Epilogue
BURKE
One year later …
“And now, by the power vested in me by the state of Washington, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
I gripped my wife by the back of the neck the way she liked and hauled her toward me, taking her mouth with mine. Possessing it. Claiming it.
She’d been mine since the moment I met her, but now, Evelyn Rosa Sanchez-Burke was officially mine, forever and always.
When I finally let her come up for air, she was glassy-eyed and smiling at me, lighting up the entire summer sky brighter than I’d ever seen before.
The coo of our three-month-old daughter, Hazel, had us breaking apart. I reached for her from Wyatt’s arms, and cradled the little beauty in my left arm, while wrapping my right arm around my wife.
I’d never been so happy in my entire freaking life. I had it all.
A family—and not just these two—I had a huge found family in the McEvoys and all the islanders.
Evie, of course, started a non-profit for assault victims, working mostly remotely from home and putting her criminology and MBA to good use. She was helping people who had experienced similar trauma to hers regain their power, and I couldn’t be prouder of her.
I was still a chef at the restaurant, but they’d hired more staff, so I was working a bit less. I had people at home waiting for me after all.
Wyndham Croft, of course, went to prison.
As did his two surviving sons. Wyndham didn’t last long though.
Turns out one of the men he was in prison with had a daughter on the outside, a daughter that Track Croft raped, and Wyndham threatened her if she didn’t keep quiet.
A shiv to the kidney in the showers was all it took to take out the Croft patriarch.
The company was being dismantled and sold off for parts, and the two sons were doing significant time in separate prisons for their various assault charges.
All was well with the world, it seemed.
Together with my women, I walked down the aisle toward the restaurant where we would have the reception.
My mother, sisters and stepdad had all come for the big day.
As I already knew they would, my whole family adored Evie—and Hazel was the first grandbaby, which meant her nana, papa and aunties were spoiling her rotten.
“I need more grandbabies,” my mother had said more than once in her two days so far on the island. “When you make them this beautiful, you can’t just stop at one.”
I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my mother’s cheek, then handed off Hazel. “I just need a moment with my wife,” I said to the crowd. Not one for being the center of attention, I needed eyes off me for just a minute.
Pulling Evie in her gorgeous white gown toward the kitchen of the restaurant, I gripped her by the side of the head and neck and kissed her, pressing her back to the cool wall behind her.
She blinked up at me, stars in her eyes. “You okay?” Her gaze swam across my face with concern.
“I’m better than okay. I just wanted to get you alone for a sec. I don’t like all those eyes on me.”
She smiled. She knew me so well. “I get it.”
“Thank you for saying, ‘I do’.”
She chuckled. “Thank you for saying it too. Would have been awkward otherwise, considering we have a kid together and all.”
I blew out a breath and laughed. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“And besides, with another one on the way, it would be really awkward if one or both of us said no.”
I blinked a bunch, dropping my hands to my sides. “Another one on the …”
“Took the test this morning.” She twisted her lips playfully. “They’re going to be close in age. Two under two.”
My heart swelled in my chest until it pressed painfully against my ribs. “Another baby?”
Evie nodded. “Another baby.”
“Another baby?”
Her laugh was musical. “Another baby.”
Laughing, because what else was there to do, I picked her up, my arms under her butt, and twirled her around. “Another baby.”
Giggling, she wrapped her arms around my neck. “We might need a bigger house.”
“I guess so.”
“Know anybody with land?”
I put her down on her feet and cupped her face again. “I think I can figure something out.” Then I kissed my wife, the mother of my children, and together we went out to greet our guests and start the rest of our wonderful, happy lives together on our beautiful island of peace.