Tori
Five years later.
I place the bowl of chips down on the picnic table and take a seat beside Noah.
“Harry, that’s the last bowl.” He pouts but still takes a handful of chips and shoves them down his throat.
“Fancy saving some for the rest of us?” Brad grumbles, with his daughter Mia, who is the perfect mix of him and Gabby, on his lap. She’s the quieter of their two children and very much a daddy’s girl.
“Nope,” Harry mumbles.
We get together for weekly dinners, and tonight, Noah and I are hosting. We’re now a family of four. A week after our wedding, I found out I was pregnant, and nine months later, we welcomed our second and final daughter, Daisy-May.
My pregnancy with her was a healing experience for both of us. Noah was by my side through every part, all the doctor’s appointments, the scans, the twinges, and the birth. Having two under two was both a learning curve and a blessing. Our days were long but filled with happiness.
Noah left the special forces, and after years of pleading from our friends, we decided to pack up and move close to them all, so close that we all now live on the same lake.
It’s just an hour outside of New York and made sense since Noah went into business with the guys, and truthfully, it was the best decision we ever made.
I spend my days doing something I never thought I’d get a chance to do. I get to be a mom and a wife.
The girls and I have weekly wine nights, and the kids are all growing up being a part of one big family.
Jack and Ria welcomed their fifth daughter around the same time we had Daisy.
Lexi, Elle, Maddison, Aubery, and Chloe all live next to us.
Brad and Gabby now have two, Mia and little Scott, and it meant the world that Trent’s memory and name was being carried on in some small way.
I will never forget him, and there will always be a place in my heart for him and the years we shared, but I am where I am meant to be, where I was always meant to be.
I watch as our daughters, dressed in matching yellow summer dresses, run towards us.
They’re eighteen months apart, but some days get mistaken for twins.
They inherited my thick dark hair and Noah’s ocean blue eyes.
My favorite thing in the whole world is watching the way they look at Noah like he hung the moon, because to them, he did, and the only thing better than that is watching Noah look at them.
“Daddy.” Faith’s angelic voice filters through the air as Daisy follows behind her.
“What’s wrong, girls?”
The girls both scramble to climb into his lap, and he presses a kiss to the tops of their little heads, making my heart melt.
“Brayden and Blake keep splashing us with water,” Faith says with a little pout to her lips.
“And Braydon pulled my hair. Daddy, really, really hard,” Daisy adds, holding up a lock of her long, wavy hair.
Ali gasps, stands, and puts her hands on her hips. “Brayden and Blake Walker, if I have to tell you one more time to stay out of that lake, I’ll lock you in the pack and play with your sister,” Ali yells. “And how many times do we have to remind you that we don’t pull hair?”
“Sorry. Mama,” they both call back in their little voices that don’t sound capable of being anything but good, but I know the reality of what Ali has to deal with because I grew up with their dad.
Ali slumps in her seat with an exhale. “I’m sorry, girls,” she says to my daughters, and then lifts her glass to her lips and drains the remainder of her wine.
My girls jump off Noah’s lap and head back to the other kids.
“I love your boys, but I don’t know how you cope.” Gabby chuckles.
Ali lifts the bottle of red wine and pours it into her glass. “With this stuff. I love them, but thank God Everly is an easy baby because those little terrors keep me on my toes.”
“They are just spirited boys. They’ll calm down,” Harry adds.
Ali gives him a death stare. “You are in your forty’s and still haven’t calmed down.”
Harry shrugs. “Fair point.”
Ali rubs her temple as if she had a headache forming. “I think military school is going to be the only thing that calms those boys down.”
“What I wanna know is how you two are coping with five girls?” Noah says, gesturing between Jack and Ria.
“I think we’ve reached that point where we don’t notice how many there are. We just do what needs doing,” Ria says.
Ali gives a hopeful grin, “Perfect, are you in the market for two more. Say two utterly gorgeous but out of control identical twin boys?”
Ria waves her hands. “No, no, I love them, but...”
“No,” Jack says, finishing for her.
“But truthfully, if we didn’t have you all close by, I’d lose my mind,” Ria adds, chuckling.
“I agree, moving here was the right decision,” I say as Noah wraps an arm around me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
“Here here,” Ali says, holding up her wine glass, and we all clink them together.
I glance around at our friends, and I can’t help but smile at the beautiful chaos of it all.
These people have become my family. If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that family doesn’t have to mean blood; it’s about who shows up in your hour of need. Who sits beside you in the dark and laughs with you in the light.
I lean into Noah’s touch and inhale his cedar wood scent.
“Are you cold? Do you want me to get you a jacket?” he asks softly.
“No, I just need you.” He holds me closer, and I hum in contentment.
“I love you.”
I link my fingers with his. “Love you too.”
I once read that when you meet your soul mate, you’ll know they are the one because they will make you fall in love three times. First with them, second, with yourself, and finally with life, and Noah did just that.
But not only did Noah save me, but they all saved me too, and I know we’ll always be there for each other. Through the good times and the bad. Whatever life throws our way well get through it together.
Always and forever.
THE END.
Thank you for reading Noah and Tori's story.