EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER.
I came face-to-face with a rolling pin.
“Unless you are here to help, don’t step a single foot further into this kitchen.” Orla’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t need you coming in here and distracting my sous chef.”
I grasped my chest in feigned shock. “Do you really think I’d do that?”
“Yes.” All three women replied in unison.
Laughing, I waited until Orla turned back to start fighting with the oven again before I slipped past her.
If someone had told me a year ago that I’d be spending Christmas at Frederic’s house with all three of my brothers, I would have burst out laughing.
All four Dade brothers under one roof and it wasn’t because a disaster had happened? Looks like pigs truly did fly.
But Frederic wouldn’t take no for an answer when he brought up the idea of Christmas in Ontario. He’d flown our Grand-mère and father over for the holidays and threatened to drag us all by our ears if we didn’t come too.
A threat he’d have no problem following through on.
So, here we all were. Spending our first Christmas together as a family after nearly twenty years.
Since coming out of Spring Hope, my brothers had gone out of their way to build bridges and attempt to act like a normal family, or how we assumed a normal family acted.
And I appreciated it so damn much.
It wasn’t the perfect film ending for me when I came out of the facility. After all, a month of intensive therapy wasn’t going to solve all my problems.
However, it gave me the tools to manage the urges and impulses I still have. It taught me not to let them take control again and to ask for help if I found myself slipping back into old routines.
It, and Zara’s unwavering patience, allowed me to ease back into work after two months.
And it gave me the strength to finally open up and talk to Frederic. I laid it bare for him, every ugly truth and lie I told him, and how I remained committed to repaying him one day—but in a healthy way.
Something Frederic continued to assure me, on the daily, was not necessary.
Look, I wasn’t delusional.
I knew I had a long and sometimes rocky path ahead of me.
But thankfully, I didn’t have to face it alone.
Livi, my love, held my hand each step of the way without question.
“Weren’t you told not to distract me?” Livi giggled as I snaked my arms around her waist. “The head chef will serve your balls on a platter if she sees you.”
Moving her hair to the side, I peppered the side of her neck with feather-light kisses. “It’s worth the risk.”
“Brave man,” Evelyn whispered as she walked past, her hand sprawled protectively across her swollen stomach. “Don’t worry, I’ll cause a distraction if she looks your way.”
I doubted that.
Seeing as Jaxon appeared a second later, following Evelyn like her own personal bodyguard. After learning she was pregnant, Jaxon had become a new level of possessive over his wife.
Evelyn couldn’t go to the bathroom without Jaxon hovering outside the door.
However, I understood their need to protect, to savor, and to cherish their pregnancy. The two of them had gone through a lot and lost a lot to get to this point.
Tilting her head to the side, Livi exposed more of her neck for me to slide my lips along. She bit her bottom lip, the peeler in her hand trembling as she attempted to focus on peeling the carrots.
“If you keep doing that, Christmas dinner won’t be the only thing on the menu for you.”
“Is that supposed to make me stop?” I nipped her skin. “Because if it means I get to eat you for dessert, I promise you I’m not stopping, Peaches.”
Her ass pressed back into me firmly.
I stifled a groan, wishing everyone in the kitchen would disappear right now.
“Any chance I could steal you away for a little bit?”
Her body melted back against mine. “What possibly for?”
“It’s a surprise.”
She hummed. “Okay, but if Orla comes looking for me, be prepared for me to blame everything on you. She’s a tiny woman, but she seriously scares the shit out of me.”
“You and me both,” I chuckled.
Signaling to Evelyn, she quickly jumped into action and dropped a pot of water on the ground. Jaxon ran to his wife’s side, while Orla quickly dealt with the spill.
The perfect distraction allowed us to slip out the door and into the privacy of the downstairs study.
Candles perched along the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves illuminated the room.
“Oh my, look at this book collection,” Livi gushed. “Pre-warning, this is exactly the type of library I want whenever we buy our own house.
Our house.
Warmth settled in the base of my stomach and seeped up into my chest.
“I’ll build you whatever kind of library you want.”
“Even if I fill it with only romance novels?”
I grinned. “Your book boyfriends will need somewhere to live, I suppose.”
The flames danced in her brown gaze, the soft glow lighting up her face.
“Looks like you and Orla have similar book tastes.” I nodded at the bookshelf directly behind her. “Doubt Frederic is the one reading the books with the half-naked cowboys on the cover. Then again, stranger things have happened.”
Tipping her head back, she laughed.
The sound radiated through me, spreading the warmth into every limb of my body.
Merde, I loved that sound. And I loved being the one who made it happen even more.
After everything she endured with her family and quitting her own business to free herself, she deserved a whole life filled with laughter.
One I planned on giving her.
“She even has a copy of your favorite book,” I pointed to the shelf.
Turning, Livi spied the copy of Pride and Prejudice sitting face out on the shelf.
She stepped closer and a wave of nervousness crashed into me. I tried to steady my heartbeat, convinced she could hear it, as she spotted the sticky note attached to the front cover.
‘Pick me up and open me.’
I swallowed hard, uncertainty racing and spreading like wildfire through me. What if this was the wrong time?
After all, she’d only started her new company two months ago. A company that was hers and only hers—a business, a passion project that came with no strings attached.
She stayed within the event planning organization; however, she centered her whole business around helping and fundraising for local charities.
In particular, PMOS and Dementia Awareness.
Going non-profit meant she wasn’t in breach of her contract, and when her mother tried to cause a fuss, Livi’s newly appointed lawyer, Stevie Lasso, was quick and eager to put Sophia in her place.
Slowly, Livi opened the book and gasped.
Two plane tickets sat between the pages.
My heart stilled in my chest, the nervousness disappearing in a blink as I watched her face light up brighter than a shooting star.
“You got us flights to Amsterdam?” Her eyes brimmed with tears. “I’ve always wanted to go there.”
“I remembered.”
“Of course you did.” Laughter mixed with a joyful sob broke from her. “Oh my god, is that a canal boat hotel too?”
Taking the book from her, I set it down and took her face between my palms. “Six months ago, I told you I wanted to chase my dreams with you.”
She leaned into my touch.
“And between us building our careers, we got a little sidetracked, but I think it’s about time we started, don’t you?”
Pushing up onto her tiptoes, she kissed me firmly. “Yes. One hundred and ten freaking percent, yes. Let’s finally start to see the world together.”
Wrapping my arms around her, I lifted her from the ground and crashed my lips back onto hers, claiming her mouth like she had claimed my heart.
Being here, with her in my arms, and my family close by, I knew I had everything I wanted.
Everything I needed.
This was exactly the life I never thought I deserved, and yet it was more than I could have ever dreamed of.
THE END.