Epilogue #2
Mixed emotions fizz in my chest at how Deacon is approaching this.
He knows I’d likely just stick my head in the sand and pretend everything’s fine.
The fact is, I would love for us to have a child together.
And if I can’t have children naturally, I’d like to see if there’s another way.
He knows it, and so he’s pushing me, which is just what I need.
It’s what I want, even though I might tell myself differently.
“I’d like to explore those options. But you’re right, a second opinion is the first step.”
He nods and presses a kiss to my cheek. “And while we’re redecorating, we can decide which room we want as the nursery.”
“Deacon,” I say. “We mustn’t get our hopes up. We don’t know if anything’s going to be possible.”
“I absolutely do know that if what we want is a child, then we can make that happen in one way or another.”
“Is that what you want?”
He pulls in a breath and cups my face. “I can’t think of anything better than building a family with you. I already have a daughter, so it might not be a conventional family, but I want Willow to be a big sister, and you to be a mother, and I want to be the father to our children.”
“I’d like that too. Very much.”
I push my fingers through his hair and press my lips to his, heat coursing through my body.
“In the meantime,” he says, flipping me so I’m on my back on the sofa, Deacon over me. “We can see if we can get you pregnant in the usual way.”
If anyone can, it will be Deacon. With his determination and single-mindedness, anything is possible.
Five Months Later
Deacon
I’ve always seen myself as a bit of a loner.
I don’t know if I’ve been wrong all these years, and being with Aurora has made me see thing differently, or whether Aurora has changed me.
But looking around the private dining room set up for some pre-dinner drinks at Hotel on Ninth Street, it’s entirely full, and everyone in here is an important part of my world in some way.
Aurora squeezes my hand. “Are you okay?” she asks.
“I’ve never been happier,” I reply, taking another head-to-toe glance at my beautiful fiancée.
She’s wearing the most gorgeous green gown that matches her eyes and I can’t wait to peel it off her when we get home.
I feel like a different person to the one who used to live part of my week here at Hotel on Ninth Street.
Now I’m back, it makes me wonder why I spent so many years living here.
But I guess it led me to Aurora, so I can’t be sorry for that.
Instead of an engagement party, we’re having an engagement dinner. Aurora suggested that a dinner is “much more us” than a party. Honestly, I’d be happy to have had neither, but whenever Aurora says us, I’ll do whatever she wants.
I see Worth Huntingdon coming toward us, surrounded by various women, a couple of whom I recognize from the hotel.
“Hey!” One of them grabs Aurora. “Congratulations.”
Aurora turns to me. “You remember Avril and Poppy, from the hotel.” Yup, that makes sense. They’re Aurora’s two bosses, who she sometimes goes to brunch with. “And this is their sister-in-law, Sophia, and her husband, Worth.”
I kiss the women on the cheek and Worth and I shake hands. We’ve met a few times before, but this is my first time meeting Sophia.
“We’re having a brunch tomorrow. Will you both come?” Sophia asks.
“You must,” Avril says. “We always have the best time.”
“We have them most weeks,” Sophia says. “It started off as Worth and his B-school friends and it just gets bigger and bigger.”
“We’ll need a ballroom soon,” Worth says. “But it’s nice to catch up with friends. If you can make it, it would be good to see you.”
“Actually, I think we have plans with Ben tomorrow, don’t we?” Aurora asks me.
“Speak of the devil,” I say, lifting my chin as Ben strides toward us.
“I feel like I’m missing out,” he says as he joins our group. “Don’t be keeping all the beautiful women to yourself. You’re a taken man, Deacon.”
Avril groans. “Who’s this cheesy guy?”
“Avril, meet my best friend, Ben.”
She shakes her head. “Oh, Deacon, I’ve met that man a thousand times. There’s no need to introduce us.”
“Really?” Ben asks. “I’m sorry, but I don’t recognize you. When did we meet?”
