Epilogue
Mae
“Daddy, Daddy!” Isabella screams as the screen door slams behind Cooper. She looks like half of each of us. She has his green eyes, my curly hair, and nose. Leo, on the other hand, is all Cooper. He’s the dark hair version of his father through and through.
I sigh and lean against the kitchen counter. Dinner is almost done. The kids have been giving me a run for my money today, and Naomi is in a mood. She’s a teenager. I don’t hold it against her. … too much, but I know it won’t get easier. Yet I wouldn’t change it for anything.
“Hey there, sweetheart,” he grins picking her up and kicking off his boots.
In her three years of age, she’s more talkative than Cooper and can’t wait for her dad to get home every single day.
He kisses her all over her face, and she giggles from his mustache tickling her.
“Put me down!” she yells.
He sets her on her feet and she goes over to the play corner. Where it’s been since Naomi was little.
Naomi comes stomping out of her room with attitude and gets the napkins and silverware to set the table.
“Hey princess, what crawled up your butt and died?” he asks her before kissing her head. He ruffles her hair.
“Dad, stop,” she whines, fixing it.
“Jeez,” he grumbles and rounds the counter to me. He presses his hips against mine, pinning me to the edge, and grabs my chin.
“Hey, stubborn,” he rasps.
We’ve been married for five years, and it never gets old. He kisses me briefly, and I grab his shirt, hauling him back for more. I’ve wondered over the years if we would get tired of each other, especially with two young kids and a growing teenager, but we haven’t.
I suspect we never will.
He grunts softly, and his mustache brushes my skin, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Ugh, Mom, Dad, get a room!” Naomi groans.
Cooper pulls away on a chuckle. “That can be arranged,” he whispers across my lips.
“Maybe we can make another baby,” he says.
I push him away, shaking my head. “Nope, nope, done.” I tell him.
After I had Leo, named after my uncle, I told my amazing husband I was done. We have three kids. Three is a lot. Three is great, perfect in fact.
“I’m going to puke,” Naomi grumbles, scrolling on her phone.
Cooper chuckles and sets his thermos on the counter next to me. “Do you need help with dinner?” he asks.
“Nope, it’s done. I just need butts in seats.”
“I think I can manage to wrangle the herd,” he says and kisses me on the cheek.
I get plates down from the cabinet and scoop spaghetti and bolognese onto plates, and make smaller portions for the little ones.
“Hey Mom?” Naomi calls.
“Yeah, hon?”
“Can I have a sleepover with Pepper? She’s inviting a bunch of girls and some of them are on the cheer team and I wanted to try out next year so…” she trails off and I smile at the girl usually full of sunshine, slowly turning into a woman before my eyes.
She started calling me Mom when she turned nine.
Her mother hadn’t made contact, that she knew of.
A few months after her birthday, we found out Rebekah was in rehab.
She relapsed and was back at step one, but determined.
Rebekah wanted a relationship with Naomi, but Cooper and I decided she needed to be at least three months sober before that happened.
She managed to accomplish that and come to Naomi’s tenth birthday party, but since then we haven’t heard from her.
Cooper decided after that not to file for adoption. It’s a long process, and after we talked about it, it felt like it was a nail in Rebekah’s coffin. Addiction is a difficult thing, and she did the best she could to protect Naomi from it.
Adopting Naomi as our own wasn’t something we wanted to put either of them through.
Legal papers or not, she’s our daughter, and she knows we love her more than life itself.
My heart breaks for them. I don’t consider it an obligation to be a mother to Naomi.
It’s an honor, and I hope Rebekah can get herself healthy to see what an amazing girl she is becoming.
“Will there be boys?” I ask her.
“Boys? Nope, the answer is no, princess,” Cooper says, holding Leo under his arm like a football, and his large hand over Isabella’s head so she doesn’t run off. They giggle and wiggle around, trying to slip free.“Dad,” Naomi grumbles.
He sets Leo down and puts Isabella in her seat. Leo starts to take off, but he’s not fast enough, and Cooper grabs him by his collar, picking him up with one hand. Leo giggles and shrieks as he’s set in the chair.
