Epilogue Maggie
Maggie
Two Months Later
“Thank you for watching him,” I tell Brogan as I pass Sean to her.
“Are you kidding me? I love my baby Sean time. Besides, I need all the practice I can get.”
“We both know that’s not true,” I tell her.
She snuggles Sean into her chest, and it warms my heart knowing my son has so many people who love him. “So, does he know?” she asks.
“No. I had Lyra schedule me under a fake name, and made sure it was his last appointment of the day.”
“He’s going to flip. They love putting their work on us.” She smiles, and I know she’s thinking of when she got her first tattoo from Maddox.
“Yeah,” I agree. Lachlan is going to be pumped to give me my first tattoo. Especially since he has no idea that I’m his last client of the day. “I’ll be back to get him as soon as we’re done,” I tell her.
“Go on. We’ll be fine. In fact, Maddox is on his way home. Don’t worry. I swore him to secrecy, but he’s just as excited as I am to be watching Sean for a few hours.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate you.”
“Go. And I want to hear all about it.”
“You got it.” I lean over and kiss Sean’s cheek one last time before heading back out to my car and making my way toward Everlasting Ink.
As soon as I walk in the door not long after, I see Lyra’s smiling face. She places her hand to her lips, telling me to be quiet, then waves for me to follow her back to Lachlan’s room. When we reach his door, I stay a few steps back out of sight.
“Lachlan, your two o’clock is here,” she tells him.
“Thanks, Lyra, send her in. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I get home to my family.”
“Missing them, are you?” she asks, not bothering to hide her smile.
“Every day, Lyra. Every day,” he says.
Lyra steps back, gives me a high-five, and walks away. I step into the room, and Lachlan still has his back to me. “Be right with you. Just texting my wife,” he tells me.
Oh, how I love this man. He’s been calling me his wife a lot lately. I guess he can get away with that since our wedding is in a month. He sends his message and places his phone back on his desk. Mine chimes before he has a chance to turn around. Pulling it out of my purse, I read it and reply.
“I miss you too. Sean is fine. He’s with Brogan for a few hours.”
Lachlan whips his head around to look at me, and his mouth falls open. “Mags, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?” His eyes roam over me as if he’s looking for an injury.
“I’m fine. Sean is fine. As I said, he’s with Brogan. I’m here for my two o’clock.”
“What? Wait? You’re my next client?” He furrows his brow and turns to look at his schedule. “It says Sarah James.”
“I might have had Lyra make up a name to surprise you.”
“Consider me surprised.” He makes his way toward me, then wraps his arms around me in a hug. When he pulls back, he drops a quick kiss to my lips. “So, you’re going to let me ink you?” he asks, wearing a huge grin.
“I am.”
“Do you know what you want? I might need some time. I want this to be perfect for you.”
“I think this one will be easy enough. I actually have two that I want to start with.”
“Two? To start with?”
“Yeah, today I have two, and then maybe in a month or so, I want another one. But you might not be able to do them both today, but at least you’ll know what I want and can be more prepared next time.”
“My girl’s got the ink bug.” He grins.
“Only for things that are important to me.”
“Okay. Well, let’s hear it.”
“Well, I want something like this.” I pull the image of the knitting needles and yarn from my purse. “For Grandma Doris. Maybe on my shoulder or something?”
“Love this, Mags.” He nods, staring at the picture I handed him. I can already see his wheels spinning with ideas. “What else?”
“This.” I hand him Sean’s footprint from the hospital. “Can this be done? Maybe with his name and date of birth on there somewhere.”
“Damn, I want this one too.” He picks up his phone and dials someone. “Hey, I need on your schedule.” He’s quiet. “Yeah, that works. Thanks.” He hangs up the phone. “This can be done,” he tells me. “I love this idea.”
“Who did you call?”
“Rome. He’s the only other one here tonight, and I want this too. We’ll get matching tattoos for our boy.”
My heart fills with love for this man. “I love that idea.”
“Okay, well, which one do you want to do first?”
“I don’t have a preference.”
“Wait, you said you want another one too? What’s that?”
“I don’t know exactly where I want it, but I’d like to have ‘Mrs. Noble’ somewhere. However, it’s probably a good idea for that to be my name before I do it. That would be weird having your mother-in-law’s name on your body.” I laugh nervously.
He grips my hips, lifts me onto his desk, and kisses me. His tongue slides against mine, and before Lachlan, I never would have thought it was possible to feel love through a kiss. It’s more than just through his kisses, though. I feel it with every touch.
When he pulls back, he rests his forehead against mine. “I love you, Mrs. Noble.”
“Future Mrs. Noble, and I love you too.”
“You really want our name on you?”
“Yeah, I really do.”
A throat clearing has him lifting his head and turning toward the door. “What’s up?” he asks.
“Just thought I’d stop by and say hi to Maggie.”
“She’s busy,” Lachlan says with no heat in his tone. He leans back against the desk, between my legs, and I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Hi, Rome.”
“You getting some work done?” he asks.
“I am. I thought I’d find out what this tattoo thing was all about.”
Roman laughs, and I can feel Lachlan’s body shaking with his laughter.
“Take care of her,” Roman tells Lachlan.
“Get out of here.” Lachlan laughs. “You know I got this.”
“Maggie, I’m just down the hall if you want some real talent,” Roman calls out. He barely gets the words out over his laughter.
Lachlan turns and kisses the tip of my nose. “Give me a few to get these drawn up, and we’ll get started.”
“Thank you.”
“Anything, Mags.” Another quick kiss, and my man gets to work doing what he loves.
I’m excited that there will be a piece of him, a piece of his heart on my skin for the rest of my life. I want our love to be so entwined, we don’t know where the other ends or begins. I never thought I’d find this kind of love, and now that I have it, I never want to let go.