Epilogue
One Year Later
Lily’s shrieking carries across the second floor, down the foyer, all the way to the kitchen, where I freeze in place, my hand right over the cookie tray.
Zoe bursts out laughing at my expression and shrugs, continuing to spoon the dough onto the sheet, shaking her blonde head as Ryan comes barreling through the doors.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” Zoe’s husband demands, his hand on his holstered weapon.
“Oh, go back to watching the game,” Zoe snorts, tears of hysterics filling her eyes as my shoulders relax to realize my daughter isn’t being ax murdered a few feet away. “We’ll call if we need a bodyguard.”
Caden insisted that Ryan take guard training in the aftermath of the Raya fiasco, so he is no longer just a driver and maintenance worker—he’s our armed bodyguard, too.
Flint is next on the scene, racing out of his office. “Lily? Oh, my God!”
“Calm down. She’s doing a Rippy Zippy video,” I say when I realize what all the fuss is about.
He stares at me blankly. “She’s doing a what now?”
I wave a hand dismissively. “Kid stuff that you and I will never understand.”
“But why is she screaming?” Flint demands as the sound finally dissipates.
“I believe she thinks she’s singing?” I offer, looking to Zoe for confirmation.
“She was doing it down here,” Zoe concedes. “I banished her to her bedroom.”
“Just let her sing if that’s what she wants to do,” I snicker.
Flint eyes me, horrified. “Maybe we should rethink the structure of her trust fund,” he jokes. “She might take all that money and run to Nashville or something.”
“If that’s what she wants to do with her inheritance, it’s her choice,” I answer.
And that’s the truth. None of us have any say in what Lily does with her inherited money once she turns eighteen, the funds tucked securely away for her use only.
“My God,” Flint groans. “I don’t understand this generation.”
I wink at him. “Just like your parents probably didn’t understand ours,” I answer lightly. “Aren’t you glad you folded the New York office now and work from here full time? No escape at all.”
He grins at me and kisses my lips as Ryan retreats back to his apartment, and Zoe makes herself scarce.
“Buying out Allister and coming here permanently is the best move I ever made,” he answers huskily, brushing my new bangs away from my forehead. “I wish I’d done it years ago. Of course, I didn’t have you years ago to kick me in the pants.”
He gives me another kiss but parts as voices reach our ears, Caden and Lily joining us in the kitchen.
“Mama Aspen, Papa Caden doesn’t think I should post my video,” she grumbles, thrusting her tablet toward me. I wipe my hands on a nearby dishrag and eye Caden, who glowers slightly.
“She’s too young to be posting on the internet,” he protests, hazel eyes flashing. “Do you know how many weirdoes are online?”
“What the hell is going on out here?” Pike growls, completing our family gathering, his cerulean eyes hooded and dark. He folds his arms over his chest and scowls at us. “I thought we were getting robbed.”
“What a cheery bunch you are,” I mock them lightly, taking Lily’s tablet and turning the volume down before watching the hysterical video of her cawing to a popular song.
“Looks good, honey bunny. I think you can post it,” I say, giving the device back to her. Caden gawks at me, and I hold up a finger. “But before you do, Lily, I want you to tell Papa Caden all the rules of posting and being online.”
She sighs dramatically, and I wonder again if she’s not sixteen instead of six.
“I don’t post personal information,” she begins, listing them on her fingers. “I don’t talk to strangers, and if strangers ever talk to me, I bring the chats to you…”
Caden’s look of defiance melts slightly.
“No posting in bathing suits, and always get Mama Aspen’s approval before posting.”
“You forgot one,” I remind her.
“And only post on Rippy Zippy,” she sighs. “I want my own YouTube channel.”
“We can talk about that when you’re sixteen,” I tell her again.
She gives me her infamous pout, and I give her an even look, which she understands immediately. If she wants to post, even on the child-safe platform, she best keep her behavior in check.
“Okay, Papa Caden?” I ask Caden. “Is that acceptable?”
