders were having a concert for the whole school and any parents who could make it, which was only part of the reason for Josie’s vibrant ensemble.
“Let’s go! Let’s go! We’re gonna be late .”
“Can’t have that,” I deadpanned like I hadn’t been the one who’d been hurrying her up all morning.
God, she was awesome.
“See you soon,” I told Gavin and kissed him again. “Love you.”
“Love you both.”
He walked us to the door, then to my car, where even if he wasn’t driving or going anywhere, I learned he’d still open my door.
Once Josie and I were in and buckled, we pulled out to the street.
“You know what, Penny?”
“What is it, sweetie?”
“I know today is a day to show people love, so I just think you should know I love you a whole lot. And I like how happy you make my dad.”
Happy tears immediately blurred my vision, and I looked back at Josie. She was kicking her feet against my passenger chair, looking out the window.
Like she hadn’t just rocked my world. Like she hadn’t given me the most precious gift I could ever receive.
“Thanks, kiddo. You know I love you too, right?”
She glanced at me, shrugged, and went back to looking out the window. “Yup. Sure do.”
Well, good.
I put the car in drive, drove to school, and spent the next five hours, corralling kids hopped up on FunDip and PixieStixx, wondering how in the world we’d get them settled enough to stand still and sing later.
But not for a single moment did I forget the words Josie said to me or how incredibly much I hoped I was around to hear them for the rest of her very sweet, adorable, and precocious life.
Somehow, it all worked. We started preparing for the concert right after the kids had their lunchtime and hoped the healthier food options soaked up all the sugar.
Faye and I and the two second grade teachers were standing off to the side as the kids stepped up to the risers and gathered in their lines. Every child looked adorable in either red or white or pink shirts. Josie, like the star she was, shone bright with her headband and glasses. I scanned the gymnasium, where the classrooms were still getting assembled. Kindergarten through fifth grade teachers led their classrooms into the gym in neat little lines, then directed their children to sit in squiggly little rows. Teachers took their seats in chairs at the end of the rows, and beyond the space the kids would fill in, were rows of chairs of parents and family friends and grandparents, and heck, from the crowd, it looked like the entire town was there.
At the far back stood Gavin. Standing tall and wearing a wine-red sweater with dark blue jeans, the man made my mouth water. He also wasn’t alone. On one side of him stood Charles and Jenny, and on the other were Dalton, Bryce, Cameron, and Ava. My brows winged up with surprise as almost all of the Kelleys gathered to watch Josie sing. Cameron and Ava still spent most of their time in Denver, but they were working on moving back to New Haven. In a few weeks, Cameron would officially retire from his professional playing career. From talking to Ava, I knew he was healed enough to play, but he no longer wanted it. He’d lost the certainty he’d be able to remain a starting quarterback and never wanted to risk being traded and forced to leave Colorado. I also knew Ava wanted to live in New Haven, and like Gavin with me, Cameron would break every bone in his body, his leg again included, to give that to her.
I caught Gavin’s gaze and pointed my finger, trailing it along his family.
He shrugged and blew me a kiss before crossing his arms over his chest.
“You are one lucky woman,” Faye muttered to me, walking past me but obviously not missing that Josie’s entire family was there.
“I know.” I grinned at her, Josie’s morning announcement still at the front of my mind. “Ready?”
“As we’ll ever be.”
All the students in the school were on their feet, cheering for the kids who’d sang their hearts out.
Faye and I stood in the front but off to the side, extending our arms as the kids bowed and curtsied like we’d practiced. Some even did it correctly.
The concert was over, the classes would be dismissed, and then our students could go home with their parents if they were checked out.
The day was almost done, so I was surprised when Carol Reece, the school’s principal, strolled to the front of the gymnasium with a microphone in hand. “Can I have everyone’s attention, please? For just a few more moments?”
Teachers on the sides of the gym flashed her a look of confusion and then went to work corralling their students, shushing them, and getting them back to the floor.
“I know. I know you’ve all been sitting for a while and you need to move those bodies, but we have one last surprise performance for you all today. So can we all please have a seat? I promise to get you out of here soon.”
The crowd’s noise started to die down as teachers worked ferociously and efficiently getting kids back to their bottoms.
“Come here,” Faye said, surprising me at my side.
“What?”
“Come on.” She threaded her arm through mine and tugged me to the center of the risers, right in the middle of the floor.
I turned and gaped at her. “What are you doing? I’m not a part of any surprise…”
“Oh. But I think you are.” She shot me a devilish wink, grabbed my shoulders, and then spun me around.
It happened so fast I went dizzy, and it took me a moment to blink away the vertigo and notice what was directly in front of me.
Gavin Kelley. On one knee.
Popping open a ring box.
Gasps rang out, but none louder than my own. “What in the hell?”
Gavin chuckled and I quickly covered my mouth.
“Penelope Pesco, Josie and I are madly in love with you. Will you do us the honor of joining our family and becoming my wife?”
His voice boomed through the now silent gym. Sniffles echoed, and there was the rustling of restless kids.
All broken up by Josie’s cry. “Come on, Penny! Oops! I mean, Miss Pesco! Say yes!”
At once, kids started pounding their fists to the wood floor. “Say yes! Say yes!”
The chanting grew so loud my ears rang with it, and as Gavin reached out and took my left hand in his right one, he tugged. “What do you say, Miss Pesco. Ready to try out being Mrs. Kelley?”
“Oh God. I can’t believe you’re doing this.”
He smirked, a luscious, sexy smirk I couldn’t wait to kiss off his even sexier face. “I can’t believe it’s taking you this long to say yes.”
A laugh burst from me, and I shook my head. Tears started streaming down my face. “Yes,” I finally said. “Of course I’ll marry you!”
He stood, pressed his hands to my cheek, and kissed me. Right there, in front of half the town and my students, Gavin kissed me hard and fast, and right as I leaned in to take it further, he pulled back.
“Later,” he whispered against my lips. “After dinner, we can do more of that.”
He pulled back, slipped a ring on my finger that was sparkling and bright and absolutely perfect, but it wasn’t the ring that mattered.
I would have been thrilled enough with a plastic RingPop.
“I love you,” I told him because we’d be celebrating more than an engagement tonight. “I love you so much.”
“To the moon and back.”
The gymnasium was going ballistic, everyone on their feet cheering, and as I faced them, I caught sight of someone I’d missed before.
Maize was standing next to Jenny Kelley, holding on to my future mother-in-law’s arm, waving her other hand madly in the air cheering along with everyone else.
Of course Gavin wanted my sister here for this. Because he loved me, and he’d do anything to ensure I was happy.
Screw waiting for tonight.
Why not celebrate now?
I pulled on our connected hands until he bent low enough to hear me whisper in his ear. “You should know, Gavin, that in addition to planning a wedding, we’re also going to need to prepare a nursery.”
He pulled back, blinked. Blinked again and shook his head. “You’re kidding?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Holy crap!” He turned back to the crowd and gathered me in his arms. “We’re getting married and having a baby!”
The chaos in the gym turned ballistic as everyone jumped to their feet.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as Gavin kissed me again, and while this was overwhelming and surprising, it was absolutely perfect.
The Kelley Family, Gavin especially, had given me everything I’d always wanted and hoped for.
He’d given me a family, and now, we were making one of our own.
Thank you for reading Unbreakable Love!
I hope you love Cameron and Ava as much as I do. If you would, please remember to leave a review.