EPILOGUE
Colt
Two Years Later
Emmett races across the backyard, clutching a football to his chest, with Macie hot on his heels.
“You’re not gonna get this one, kid!” He shouts behind him.
Macie lets out a growl and kicks up the speed, forcing her small legs to carry her even faster, until she latches her arms around his waist. He rolls forward, dramatically acting out being tackled, complete with a defeated ‘oof!’
Bending down to grab the ball from in front of him, she proudly announces, “I tackled you fair and square! The championship is mine!”
“Be careful, you two,” I warn with a laugh, flipping over the burgers as I stand at the grill. “Someone’s going to get hurt.”
“Yeah, my pride,” Emmett mumbles as she stands up and dusts the grass from his shirt.
Macie dances behind him, carrying the football victoriously in her hands. She sticks her tongue out mockingly. “Girls rule! Boys drooooool.”
“Yeah, yeah, you got lucky, twerp.” My son walks over to stand next to me and inspect the food. “Smells great, Dad,” he says.
I can’t remember the last time I used a grill, let alone had a group of people that I love to share it with.
I was never the ‘have a barbecue in the backyard’ kind of guy, until my little family came together.
Now it’s barbecues, family dinners, movie nights – all of the time.
Even Davis comes by at least once a week to join us.
It’s been such a refreshing change, and so good for all of us.
The back door opens and our new Australian shepherd puppy, Zipper, flies out of the house to find something to play with, followed shortly by Rowan, who takes a big sniff as she steps out onto the patio.
“Mmmm,” she moans, “that smells so good. I’m starving.”
I set down my spatula and take a few quick steps toward her, planting a soft kiss on her lips, then I bend down to kiss the head of the beautiful baby girl in her arms, clinging to the straps of Rowan’s tank top.
She has the same sandy brown hair, coiled in tight ringlets against her little head, and her nose is the same as her mom’s, but the rest of her is all me.
We didn’t waste much time after the wedding before deciding to grow our family.
We’d talked about it a few times, and the only thing that gave Rowan any pause was her health.
How it would affect a pregnancy or any children she carried.
It was difficult, but she made it through and delivered a perfectly healthy baby girl, who we named Sarah Elaine Fowler; her first and middle names acting as tributes to our late mothers.
She’s not the only new lady in the Fowler family; when Rowan filed the paperwork to change her name after our wedding, Macie’s was changed as well.
Neither of us liked the idea of her being left alone, the only one in the family with a last name that carried so many painful memories along with it, so she became a Fowler, and I couldn’t be happier for her to have the name.
Plucking his sister from Rowan’s arms, Emmett blows raspberries onto Sarah’s chubby little cheek and follows it with a kiss. “Uncle Davis joining us?” He asks.
“Davis,” Rowan says, a brow arched, “is still in Mexico. Your dad said he met a girl there.”
I let out a laugh. “And you claim you’re not a gossip.”
“I’m not!” She insists. “It’s just, Davis, actually mentioning a girl? Come on.”
“She has a point, Dad,” Emmett chuckles. “He’s kind of a...p-l-a-y-e-r.”
“I’m eight. I can spell,” Macie scolds him as she pulls a can of cola from the cooler. “And old people like games, too.”
I throw my head back and roar out a laugh.
My family has come together in a way I had never imagined for myself. I was reserved to being a single dad, stuck in an endless corporate loop, letting my job control everything I did.
If you’d asked me even five years ago if I saw myself settling down, getting married, having more kids, I would have had you drug tested.
If you’d asked my son how he would feel becoming a big brother at twenty-five, he’d laugh in your face. But he loves his girls, and he treats Macie like she’s his own flesh and blood. I’m so fucking proud of the man he’s become.
Rowan has brought more light to my life than I ever expected.
I didn’t realize how dim and boring my world had gotten until she stepped into it, flashing that bright smile and lighting everything up.
And now, watching her get her dream of marriage and motherhood – being a part of that dream with her - she glows so brightly.
·
I climb into bed behind my wife, pulling her body closer to mine, and I wrap an arm around her.
She turns over until she’s facing me, draping her own arm over my body as she lets out a contented sigh.
The afternoon sun kissed her face, giving her cheeks and the tip of her nose just a touch of pink that makes the blue of her eyes stand out even more than it normally does.
I bring a hand up to brush a lock of her hair behind her ear, and press my lips to hers.
The woman in front of me is almost unrecognizable from the shy girl that I met. All of the good parts stayed, got better, even. Somewhere along the way, though, she managed to break down the pain that held her down, letting all of those good pieces shine through even brighter.
She smiles more, she laughs harder, and she doesn’t worry so much about making mistakes.
The girl who used to flinch when she knocked something over or someone made a movement a little too sudden for her liking is now a girl that used to exist. Rowan doesn’t know that girl, anymore.
She’s confident, she speaks up when someone is in the wrong, and hell, she joins in now when the guys and I get rowdy watching a game.
She has friends.
I reach for her hand, taking it in mine and interlocking our fingers. I pull the back of her hand to my mouth, pressing a kiss to it with a smile. Freeing her hand, she cups my face and brings her lips to mine, pulling away a second later with a thoughtful look on her face.
“What?”
“Just checking,” she says, and I arch my eyebrow. “Still not a frog.”
“You and the damn frogs!” I laugh.
I reach for the bare skin of her stomach and tickle her, sending her limbs flailing as she cackles, begging me to stop.
Her hands wrap around my wrists, trying to pull me away as she laughs, and I can’t help but join in, eventually letting her get the upper hand.
My wrists in her grasp, she turns me onto my back and straddles me, pinning me into place.
This is the only thing I want for the rest of my life; my incredible wife, my kids, my dog.
This is living.
This is everything.