EPILOGUE #2
"Yeah, don't worry about that. Our plan will work. Oh, Robert, I'm really glad you're here!" Robert stepped forward and gave his second daughter-in-law a hug.
Benjamin dragged his blocks into the hallway and Alice dressed up as a purple dragon, complete with painted flames on her cheeks. "Isn't that a bit dramatic?" Roxy asked when she saw her.
"No, Mama. I'm sure Auntie Taylor will love it."
Juliet laughed. "Oh, she definitely will. We're such a dramatic family."
Jess and Blake arrived next. Taking advantage of the break between SNARL's last album/tour and the next one, Jess and Blake had decided to take a year off and travel around the world.
Hundreds of thousands of people were following their adventure, and Jess took the opportunity to showcase one of her great passions: photography.
It'd been at least six months since the children had seen their aunts, and they missed each other dearly. "I'm so pleased to see you," said Jess, hugging Alice tightly. "I missed you and your brother so much."
"Me too, Aunt Jessie," replied Alice with her most beautiful smile.
Leah, Meredith, and their son Thomas arrived neither late nor early. Meredith threw herself into Roxy's arms, savouring every moment she could spend with her best friend.
"I can't wait to see Taylor's face when she and Ellen see us here. I think I told her fifty times last week that we were going to Montreal for the weekend," Leah said before kissing her wife.
At 4:05 p.m., Charles walked in—fashionably late, as always—with his eldest. He wore the same crooked grin Roxy had come to know through years of shared history. "We brought you… chaos. We didn't miss the twins, right?" he said by way of greeting.
"You're right on time. Kimberly? The other kids?"
"Negotiating a peace treaty in the car," he replied, smiling. "It's really good to see you, Roxy."
Kimberly arrived seconds later, a vision of calm despite the bags full of food in her hands and the two tiny tornados trailing behind her.
"Uncle Charles!" Alice squealed, bolting into his arms. "Guess what? I'm gonna have a girlfriend when I grow up. Like my moms. Like Auntie Taylor, Auntie Jess. And like you."
Charles blinked. "Wait… like me?"
Juliet, Blake, and Jess lost it. Roxy watched them nearly collapse with laughter in the doorway.
"Don't ask," Roxy said to Charles.
***
Just as the clock struck 5:15 p.m., Roxy's phone notified her of the driveway gate's recent opening. "Okay, everyone, the twins are here." Everyone gathered in the kitchen to wait for them.
Roxy came out of the house and saw Ellen and Taylor getting out of the car. She had never seen the twins so happy. Clearly, one was experiencing strong emotions, and the other was feeling them with the same intensity.
"Hey, are you okay?" Roxy asked Ellen. "You seem dangerously happy."
"Twin privilege," Ellen replied, winking at her sister.
With Juliet and Benjamin in tow, Alice, still in her dragon costume, burst from the house and into Aunt Taylor's embrace. "Hey little dragon, I've got lots of presents for you and Benny in the car."
"One for each of you," Juliet added, adjusting her grip and turning to Ellen and Roxy with an apologetic look. "And they might be a little noisy."
"Taylor Caldwell," Ellen said, looking discouraged by her sister, "you know the kids already have more than enough toys. Especially the noisy ones. Which—oh wait—you gave them."
"Apologies not offered," Taylor said, not at all regretful, as she gathered Benjamin into her free arm. "You are the ones who created this problem by making them so perfect. I had to reward them." Ellen grimaced at her sister, who smiled back at her with a toothy grin.
Roxy softly said, "Come on, let's go inside," then lifted Benjamin, his small body nestled in her arms.
After rising up, Taylor walked and wrapped her arm around Ellen's shoulders, pulling her close for a kiss on the head, and then they continued walking, embracing each other.
Taylor whispered something in Ellen's ear as they all walked through the front door. Roxy didn't hear what the twins said to each other, but it sounded like something amusing.
And then, "SURPRISE!" The twins' hearts leaped into their throats at that exact second.
Jess. Blake. Leah. Meredith. Robert. Kyle. Charles. Kimberly. They were all there. For them. The twins stood there frozen for several seconds, not quite sure what was happening. Behind them, Roxy and Juliet exchanged a well-deserved high-five.
Jess walked toward them, clearly happy to see them after such a long absence. "Did you two really think I would miss the 40th birthday of my two beloved sisters for anything in the world?"
As if they had coordinated telepathically, the twins also moved toward Jess to close the space between them and gave each other a hug. And just like that, the evening came alive.
Later, the evening settled into a kind of joyful noise.
The meal was loud, messy, and of course, delicious. It was, in fact, exactly the kind Roxy hoped for. There was laughter echoing from every corner, overlapping conversations.
Charles and Ellen sat at the other end of the table, engrossed in a professional discussion—numbers, strategies, and schedules. Roxy found it comforting to see her past and present coexisting together in their element.
In the kitchen, Kimberly reigned supreme, a dishcloth over her shoulder, a glass of wine in her hand, directing the service of the final courses like the professional she was.
