Epilogue
FAE
Warm evening sunlight spills across the garden whilst music hums softly through the speakers outside.
‘You’ll Be Alright, Kid by Alex Warren’ starts playing and I cut a look across at Roman who stops flipping the burgers to look back at me.
It’s become a bit of a tradition over the years for him to play our song during every important life event.
Birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, you name it.
If Roman gets the chance to remind me how far we’ve come, he takes it.
“Dad,” Luca groans dramatically from the egg chair in the garden. “You’re cremating them again.”
Roman jolts and the tongs clang against the patio floor. I can see his jaw flexing from over here as he looks at the dirty tools and the burning burgers.
“I was having a moment with your mum, Luca,” he says through gritted teeth.
“Ewwww,” Aurora gags loud enough that I’m sure our neighbours could hear. “I don’t wanna hear that.”
“It’s ‘want to’,” I gently correct her.
“You literally eat dirt,” Elsa mumbles at the same time.
“I was eight,” Aurora snaps back.
“And so was Tiana but you didn’t see her doing it, did you?”
“Girls,” I warn as I sit up more on the outdoor sofa and move the blanket from my legs.
Aurora and Elsa are chalk and cheese. At any given moment a catfight is bound to happen in this house. Who would’ve thought I’d waste years of assassin training on de-escalating teenage girls? Aurora completely ignores me as she spins towards Elsa and points dangerously close to her face.
“How do you remember everything anyway? It’s weird. You’re like a computer.”
Elsa slowly lowers her drink before blinking at her sister. “Maybe I just have a functioning brain.”
Roman huffs quietly under his breath and I bite back a smile.
Thirteen years later and watching him interact with Elsa is still one of my favourite things in the world.
When we found out she had HSAM too I genuinely thought Roman might cry.
For so long he believed there was nobody else out there like him and now the two of them spend most evenings randomly shouting dates across the house or studying increasingly obscure information just to see who remembers more.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, having two people with near-perfect autobiographical memory living under one roof means absolutely nothing is forgotten.
Ever. I’m fairly sure I’ve spent the last ten years trapped inside my own private episode of University Challenge but the excitement on Roman’s face every time Elsa remembers something before he does makes every painful second worth it.
A loud crash suddenly echoes from somewhere inside the house followed by shouting and I close my eyes briefly before pushing the blanket completely from my legs and standing.
“For fuck’s sake,” Roman mutters under his breath and I cut him a look.
Every year for Finn’s birthday we hold a BBQ and every year it becomes more chaotic as the family grows in size.
I start making my way towards the sliding doors but I’m stopped by the storm that is Tiana stumbling outside with a cheese board balanced dangerously in her hands.
I raise an eyebrow and she stops abruptly before copying the expression back at me.
At eleven the twins are finally starting to show their differences properly.
Aurora is all chaos whereas Tiana is all control.
They’re the yin to each other’s yang and whilst Aurora may annoy every other sibling she has, Tiana and Finn are fiercely protective of her.
Finn follows closely behind holding potato salad in one hand and coleslaw in the other.
“Come on, princess,” he nudges her and she carries on moving with a small twinkle in her eye at the nickname.
I follow them as they make their way towards the large table in the centre of the garden. Finn looks exactly like me. Correction, he looks like the pale version of Felix. He has green eyes, pale skin and dark brown hair that reminds me so much of my brother at that age. But his attitude?
That is all Roman.
Finn has known the truth about his biological father for years now.
When we conceived Luca two months after Finn was born, we knew we wouldn’t be able to hide it from him forever, especially because at the time they were the only two brothers in the whole of the Company.
The conversations of course happened slowly over time and our truths were given carefully whenever he was old enough to carry them, but none of it ever changed what mattered.
Roman is his dad in every way that counts.
Finn technically stands as heir to three bloodlines.
Mine, Fisher’s and Roman’s, but he’s only ever wanted one…
his dad’s. For the last year Roman has been teaching him everything he can about The Company and all the expectations that come with it ready for university.