“I don’t mean you, specifically, I just mean guys like you…the kind that makes comments like ‘don’t be keeping all the beautiful women to yourself,’ like we’re candy bars or beer or something.”
Ben chuckles. “Okay, then. That put me in my place. Can I get you a drink?”
“First, there’s a free bar. Second, I own this hotel. Partly. And third…well, third, I already have one.” Avril lifts her martini, and I make a mental note to thank her later for making Ben second-guess himself.
“Ignore her,” Poppy says. “She just got dumped, so we’re in the all men are assholes part of the breakup cycle.”
Ben and I nod, like we have a clue what’s going on.
Aurora intervenes and expertly navigates Avril over to Scarlett Westbury to introduce them.
We’ve been out to dinner with the Westburys, when Darcy and Logan have been over.
I never realized that getting engaged required so many celebrations and congratulations.
I don’t hate it, but I’d be happy to skip to the part where life gets back to the ordinary day-to-day.
I just like hanging out with Aurora. I like getting ten messages a day from her.
I like hearing her voice when she first wakes up.
I like going back to bed on a Sunday morning when I’ve dropped Willow off at Gabby’s and spending the day there, alternating between talking, showering, having sex, and watching TV.
Those times with Aurora are what I live for.
Of course, all that will change soon. Nothing’s forever.
The death of Penny showed me that. But now, instead of hiding from life, Aurora shows me how to squeeze every last drop out of every moment.
Being with her is like seeing the world through a different lens.
Instead of wanting to freeze time, I just want to make sure I can share it. With her.
I look up to track where Aurora is and find her looking back at me. A small smile curls her mouth and I excuse myself and head over to her.
“I think it’s time,” she whispers.
“You sure you want to do it like this?”
She laughs. “It’s too late to back out now. Everyone’s here.”
“I don’t mean dinner, I mean…”
“This is the place. Then no one can get offended because someone else knew first. Everyone’s going to find out together.”
My parents and Aurora’s parents are here. We’ve seated them together. Chloe’s sitting next to Dad. Ben was meant to be sitting next to Avril, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea anymore.
Everyone’s here.
“Okay, so let’s get everyone seated. You okay?”
She smiles at me like she’s the luckiest person in the whole of New York. “Couldn’t be happier.”
“If you need anything—”
“I’m fine.” She squeezes my hand. “Let’s get everyone sitting down.”
I press a kiss to her lips, then take a breath to settle my desire to pull her into the nearest bedroom and forget this dinner. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Aurora and I are seated at the head of the table, side by side, and when everyone has taken their seats, we both stand and I put my arm around her waist.
“So, just before we start dinner, Aurora and I have something to tell you.”
Darcy squeals, and I wonder if we’re even going to get to actually tell everyone our news before we get tackled like we’re on a rugby field.
“We’re having a baby,” I announce, pulling Aurora toward me.
Her green eyes sparkle up at me, like it’s just her and I here, talking about the family we’re expanding, rather than facing everyone in our lives who mean anything to us.
“We wanted you all to know at the same time,” she says.
I manage to turn my attention back to the table to see people smiling and clapping and clinking their classes. There’s so much love in this room, it’s almost overwhelming.
Aurora told her mum a couple of days ago, when her parents first landed in New York. But by the look on her dad’s face, she’s managed to keep it a secret. And we both told Gabby and Willow. But other than that, we’ve kept the news to ourselves. Just until we knew everything was on the right track.
“We’re due September 30th,” Aurora says, and glances up at me as she slides her hand over her stomach.
I bring our clasped hands up to my mouth and kiss the back of Aurora’s hand. She’s going to be a fantastic mother. I can spend the rest of my days being the happily ever after that Aurora’s always dreamed of. There’s nothing I’d rather dedicate my life to.
We take our seats just as the food starts to arrive.
Hopefully it will keep people in their seats.
We both know we’re going to get lots of questions about the pregnancy, given Aurora’s diagnosis, and we’ll answer them all honestly.
But tonight, we just want to enjoy being with our friends and family.
