Epilogue
“Where’s Asher?” Patty asked as Ryder and Tayler squealed their hugs and kisses with their grannan. I didn’t have a clue where they got that word from, but that was what they’d chosen to call Asher’s mother.
I nodded toward our truck parked on their driveway and winced. “Max got a hold of Mr. Pinky,” I whispered. “Cody’s having a bit of a meltdown.”
“Oh no,” Patty said as if she, too, believed it was the end of the world. And it could be. Our new German shepherd puppy was a little out of control and had demolished more than a few of the kids’ toys. “Well, let’s give ’em space. Asher’ll figure it out.”
I glanced at the truck, then turned my attention to the kids. “You hungry, gremlins? It’s not midnight yet.”
After a quick stop to drop off the dogs with Jamie to watch for us, we’d driven over to leave the kids with Patty and Ben so Asher and I could go on a long-overdue vacation. Just the two of us.
Tayler bounced on her toes and nodded, while Ryder made growling noises.
“What’s this?” I gasped and gently shook Ryder. “Are we too late? Has he become a hungry monster?”
Tayler giggled and squealed, “A cookie monster! Feed him, Daddy. Save him.”
My heart flipped over in my chest.
“I’ve got just the thing,” Patty said to the twins. “We’ll fix him up in a jiffy.”
Ryder prowled after his grannan, while Tayler softly petted his shoulder. She was going to be an excellent big sister, just like her papa was an excellent big brother to all his siblings.
We only had the three, for now, and we’d tabled the discussion for expanding our brood. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if Asher wanted more at some point.
All three were born through surrogacy. The twins had my blue eyes and pale skin, but our little Cody was the spitting image of Asher.
At nearly three, he was already so spoiled because of it too.
He batted those pretty eyes, and I was absolute putty.
Asher had to handle his tears, though, because they made me a total wreck.
Two months after we proposed to each other, Asher and I married in a small ceremony in Hickory Bend in front of our close friends and family. I’d thought Asher would want to wait, finish college, maybe go wild, but no. He truly was an old soul, as his mother said.
We’d stayed in the city at my condo to be near campus for him, but once he graduated from Cressmann, we moved to a peaceful place in the country not too far from Asher’s roots. Our twins were born that same summer, and Cody came along two and a half years later.
Some days, it amazed me how perfect my life had turned out. How devoid of lies and hidden secrets we lived. Asher and I shared everything, and being so open, so free with myself, was such a gift, then the kids, and Asher’s family … It overwhelmed me in the best ways.
After eight years together, I’d long since been introduced to—and remembered—Asher’s extended family, who treated me as one of their own.
Though so different and so lively compared to the family I’d known, I fell right in line with them, as if this was the family, the way of life, I’d been born to have.
As for my biological family, Paul and I grew closer over the years, and he grew close with Asher’s family, too.
In an unexpected twist of fate—which I was sure my parents hated—Paul broke free from their expectations.
He and Asher’s brother, Nathan, went into business together customizing exotic cars and were doing quite well.
Mary had married a man everyone approved of, even her, and promised me it was a love match.
My siblings had been given full access to their trusts, and much to James Dorset’s chagrin, both had pulled all their funds from his firm and used me as their financial advisor.
Paul and Nathan’s shop was doing great things for LGBTQIA+ communities by offering teaching programs and hosting charity auctions.
Mary and Paul had invested in Tate’s Ashley Foundation that helped children and young adults abused due to their sexuality and identity.
I was beyond proud of them and my found family.
Randomly, one of my clients would mention something about my father’s firm, but otherwise, I didn’t have anything to do with that former life.
I’d long since made peace with it, but it helped that Asher’s family was so huge and all-consuming.
I might have lost two closed-minded parents and a handful of extended family just as cold, but I’d gained a village of charming, warm-hearted souls.
“Thank you for watching the kids for us,” I said to Patty as I followed them into the kitchen.
“Oh,” she said with a wave of her hand. “You’re actually doing me a favor. It’s too quiet around here with the older kids gone.”
Stacia and Nathan had moved out years before. Patty and Ben only had three of their kids living with them now: Elias and Lila, both so quiet, preferring reading to almost anything, and May, who was as lively as ever.