“As long as there are no boys, yes, you can go,” I tell her.
“There won’t be any boys,” Naomi grumbles.
I stare at her for a second, and I can see it in her eyes. The older she gets, the more she’ll get into. The Hayes kids are notorious for it.
“Fine, but if Uncle Ledger arrests you, you’re going to sit there,” Cooper says.
Naomi rolls her eyes with a small smile on her face. “Oh, please, Dad, he might arrest me in front of everyone else, but you know he’ll just bring me home.”
“Exactly, so I can ground you for twenty years,” he grumbles.
When we all sit in our seats, Leo says a prayer, though half of it makes no sense.
Isabella screams, “Amen.”
“How was work, babe?” Cooper asks.
“It was normal. I hired a new girl, and I think she’s going to work out really well. We’re also completely booked for next year’s weddings.”
“Wow, Mae, that’s great,” Cooper says, grinning.
“Thank you,” I whisper, his encouragement still makes me blush.
I worked for the accounting firm for another handful of years after Leo was born, and while I was pregnant with Isabella.
But after I had her, a teenager, a husband that sometimes acts like a teenager, and a business growing faster than I can handle.
My dad retired, and they moved to Paxton to be closer.
After all that, I decided it was time to call a quits.
I enjoyed what I did. But I love this so much more.
After we finish dinner, I get Isabella and Leo into the bath while Cooper and Naomi clean up the kitchen.
By the time I get the kids to bed, I’m dragging my feet to my own.
We added to the house after Leo was born.
We didn’t want to move, especially with no mortgage, but we needed more space, adding three extra rooms and another bathroom.
During the remodel, we made the only bathroom in the house at the time the master bath.
The kids can fight amongst themselves, sharing the other.
My eyes are almost closed as I pull the covers over me, then arms snake around my ribs.
He digs his nose into my neck and takes a deep breath.
“I missed you,” he whispers into my skin.
I hum turning in his arms. “We were apart for a whole five hours since you came to the shop earlier.”
He grins and kisses me fiercely. “I know, I can’t help myself.”
I loop my arms around his neck, laying my cheek on his bare chest. “My stage-five clinger.”
“No fair, your kids are too.”
I snort. “Oh, my kids are. What about your kids? They learned it from you.”
“Yeah, because their daddy is smart.”
I lean back to give him the ‘give me a break’ face, and he grins down at me.
“How you have this much energy after a long day and kids waking you up in the middle of the night, I will never understand.”
He kisses my forehead as his hand rubs up and down my spine.
“I’m filled with joy because I get to fall asleep and wake up to the best woman in the world.
I get to hug and kiss the kids we made, and raise every day.
I’m the most blessed man in the world. I can’t wait to wake up every morning, and—” he pauses.
“You sure you don’t want to have another kid? We make some really cute ones.”
I laugh, and my laugh turns into a groan, and I shake my head against his chest. “We would have to expand the house again, and if we did that Naomi would have to have her own bathroom. We can’t subject her to three little ones.”
“Done,” Cooper says.
“Coop.”
“Stubborn.”
I smile into his chest, still amazed that he loves me this way. “I’ll get more stretch marks,” I grumble.
He takes the back of my neck, tilting my head back to look me directly in the eyes. “Baby, I love your body, and I love it even more knowing how powerful it is, how you gave me two kids. Stretch marks don’t matter because you always have been and always will be beautiful to me.”
I stare at him, still shocked that he’s mine, and kiss him. “Maybe you should just make love to me and remind me what the process is because I can’t remember and we probably have an hour before one of us passes out from exhaustion.”
Cooper chuckles and sweeps his mouth against mine. “I can do that.”
Who would have thought being conned into taking over a flower shop by my mom and aunt would have come to this.
I look at my past prior to meeting Cooper, and it wasn’t bad.
It was lonely, a loneliness that it felt like few knew.
My heart hurts for the younger Mae. I wish I could tell her that it’s worth the wait.
It’s worth the repeated heartbreak and tears.
It was all worth it for the happily ever after she dreamed of.