Aurora leans into me. “Can you and I raise our glasses to the generous donor who made it possible for me to look forward to being a mother?”
“Whoever you are,” I say, to the donor of the egg that has meant Aurora and I can have a child together. “You’ve made Aurora and me the happiest people on the planet.”
“I love you,” Aurora says to me, and presses a kiss to my cheek. Every time I hear her say those words, my heart grows bigger and I feel like I’m capable of ruling the world.
I can’t believe I came so close to losing Aurora.
But if the possibility of not being with her is what it took for us to be together forever, then I’ll bear that painful history.
It’s history and everything else we’ll figure out together.
I gaze into her eyes. “I’ll love you for the rest of my life and beyond. ”
Bonus Epilogue
Ben
I wake up, not sure where I am, when I feel a sharp blow to my kidneys. And then another to my lower back.
Fuck. Who’s attacking me? And where the hell am I?
“Get out!” a woman screams.
I open my eyes but it’s pitch black, and then I get another kick in the back.
I tumble out of bed and away from whoever or whatever is trying to inflict pain on me in the middle of the night.
Memories start to form in my brain, but the hangover and lack of sleep aren’t helping me piece together what’s happening.
“I said get your clothes and get out of here,” the woman shouts. “You snore like an elephant with a respiratory issue. You need to leave.”
The voice is familiar, and I start to smile as I think back to the night before. The woman with the smart mouth and the incredible smile. Oh yes, she’s coming back to me now.
What an incredible night.
Avril
I sigh with relief at the click of my front door closing.
He’s gone.
Fuck my life. Why do I always end up with the guy with the red flags flying from every limb? Okay, so he was hot as hell and could do things with his tongue I’m pretty sure are illegal, or they should be. But I know guys like him. They use women. Why did I go there again last night?
Maybe I need to reframe. Maybe I used him last night—for a couple of orgasms and a good time. Yeah. It’s not like I ever have to see him again. Okay, I’ll probably run into him at the wedding, but I might meet a really good guy by then, and I’ll have forgotten all about Ben East.
My phone starts beeping on my nightstand.
I check the time. It’s pitch black thanks to my blackout blinds but it’s eight thirty.
I reach for my cell; it’s my brother, Worth.
Hopefully he’s got good news about the hotel in Boston we’re acquiring.
He said last week that there was a wrinkle with the building acquisition.
“Good morning, brother dearest,” I answer.
“Sarcasm can’t be dished up until noon,” he says.
“Fine. What do you want?” I sit up and try to come to life.
“I just wanted to let you know that I think we might have lost the Boston site.”
“What?” I say, very suddenly wide awake. There’s no way we can lose that site. It took us ages to find it in the first place. “What’s happened and how can we put it right?”
“Seller’s got cold feet apparently.”
“So can we make another offer or something?”
“He’s not picking up the phone. He clearly doesn’t want to sell at the moment.”
“So, what do we do?” I ask, trying to think.
“Walk away.”
My stomach plummets to the ground. “Surely we can’t just give up.”
“The only person I think who might be able to help is a contact of mine. He’s a fixer. Puts deals together. Stops them tanking. That kind of thing.”
“Okay,” I say. I can hear warning bells in the distance, but I can’t quite figure out why, but the word fixer rings in my ears.
“Yeah, I’ll give Ben East a call, but can you meet me at the hotel? We can go through everything there.”
I’m absolutely certain I’m hallucinating right now. Or my ears are. Is that a thing? Auditory hallucinations? It must be because I can’t have just heard that my brother is going to be calling the man I slept with last night.
“Who are you going to call?” I ask.
“Ben East.”
My body flushes cold and my breath leaves my lungs.
“Ben East?” I manage to croak out.
“Yeah. Meet me at the hotel in an hour. We can talk it all through then.”
Ben East: The guy who looks better than any man should naked and who I just kicked out of bed?
It can’t be the same guy. New York can be a small town at times, but that would be too much of a coincidence.