Patty tapped her chin thoughtfully. “You know what?” She narrowed her eyes at the ceiling, then walked out of the room without telling me.
I got Ryder and Tayler settled at the table with cookies and milk shortly before Asher came in with Cody clinging to his shoulder.
“He sleeping?” I asked softly.
Asher shook his head. “No, unfortunately.”
I came around Asher’s side to see my little man’s red face. “Aw, sweetheart.” I patted Cody’s silky, fine hair.
“Daddy,” Cody wailed and reached for me.
Fuck.
I took him into my arms, his tears shredding my heart, and rocked him from side to side as I hummed. “Shhh, you’ll be okay, sweetheart. It’s okay.”
How in the hell could we have let Max get to Mr. Pinky?
I’d not had a chance to ask Asher yet. The little yellow elephant—don’t ask me how he got the name Mr. Pinky—had been torn into a thousand pieces.
Thankfully, Cody wasn’t the one to walk in on the stuffie’s demise.
Explaining that Mr. Pinky had gone back to elephant land to visit his elephant family hadn’t gone over well at all.
Asher knelt between the twins, checking on them, and my chest filled with so much love I could barely contain it.
This was my life. Worrying about stuffed animals and making my children laugh and feel safe.
My life was waking up with the most beautiful man, inside and out, and eagerly holding my breath for his first smile of the day.
My life was checking in with family, sharing in their joys and whatever was going on in their lives. I could never have wished for more.
Patty returned carrying a teddy bear about half the size of Cody. Her brows lifted as if to ask if it was okay, and I nodded.
“Cody, sweetie,” Patty said. “Look here what Grannan has.”
Cody turned, sliding his snotty nose on my shoulder, and blinked. He didn’t react for a long moment as we all held our breath, then pushed off me to sit straighter and reached for the bear.
“This is Luca,” she said. “He belonged to your papa.”
I glanced at Asher and mouthed, “Luca?” to which he only shrugged and shook his head.
“Luca,” Cody said, then smiled and buried his face into the bear, clutching him tightly.
The entire house sighed with relief, as if even the walls had been tensing while we waited to see if Cody would ever relax without Mr. Pinky.
“Hey, the gang’s all here,” Ben said as he came in with May and Lila scrambling in behind him. The girls loved their niece and nephews. Always being the youngest themselves, they surprisingly took to being aunts with ease and were protective over the younger ones.
As the kids shouted and laughed, I held Cody and listened as Ben updated Asher on everything new.
The man was only ten years older than me, but he’d aged quite a bit after his father passed away.
It was a shame I never was able to meet Benjamin Brandt, Sr. He’d succumbed to cancer, and one of the first of many family events I’d attended with Asher had been his funeral.
Though the occasion had been sorrowful, everyone had taken the time to welcome me, seamlessly enfolding me into his family as if I’d always been part of them.
That was just how things worked around here.
We stayed the night, getting the kids comfortable and resting before heading out early the next morning for the airport.
This was the first time we were leaving them like this.
Asher and I were going on a couples’ cruise to the Caribbean.
We’d been excited about it since we made the plans, but leaving the kids was so hard, I nearly canceled the entire trip.
After the long goodbye full of hugs to last a week, we got into the truck and left. We stayed silent for about twenty minutes before I pulled off the highway. Asher didn’t ask why I stopped, but when I got back in the truck with a to-go coffee for him, he grinned.
Coffee to go had become somewhat of a symbol for us, an unspoken promise of good things on the way. He’d never let me forget about the time I’d told him I’d flavored his with my dick, and liked to joke about it to this day.
“Coffee, huh?” Asher asked, biting back a grin.
“You’re gonna need your energy.”
“Hmm,” he hummed as he took a sip. “When was the last time you could scream as I wrecked your sweet body?”
I moaned, then shook my head. We had hours and hours before we could be alone for something like that. “Too long,” I said. “But if you’re gonna get me hard, you better be ready to do something about it while I drive.”
Asher sat the cup in a holder, then palmed my growing erection. “Oh, I’m ready, old man. For the rest of our lives, I’ll always be ready to take care of you.”
The rest of our lives. Yeah, hell yeah, I loved the sound of that.