Sometimes I catch the two of them sitting in Roman’s office late at night talking quietly over old files and maps and it still catches me off guard a little that somehow, we’re already here.
Finn walks over to the large corner sofa before slumping down and Aurora jumps on him before he even has a chance to breathe. He grunts as he catches her before glancing at Tiana and sighing.
Tiana stands quietly next to them biting her bottom lip and fidgeting with her dress before Finn stretches his free arm out. She smiles and the dimples that are so like Roman pop out on her cheeks as she walks over and snuggles in.
I walk over to where Roman is still grilling the meat and see Luca curl his lip as he cuts a glance towards Elsa who shakes her head and pretends to shiver.
“I’m telling Mum and Dad a secret for every second you’re sitting on Finn,” Luca declares which makes Aurora gasp.
“You wouldn’t dare,” she narrows her eyes.
Luca leans forward so he’s resting his elbows on his knees. “Try me, wench. Either I’m the favourite brother or your secrets get spilled tonight.”
Aurora charges for Luca who throws his head back in triumph and immediately takes off running around the garden.
Luca is literally incapable of staying still for more than thirty seconds.
At fifteen he moves through life like somebody permanently attached a battery pack to him and if he didn’t look exactly like Roman, height included, people probably would’ve assumed I’d had an affair with Riggs when I was younger because there is genuinely no other explanation for his personality.
The amount of chaos packed into that boy should honestly be studied by a professional.
Roman likes to call Luca his penance for being so short with Riggs.
Personally, I just think it’s good old-fashioned karma.
Aurora suddenly screams as Luca snatches her phone before sprinting across the other side of the garden and the twins try chasing after him.
“LUCA!” Aurora shouts. “COME BACK HERE!”
Luca throws his head back as his laugh booms out of him before ducking behind the tree. I stand with my arms crossed watching the madness unfold.
“DELETE IT BEFORE DAD SEES!” she continues.
Roman slowly lowers the tongs and turns around from the BBQ.
“Before I see what?”
“Nothing,” all three of them answer instantly.
His eyes narrow suspiciously whilst Finn is the one to chuckle. Moments like this still catch me off guard. The noise. The chaos. The complete lack of fear in any of them. Growing up, silence usually meant safety to me. Now it’s this.
Roman cuts me a look before prowling over to me.
He grabs the back of my neck as he bends down and kisses me passionately whilst I fist the front of his shirt.
Behind us I hear Finn and Elsa gagging as they both mutter something about needing to be elsewhere and I smile into Roman’s mouth.
He presses his forehead against mine and I close my eyes.
His hand squeezes my arse firmly and I squeak as I try to push him away.
“Not in front of the kids,” I hiss and he shrugs.
“Eh, how else are we supposed to give them more siblings?”
I narrow my eyes. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not? They don’t need us now and look how cute they are.”
Just then another blood-curdling scream comes from one of the girls and I sigh before raising an eyebrow.
“Okay, look how cute they are when they’re sleeping.”
“Roman, if you keep talking like this, you’re wearing condoms. I mean it.”
“What? Why?”
“You know why…” I narrow my eyes and he looks rightfully guilty as he kisses my forehead and spins me around so I can’t read his facial expression.
We were originally supposed to take a break after Luca.
That was the plan anyway. Finn was still a baby; Luca had been born eleven months later and for at least five minutes Roman pretended he agreed that maybe two under one was enough chaos for one household.
Then somehow, I ended up pregnant with Elsa barely a year later despite very much being on the pill and before I could even fully recover from that disaster the twins appeared too.
The irony is Roman physically cannot lie which means every single time over the years I’ve casually asked if he swapped my birth control again, he’s suddenly remembered an urgent meeting, discovered a suspicious security issue somewhere in the house or conveniently needed to take a phone call.
Miraculously though my pill hasn’t failed once since the twin pregnancy nearly killed me so that tells me everything I need to know.
At thirty-seven years old I think I’ve more than fulfilled my duty to this family anyway. Roman however still looks at me like five children somehow wasn’t enough.
“Disney?” Robyn’s voice calls from the hallway and I roll my eyes.