Epilogue 2
Effie Harlow
Eight years later…
“Mommy.” Skylar gently pulled my hand to get my attention, my gaze having moved towards the storefront window display we were passing.
It was decorated in a flurry of snowflakes falling on blue, silver, and white décor, the centerpiece a snow globe surrounded by the toys they were selling this holiday season.
“Yes, honey?” I asked curiously as she stopped in front of the window herself, the sounds of my family all around us, laughing and talking as we walked towards our destination.
Skylar was our second oldest girl, and at five years old she was much quieter than her older and younger sisters, so I made sure to always try to really listen to what she was saying.
Especially because I’d often watched her hesitate to finish her thought if someone interrupted her.
“Could we make cookies with grandma and grandpa tonight?” Her tone was serious, as if the fate of the world rested on my answer, her dark eyes examining my expression.
Between her golden complexion, ink-colored hair streaked with purple, and dark eyes, she looked a lot like Dakota and Julian.
She was much more sensitive and reactive to others’ emotions than most of our family.
Not to say we didn’t listen to one another, but with how many of us there were—ten now, after the birth of our son—it could get rather loud. It was something I’d come to love.
“I think they would love that,” I told her, knowing that my parents would be thrilled.
They were coming over tonight, their planned visit one of the reasons we were going on a walk to a nearby park to get some fresh air despite the heavy December snowfall.
With the arrival of so many friends and family members coming into town for the winter holidays, we were soon going to be very busy.
“Mommy, mommy!” Penelope’s voice had me snapping my head to the right as our three-and-a-half-year-old sprinted towards me, nearly tripping over her own feet before throwing herself into my arms and letting out a giggle.
I looked over her pink and blue hair to see Tore offering me a small head shake and knowing grin as he walked towards us and scooped her up.
“You need to eat something before we play in the park, kiddo,” he said as she tried to wiggle out of his arms. Taking Skylar’s hand, I followed them towards the rest of our group, unable to hold in a smile at how much energy our youngest daughter had.
She kept all of us on our toes, especially Tore who seemed to always be the one sprinting after her.
“I want to play. Not hungry.” She sighed dramatically before offering me a big smile over his shoulder and holding a bag of goldfish away from her defiantly, her green eyes—so much like Caedmon’s—lit up with affection. “Hi Mommy.”
“Hi.” I tapped her nose, Skylar giggling at the action before running ahead towards the rest of the group, leaving the three of us.
Taking Penelope from Tore, I let her walk between us, each holding one of her hands as she began to babble on about something regarding the snow, her snack long forgotten.
I didn’t catch all of it, but the mixture of the snowy London streets, the holiday decor, being all together as a family, and her sweet voice filling the air had my chest filling with happiness.
Although it was hard to not feel happy this time of year. It was our eighth holiday season together, and every single year felt better than the last.
“Everything good?” Caedmon asked as we caught up to the rest of them, Skylar clinging to his hand happily.
“She wants to ask my parents to make cookies later,” I explained, flashing him an amused smile. “Prepare for the kitchen to be a mess.”
Caedmon chuckled, his smile much more relaxed and easier to come by than when we’d first met—something I absolutely loved.
Plus, considering he did the majority of the cooking for our family, his newfound interest ignited when I was pregnant for the first time, it really was a warning.
The last time they made cookies…well, let’s say my parents hadn’t hesitated to pull out the edible glitter.
“Maybe no glitter this time?” Tore offered.
Skylar offered him a sad look. “What?” she asked. “Why no glitter?”
“Glitter. Glitter is happening,” Caedmon assured her.
“Crap.”
A familiar voice and the sudden sound of a car door shutting had me looking over to the street where three dark SUVs pulled up.
Breaking away from my family, I waved to Ruby as she began to unload her kids from the car.
They’d been in town and staying with us for the past three days, but they’d gone to buy gifts and I’d texted her to meet us here—I could tell by all their faces that they needed a break.
