Epilogue
ELLA
8 YEARS LATER
T he water is hot as I tilt my head back into the spray, my eyelids closed as I breathe in the steam.
“You’re not helping, Mrs. Maxwell,” Bodhi murmurs, my lips curving up before I even open my eyes.
“And I told you to wait,” I tell him as his fingers slide between my legs, the man still insatiable after almost nine years together.
“I am, but you can’t see how hot you look right now.”
“The shower is supposed to be about you,” I tell him even as I shamelessly rock my hips, needing more and sighing when he slips one finger inside me. I had big plans for this shower, but naptime had zapped me of any and all energy I’d had to seduce my husband.
Thank God, the man is a saint.
And still obsessed with me.
“It is about me.” His erection is hard against my leg as he leans in, pressing his lips down my neck and across my collarbone as he backs me against the shower wall.
“What if they come looking for us?” I ask even as I prop my foot on the ledge and he teases the head of his cock through my folds.
“I gave them all popsicles and told Tate and Faye they’re in charge while I help you wash your hair.”
“I’ve never been more attracted to you than I am right now.”
He chuckles, but I’m not kidding, not even a little.
“I’m sorry we haven’t had more time,” he says, the sincerity in his words making me sag against him, my arms wrapping around his neck as I slant my mouth over his. Because he gets it. Because it’s been hard with five kids and trying to shuffle everyone around when there’s work and school and sports and laundry.
It’s never-ending.
But I wouldn’t trade it either.
Because the way he’s looking at me with so much love and adoration is the same way he looks at our kids. He’s the best dad and uncle, and I swear on a glass of sweet tea the man keeps getting hotter.
“You’re making up for it now.”
“And Mason and Lana are taking the kids next weekend.”
“I’m exhausted and we need it but I’ll still miss them.”
“That’s why you’re an incredible mom. And I love that about you,” he says, gripping my ass and picking me up off the ground. “But right now, I need to fuck my wife.”
“I lied.”
“About what?”
“ Now I’ve never been more attracted to you,” I tell him as he pushes all the way inside, his cock filling me and making me gasp.
“Well hold on, baby, cause you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
* * *
BODHI
The house is quiet as I make my way through the rooms, picking up Legos, art supplies, and snack wrappers as I go. The frustration I would have felt earlier at finding them when we’d told the kids a thousand times to pick their stuff up is replaced with a contentment that their brains were active and their bellies full.
I’d had plenty of nights where I hadn’t had either.
And while I don’t think about it too much anymore, nights like these have me remembering how far I’ve come—how much good I’ve done not just in Blackstone Falls but in Tennessee and beyond.
Montana and Archer had given me an opportunity and I’d run with it, the impact healing my inner child while saving so many others. And not only that, my body had healed too, my migraines few and far between now.
“Are you all right?” Ella’s voice is soft and I smile before I even turn around, her shoulder leaning against the doorframe in a robe that’s just for me.
“I thought I wore you out.”
“And you know I hate sleeping alone,” she says, closing the distance and locking her arms around my back, her head resting on my chest.
“Just picking up a few things,” I tell her as I pull her in close and press a kiss to her hair.
“The girls have soccer in the morning, and Winslow wanted to make sure you remembered she wants French braids.”
I chuckle as Ella leans back so she can make sure I see her eye roll because there’s no question I’m still the favorite. Lana still tries to tease me about it, but I never missed one of Holland’s games or social events. She’ll be graduating from high school not too long from now and I’ll be damned if I tarnish my record now.
“She told me three times before bed.” I laugh, swaying us back and forth as she settles back against me.
And we stay like that, our hearts beating as one in the house we made a home, the gift that we’d received when Montana and Archer had walked through the door and handed me the key. The one with plenty of space for all the kids to come and stay.
The house we’d brought Faye home to from the hospital.
Winslow not long after.
And then we’d gotten a call for an emergency placement for three siblings in the middle of the night. Tate, Liora, and Cavan.
Two boys and a girl.
Like Mason, Audrey, and me.
It felt like a sign from the universe that we’d be destined to have them. They felt like they’d always been ours.
“What are you thinkin’ so hard about?” Ella says, her voice sleepy as she nuzzles her face against the cotton of my shirt.
“The night we got the call for Tate, Liora, and Cavan.”
“Kismet.”
“Since the day you knocked me on my ass, baby.”
“What?” She chuckles in disbelief. “That never happened.”
“It did.”
“When?”
“It was the night of the adoptathon and I was trying to bring the trays back to the Poppy Seed. You opened the door into me and I lost my balance.”
“I forgot about that.”
“I didn’t.”
“Is that why you wouldn’t talk to me after that?” she teases but I shake my head, leaning down and kissing her breathless.
“I knew you’d change my life and I just wasn’t ready yet.”
Because sometimes love comes out of nowhere and knocks you on your ass. And sometimes it’s just a patch of ice and an overzealous baker opening the door into your face.
Sometimes it’s a road trip and an unexpected detour.
And sometimes it’s lazy mornings and showers for two.
But if you’re really lucky, she’s the woman you’ll fall madly in love with.
You just have to be willing to try.
To live.
“You’ve more than made up for it.”
“Thank you for loving me,” I whisper, her hands reaching up to frame my face.
“It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
For always.
THE END
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