Blake and Juliet had snuggled up on the couch, with their heads close together, enjoying a deep conversation typical of long-standing friendships after a long absence. It had been almost eight years now since the two of them found each other as friends.
With earnestness, Alice, sitting in the same position next to Taylor, rose to her feet and began a long, childish declaration about how she planned to have a girlfriend someday. Ellen, amused, leaned in and whispered to Roxy, "She's turning into a mini-Taylor."
"Are you going to complain about that?" Roxy asked, laying her head on Ellen's.
"Never in a million years," Ellen murmured, mesmerized by her daughter and her twin sister.
Shortly after, Roxy spotted Taylor and Alice sitting just outside on the terrace.
Their heads were leaning toward each other, their silhouettes framed by the last golden rays of daylight.
Roxy didn't know what they were talking about, but it didn't matter.
These moments reminded Roxy how grateful she was for joining the Caldwell family over a decade ago.
The connection between Taylor and her goddaughter was filled with a special kind of magic.
She somehow always figured out how to connect with Alice, even when Ellen and Roxy sometimes struggled to do so.
Roxy stayed where she was, not wanting to interrupt them.
Taylor gently brushed away a stray strand of hair from her goddaughter, who looked at her as if she were the whole world.
In the middle of all the chaos, Jess was chill, snapping photos with her favourite old camera, which she only used to catch the best moments.
Everything came naturally. She had this gift of picturing the scene no matter which way she was facing.
The camera's click echoed through the house, capturing the Caldwell family's memories:
Taylor and Alice laughing on the patio.
Charles and Ellen whispering by the fridge.
Juliet and Blake exchanging a kind look.
Robert and Kyle animated in their discussion.
Leah and Meredith as they tried to clean their son's face as he struggled to break free.
Roxy's eyes meeting the lens.
The evening was quietly drawing to a close when Alice managed to convince them to play one last game of hide-and-seek in their large house—because how could anyone resist the charm of this little girl?
Charles and Kimberly were the first to leave, as the children were well past their bedtime.
Robert, Jacinthe, Kyle, Leah, and Meredith quickly followed suit due to their early morning flight back to North America.
None of them complained about flying for thirty-two hours for a short six-hour party—the twins were worth every hour of flying.
Jess and Blake were among the last to leave with Taylor and Juliet. Jess gave Roxy a long hug—the kind that said everything without a word. Blake, still a little jet lagged, offered her a tired but genuine wink.
"You're going to send me prints of the photos?" Roxy murmured to Jess.
"Anything for you, Roxy," she teased, shifting her camera strap higher on her shoulder. Before turning to leave, Jess stepped toward Ellen and wrapped her in a hug. Something on Ellen's shoulders softened. Just a flicker, but Roxy saw it and felt it.
Alice raced toward them just as they were stepping out the door, throwing her arms around both. "Bye, Aunt Jess! Bye, Aunt Blake!"
"I love you, little dragons," Blake said, tapping her forehead lightly against Alice's before giving Benjamin, their godson, a peck on the head.
Taylor and Juliet slipped out quietly not long after—early studio session tomorrow. Juliet waved from the car, her head resting against Taylor's shoulder as they pulled away. The night seemed to breathe out, becoming tranquil.
***
Later, Alice and Benjamin fell asleep after an exciting day.
"It’s hard to believe that ten years ago, I was on the verge of refusing when he asked me to take the job here," Ellen said simply, looking at her lovingly. "I would have missed out on the most beautiful love story of my life. I can't wait for the next chapter with the kids and you."
Roxy smiled at her, feeling as if the world belonged to them at that moment. Ellen handed her notebook without a word. "I'm going to write our story," Roxy said quietly, her fingers tracing the edge of the cover.
Ellen didn't flinch. She just looked at her and said, "I know, love. And I believe in you." Her voice was steady. "Even through the hardest chapters."
Her throat tightened. "The ones I caused," Roxy whispered. "The ones that still hurt. Because that's what makes the rest of it precious."
"Exactly," Ellen said. "That's what makes it real." She leaned in and pressed a kiss to the side of Roxy's temple. "And I'll read every word. Even the crossed-out ones. Especially the crossed-out ones."
A small laugh escaped from Roxy. "You might regret that."
"I won't," she said. "They're part of you and I want all of you. Always have."
Roxy closed her eyes and transported herself back to memories from almost ten years ago. She revisited the briefing and the first time she saw her photo.
She recalled the first contact at the bar when she ordered her Talisker 25-year neat.
The call the next day. The little restaurant after their run at Centennial Park, where Ellen touched her for the first time.
And then she revisited the darker moments, like when she left Ellen like a thief, her failed return, and her descent into hell.
But nothing could erase their moment at the top of the bridge, or their second first kiss at the top of the peak. She remembered each detail as if it had happened yesterday.
Roxy stayed in these moments until inspiration struck again. And when it did, she opened her eyes and wrote the first sentence:
'They introduced her to Agent Kidd under her codename: 'Prodigy.'"
THE END
But wait a minute… ? ? ? ?