Epilogue
Six years later …
Standing in the crowd on the school field, celebrating with all the other parents as their children got up on stage and accepted their diplomas, was as emotional as I expected it to be.
Doing it with Deacon George at my side, whooping and hollering and cheering louder than anybody for our valedictorian daughter, was way more wonderful than I ever expected it to be, let alone what me six years ago thought I deserved.
But there we were. And there she was, ready to address her fellow graduates and wish them well in the next chapter of their lives.
I’d always been an incredibly proud mother, but today I had no words for how I felt about Kira and her success.
With a full swimming scholarship to Princeton, she was headed back east in the fall, and although I was sad to see her go, I was so excited for what the future held in store for my bright, beautiful, hardworking daughter.
“Okay,” I said, tugging on Deacon’s shirt to get him to sit down. “You realize you’re the only parent still standing, right?”
“Don’t care,” he said, sitting down. “I’m a proud stepdad, what can I say?”
My brother and father snorted down the row, but they both really liked Deacon, so it was all done in jest.
I was surprised, but also relieved with how accepting my family was of Deacon and my relationship. I received only a little bit of teasing about the age-gap. But when they all saw how happy he made me, and how doting he was on Kira and me, the teasing stopped and they welcomed him with open arms.
Deacon’s mom, thankfully, was the same way toward Kira and me.
There wasn’t any teasing, though. She seemed cautious, worried about her baby boy falling for an older woman.
But just as quickly, I seemed to win her over, and now I considered my mother-in-law one of my dearest friends.
She adored Kira, which was why she was also in the audience today.
Where was Damien?
Who the fuck knew?
He sent a card to Kira once in a while, and the court-ordered child-support, but he rarely reached out.
He hadn’t seen her in years, and it was probably for the better.
She had the right kind of father figure in her life in Deacon.
He was there for her in ways that Damien never was.
He’d even been there for her when she got her first period. And he handled it like a champ.
He laced his fingers through mine on his thigh as our daughter gave her speech to the crowd. I would be surprised if by the end there was a dry eye in the crowd. I was certainly a sobbing mess at the end.
The applause from her peers that followed was thunderous and lasted ages. Kira’s face was a bright, rosy little apple on the stage. Her cheeks probably hurt from how big she was smiling with those expensive, straight white teeth. Worth every penny.
Eventually, the applause and cheering died down, and before we knew it, we were trying our best to find her among the sea of caps and gowns.
“Now I know how penguins must feel,” Deacon muttered. He let out a loud, “Caw, caw!” Cupping his hands over his mouth.
I gaped at him.
A distant “Caw, caw!” replied.
“This way,” he said, ushering us through the crowd, only to pause again, and do the call again.
Another echoed reply.
They did that a few more times before we finally found Kira, swarmed by her friends.
“Did the two of you plan that?” I asked.
“It’s how we always communicate with each other when we can’t find the other person,” Deacon said. “In the grocery store, in IKEA.”
“Not the library, though,” Kira said, pretending to give him a stern warning.
One-by-one we hugged our graduate. But of course, that just prompted more tears. Luckily, I had her robe to help mop up my mess.
“Totally up to you, sugarplum, but do you want to come out for dinner with all of us, or do you have plans with your friends?”
She scowled at me. “I’m coming for dinner with my family, duh!”
“I didn’t want to assume,” I said, holding my hands up in innocence.
“I’m going out with them later tonight once you old people are in bed. But I wouldn’t be here without all of you, so of course I’m going to let you buy me an expensive celebration dinner.”
My dad, brother and Deacon all tossed their heads back and laughed. I shook my head and smirked at my daughter’s cheekiness.
“All right, well, bird-call Deacon when you’re ready to go with us. We’re going to get some air away from this crowd and go find some shade.”
More friends were already approaching her for hugs. She was one of the most popular kids in the school, but it was for the absolute best reason. Because she was kind—to everyone.
Linking my fingers through Deacon’s, I let him expertly navigate us to the shade of a big tree on the edge of the field. My parents and Deacon’s mom were ahead of us, chatting with my brother and his wife.
I leaned into Deacon. “Still okay that we didn’t have kids?”
He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “More than okay. And I have a kid. And she’s the best kid. Just because she’s not mine by blood doesn’t mean I wouldn’t kill for that child.”
His words warmed me like they always did when he spoke about how much he loved Kira.
“Besides. I get you all to myself in a few months. Naked Sundays, here we come.”
“You’ve kept the eight-pack. I am absolutely on board with Naked Sundays.”
He shot me a wink.
“Thank you,” I said, glancing up at him and leaning my cheek against his arm, “for showing me that age really is just a number. I could have missed out on something—on someone—truly amazing if I had let what others thought and society’s stigmas control me.”
“All it took was a little mistletoe, a lot of patience, and this super-skilled tongue to convince you, huh?”
That made heat fill my cheeks. I bit my lip and made sure my parents weren’t within earshot. “Once Kira is out for the night, I plan on putting that super-skilled tongue of yours to work.”
He stopped me and gripped my chin, forcing me to look up into his fathomless green eyes. “Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Then he dropped his mouth to mine, and the whole world melted away.