Epilogue Four
The cool fall breeze lifted the fallen leaves and sent them swirling around my legs as I walked across the backyard of the home we recently remodeled in Long Island, closer to Des and Sof, and therefore, closer to Marat and Adrik.
They were Josef’s chosen family, and they were mine now, too.
I smiled as I placed my hand on my still soft abdomen. We’d been trying for months, and finally, I had some good news to share with my handsome husband.
I’d wanted to cook something for him. But since the only thing I was getting any better at was sourdough bread, I’d ordered some Szechuan delivery.
It was too early for cravings, but I never met a fried noodle or rice dish I didn’t like. Biting my lip, I tried to imagine what he would say when I told him.
Having a child was such an enormous responsibility, the weight of it came crashing down on me.
I stilled, leaning against the stone fence that surrounded our yard and sucked in a breath.
Panicky moments were normal.
At least, I thought they were.
I mean, I’d never been pregnant before, so how could I really know?
After all the pain and the mistakes of our turbulent past, I was so ready to move on to the next stage of our lives together.
These past few months with Josef were better than I could have ever hoped. He gave me more than I’d dreamed.
He called me his color, his Little Red. He said I brought the sun back into his life. But what he didn’t know was he did the same thing for me.
“Hey, didn’t you hear me calling your name?” Josef asked gently and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.
He pulled my back flush against his chest. I jumped at first, exhaling when I recognized him.
Then I slumped back, allowing him to bear my weight, but careful of the new ink he was sporting on his chest.
My sexy as fuck husband had tattooed an anatomically correct heart wrapped in pink ribbon right above where his real one beat solidly beneath his breastbone.
God, I loved him.
“Sorry, I was daydreaming,” I replied, turning my head for a kiss.
“The food you ordered arrived at the same time I did. Mario brought it inside for us. Come on,” he said and took my hand in his much larger one.
I knew he was still pissed at my bodyguard, but I told Josef it wasn’t his fault, and he relented, allowing the man to stay.
Although, I admit he looked like he’d had some sort of accident right after the whole incident with Franklin—the man I no longer called my stepfather.
It was time we put all the ghosts of our past to rest. Time we looked towards the future.
We walked in silent comfort across the backyard, and I smiled at the red, yellow, and orange splashes of color the leaves made dancing across the dry grass.
“You always remind me of the fall,” Josef murmured.
“Do I?”
“It’s your gorgeous hair. Those eyes, That smile. My color,” he said, kissing my hand.
“But how do you feel about summer?” I asked, biting my lower lip.
“Summer? Why?”
“Around June third, to be more specific,” I said, pausing before we went inside.
“The third? What are you—wait,” he said, eyes dropping to my softly rounded belly that was not showing any signs of the life we’d created yet.
It was far too soon for that.
“Josef?” I said his name, uncertainty creeping in.
Then he dropped to his knees, his arms around my waist as he cried against my stomach, dropping kisses on it and whispering things I could barely make out.
“Baby, a baby, you’re giving me a baby,” he said over and over again.
Then he stood up, taking me with him and spinning me around.
“WE’RE HAVING A BABY!!”
“Josef!” I laughed and clung to him, knowing he’d never drop me.
He stopped, allowing me to slide down his body.
“Are you serious? Are we having a baby?”
“Uh huh,” I said, nodding and cupping his handsome face with my hands.
I pulled him down for a kiss.
“I love you so much, Little Red.”
“I love you, too.”
“We’re going to be such a good family. Fuck the people who should have been there for us. We’re going to be there for each other. Our family. Us. Ours. With the people we choose to let into our lives and our kids’ lives.”
I openly sobbed then. He was right.
So right.
Any misgivings I had about being a good parent, or a good wife dissolved beneath Josef’s steady praise and constant love.
Yeah, we would have ups and downs. Everyone did. But we would get through them because that was what families did.
They supported each other and rallied for one another.
Josef was the family I chose. He was the man I wanted by my side forever. I knew it fifteen years ago, and I knew it now.
“You give me everything, Wife.”
“I love you, but you’re wrong. You’re the one who gives me everything. I love you so much,” I said, and he crushed his mouth to mine.
“Come on, Little Red. You’re eating for two now, and we’ve got cartons full of goodness inside.”
“Sounds like a date. Hey, does that mean you’re going to try to seduce me after dinner?” I asked, allowing him to carry me inside our home.
“Date nights usually end in seduction, Little Red. Don’t worry, after you eat, I get to eat, too,” he growled, and nipped my earlobe between his teeth.
Shivers ran down my spine, and I hummed my response.
It was a good thing I married the Big Bad Wolf and that he was as insatiable for me as I was for him.
Josef Aziz was my whole heart.
I didn’t regret a thing about our lives now. Everything happened the way it was supposed to. It led us right to this point in time.
I was so happy, so full of happiness, I hardly had room to breathe in any air.
“Breathe me, Little Red. Just breathe me.”
Then he kissed me, and I did. I breathed him in and took him deep into my heart and my soul.
That was where I’d keep him always.
The end.