Luckily, the park was the perfect place for that.
For the first time in years, I’d managed to get my shopping done before anyone got into town, but that had been an absolute fluke because I happened to get a shopping bug and went on a little spree for all of our kids’ gifts before deciding I would get a snow globe for everyone else.
I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of doing that every year, but I had a feeling it was a tradition that would carry forward.
After all, we had an entire room of snow globes at our house that everyone loved…
so now they would have one of their own.
“Finally.” My eldest, Isabella, appeared next to me, crossing her arms in a bit of a sassy fashion. “Michael said he would be able to hang all day—clearly that wasn’t true.”
In some ways our eldest was the most interesting mixture of my mates because she had so many unique features and characteristics, from her pink hair to the bright orange eyes that she totally got from Ryder.
She was stunning, all of my daughters were, but watching her grow into a confident girl was absolutely amazing.
Especially once she’d started to have strong opinions on things, like Ruby’s son, Michael.
Their oldest and her best friend—she very much had an opinion on him.
And that opinion was that he wasn’t around enough to hang out with her. He was in total agreement with her, and I couldn’t wait until he suggested they move from France to London. I knew it was eventually going to happen; Ruby and I joked around it all the time.
“I know, I know—I didn’t realize it would take forever,” he grunted. “I’m here now though.”
Isabella scoffed but took his hand and dragged him towards the playset as Ruby reached me, her hand on her baby bump—her little girl only a few months away from being born.
I think she was planning on it being their last because with two boys—one Isabella’s age and one Penelope’s age—who had such intense magic, she’d mentioned several times now being done, and I totally got it.
It felt like life was only getting busier.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as her mates walked with their younger son Alec to the playset. We walked a bit slower because I could tell Ruby was tired.
“I shouldn’t have been on my feet that long,” she admitted. “That was a lot.”
A sudden cry had me looking up to see Julian adjusting Louis in his front carrier as Ryder tried to appease our six-month-old son.
I nearly smiled at their slightly panicked expressions because after four kids, they still didn’t like it when any of them cried, even if it was somewhat inevitable.
I mean, he was literally six months old.
“Want me to take him?” I asked Julian. He shook his head, Ryder finally managing to soothe him.
Knowing they had it more than under control, I sat down next to Ruby on a cement bench after brushing the snow off of it and watched our kids run around the play equipment, loving the laughter that filled the air.
“I don’t think I’m going to go back to work this time,” Ruby said softly. She was watching the playground, thoughtful. “I don’t know what I want to do, but trying to have a normal job isn’t working for me. I want to be home more often.”
“You could start your own business; you know I would love to work together,” I said, though I didn’t think her answer would change—I’d made the same offer many times before.
Starting a business was one of the ventures I was more comfortable with, our family now having six or seven of them under our belt, along with real estate investments.
It had happened mostly by accident, but between wanting to be home and spend time together while also wanting to keep ourselves busy with something we loved…
the idea of not only starting our own business ventures but financing others made a lot of sense.
Between Caedmon and Ryder on the finance end and Tore’s graphic design skills, the six of us had been more than successful, and it was something I was really proud of.
Especially because two of the businesses had been my idea.
The first had been a sneaker collection embellished with hand-drawn images of my own designs but with empty space for the owners to draw their own artwork as well.
The second had been my own line of snow globes that weren’t just winter themed.
From beachy ones inspired by our honeymoon to the cherry blossom spring-centered one inspired by the time of year they’d proposed to me nearly eight years ago, it had been a really fun project.
I completely understood what Ruby was saying, though, because even I had taken a step back from all of that, especially with only two of our kids being in school right now.
“I wouldn’t even know where to start,” Ruby admitted, “but maybe. I also was thinking of applying to work with the ambassadors and council.”
“Really?” I asked, turning to face her. It made sense—I mean, one of her husbands was the heir to the shadowlands—but she’d never mentioned an interest in it before.