Epilogue
"And so," I read softly, "the princess never needed a prince to save her. She had the power to save herself all along, and only needed to find the courage. The right man was simply the one willing to stand by her side through it all."
I close the book quietly, careful not to wake either of the sweet twin girls sleeping soundly in each of their cribs.
They've been sleeping wonderfully for the past three months, but I haven't forgotten being woken up every night to alternating shrieks all the way up until they reached the eight month mark.
Nights like this, where I get to read to my girls, watching their sweet faces drift off to sleep as I take deep inhales of that fresh baby scent... this makes all the sleepless nights worth it.
Besides, I can hardly complain too much.
Their father and I got plenty of time alone together before they came along, months after we made things official by tying the knot in a quiet ceremony with only our families present.
(Sans stepsisters, of course, since I've been lucky enough to be free of a relationship with Gisele and Bea ever since Sherry found out what they'd done.
She forced an apology out of them after the book convention, and I haven't seen or heard from them since.)
A soft creak sounds from the doorway. I look up and there he is, the love of my life leaning against the door frame in sweatpants and a branded T-shirt from the dog rescue I work for. My husband. The man who used to scowl at women who fantasized about him being their happily ever after.
And now here we are, and he's really mine.
"You're starting them awfully early, huh?" he teases, nodding to the book I've inadvertently clutched to my chest. He keeps his voice low enough to avoid disturbing the babies.
Rob closes the distance between us, padding across the room toward me with quiet footsteps as the soft lamplight bathes him in a warm glow. My heart does that ridiculous swoop that's been happening ever since the day he plopped down in the lobby across from me.
"Well, obviously critical romance education begins before age one." I smirk. "But don't worry, I'm skipping the steamy parts."
"That's good, but what do you say you set that book down and come join me in the bedroom? We can make up for you skipping all the steamy parts before." He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.
I can feel myself light up, a wide smile stretching across my lips as I nod eagerly. I love our babies. I also love our married-adult-alone-time.
Very gently, I put my favorite book down on the side table next to the rocking chair.
I used to have a different favorite book, but these days I'm biased toward this one.
It's one of Sara's newer projects, one that hasn't even been officially released yet.
Her very first romantic fantasy novel– romantasy –based loosely on a story I know very well.
My copy is only an advanced copy, gifted to me so that Rob and I could be among the first to see the finished cover.
As Rob offers me a hand to help me up from the rocking chair, my eyes linger on that cover.
A curvy redhead and a dark-haired Adonis of a man are locked in a passionate kiss, their faces hidden.
In the background, a fantastical castle rises up a towering cliff.
This cover is my favorite of all the ones Sara has done.
.. even if the photo shoot did drag on for hours .
Seeing us printed on the cover of a book loosely inspired by our love story is a gift unlike anything I could have ever asked for.
Second only to meeting Rob in the first place.
Okay, and third to the gift of our sweet little angel daughters, obviously.
The book is officially the third-best gift I could have asked for.
Love used to seem like a fairy tale written for women braver, shinier, and less messy than me. I worried I would someday have to tone myself down to find the kind of love worthy of a romance novel.
Rob proved that so very, very wrong.
With all the confidence of a woman who knows how it feels to be well loved, I put my hand in Rob's, ready to go hand in hand wherever our love story leads us next.