Epilogue II
Frank
When I say I’ve never been ashamed of the man I am... I mean it... until now.
I stood there holding Misty in my arms along with the rest of my family as Alec placed his hands on either side of Cassie’s head and whispered to her.
She giggled, then nodded, and kissed him back.
Then he bent and scooped Krispin up in a hug and whispered something to him.
Krispin looked at Cassie, then back at Alec and nodded.
Once he sat Krispin on his feet, he gave one more kiss to Cassie, then he bent, and tagged his bag.
“Alec?” I called out.
He stopped, then turned his head, “Yeah?”
“Proud of you,” I said.
He winked, then nodded, then he looked at Cassie one more time, then at Krispin, and then he headed to the plane.
Misty was wiping tears from her eyes.
Tatum was curled into Garrick’s side.
Harlee was wrapped in Carter’s arms.
Dom had an arm around Talia’s shoulders.
Bronson had his arm around Lila.
The kids were off to the side, waving at the plane as it took off.
Then I looked at Everly.
I called out her name.
She looked over at me and wiped her cheeks, then I opened my other arm and said, “Get over here, girl.”
She smiled, then came over to me, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Cassie was standing there with Krispin at her side.
And none of us moved until the plane that Alec and the rest of his team were in was nothing but a spec in the night sky.
Misty
I stood there as I waited with bated breath.
Alec was coming back home today.
And it would be his final mission.
He was getting out.
He had put his twenty in.
And I couldn’t be prouder of him if I tried.
All those years ago, I only pushed him because I knew he could be a better person.
I just didn’t know that I had been wrong.
So wrong.
And from that point on, it’s the one thing in my life that I regret.
I walked over to Cassie, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and asked, “Are you happy, sweetheart?”
She shook her head.
I gasped, “Why not? He’s going to be home.”
“I’m afraid he’ll miss it.” She told me.
I could see that, so I nodded.
But then I said, “Trust him. If he wasn’t ready to get out, he would tell you.”
And that was the truth.
He may be my boy, but he was Cassie’s through and through.
Then, when the stairs lowered, Krispin left Cole’s side and came to stand beside Cassie.
He looked up at her and asked, “You ready, Mom?”
She smiled as she nodded, “Yeah, baby. Ready.”
Then I let Cassie go and went back to Frank’s side.
I knew how this was going to go.
His team, Smoke, Wolf, Ice, Jekyll, and Hyde, stepped off, followed by Alec.
I still only knew Smoke’s real name.
And no matter how many times I had tried to find out what they were, I got nowhere.
Then, as I knew, Krispin took off running to Alec.
Slapping the rest of the guys’ hands as he passed them.
They all stopped to press a kiss on Cassie’s cheek, waved at us, and then headed to their vehicles.
Then Cassie made her way to Alec, and like always, Krispin smiled as he headed to stand with Bronson, Cole, and Madalyn.