Caden looks at Flint, who raises his shoulders as if to say he’s not getting involved. Caden exhales and relents.
“If Mama Aspen approved it, I guess so,” he grunts.
“Thank you, Papa Caden!” Lily throws herself at him, and he can’t resist her sweetness.
“You should thank your mother, not me,” Caden mutters. I flush at the title, even after all this time. I never tire of being called Lily’s mother.
“Thank you, Mama Aspen.”
“You should go upload that thing before he changes his mind,” I warn teasingly. Her eyes widen as if she’s worried he might, and she dashes away, her tablet in hand.
“Are you sure about that?” Caden asks me again.
I sigh and amble toward him, putting my hand on his cheek. “I know you want to protect her forever, but the internet isn’t going anywhere. It’s better to introduce her to it slowly and on our terms rather than let her learn it from the other kids at school.”
“Good point,” he groans. “Other kids. Can’t you just homeschool her?”
I snicker as Pike’s scowl reaches epic proportions. “She’s in school, too, remember?”
“He’s joking, Pike,” I reassure him, winking.
“Is he?” Pike asks, and Caden smiles weakly.
“Yeah, of course.” He leans in to kiss me, snatching one of the fresh-baked cookies off the counter as I complain.
“Those are for Lily’s bake sale!”
“I need all the energy I can get,” Caden counters, taking a chunk out of the treat with a gleam in his eye. The crumbs land on his beard as he backs away like I’m going to attack him. “I have twelve hours of rounds upcoming.”
“That’s your own fault,” Pike calls after him as he heads toward the door, waving at us.
“Leave him alone,” I say, genuinely pleased to see Caden heading out to the hospital. Ever since he returned to emergency medicine, his mood has tempered, and his behavior is so much calmer. The value of human life means inherently more to him now that he’s dealing with it day-to-day again, and I couldn’t be prouder of him.
But his leaving reminds me of the time, and I look up at the clock on the wall over the kitchen threshold.
“Dammit, I have to go, too,” I realize, stripping off my apron. “Lily! Are you ready? It’s time for school!”
There’s no answer, of course, our child fully immersed in whatever recent activity has captured her attention now.
“I’ll take her,” Pike and Flint volunteer simultaneously.
“Just get to class. Don’t worry about Lily,” Flint adds. “She won’t be late.”
“Okay, I’ll see you this afternoon?” I tell Pike and Flint.
“Absolutely,” Flint agrees as Pike grins.
I narrow my eyes at the artist. “You, too?”
He chuckles. “I’m almost done with this installation,” he vows, but I’ve heard these words from him before. The admission is bittersweet. Once it’s done, he’ll go on tour, and we’ll lose him for a month at least. But it also means he’s getting back out there again, just as he should. There’s no more hiding Pike Hartley away.
“Go hurry and graduate, Miss Palco,” Flint calls after me in a singsong tone, and the words give me goosebumps.
Miss Palco. That’s what my students will call me in a year. I am finally becoming a teacher.
My life is perfect, as good as it’s ever been.
But as I hurry out of the pale-yellow house and into the garage, Caden’s Porsche already gone, I sit in my BMW for several minutes, thinking.
I’m going to be late for class for the first time since starting my course, but I don’t care. I need the silence, the moment to myself. The house fills with all of us coming and going, and when I’m gone, I’m with Lily and the guys or at school, never just sitting alone with my thoughts.
Today, I need the quiet to breathe… just me and the new life growing inside me.
A rap on the window doesn’t let me sit for long. Pike’s curious face peers back at me, and I blush furiously as I remember Lily needs to go to school, too.
“What are you doing?” he asks worriedly. “Are you okay?”
I flash him a smile. “Just mentally preparing for the day. Where’s Lily?”
“Flint’s taking her to school.” He hesitates. “You looked a little pale in the kitchen, and I followed you out here. Why are you just sitting in the car?”
My ever-astute Pike, quiet and reserved but noticing all the details.
“Come sit with me,” I tell him, and he obliges immediately, climbing into the unlocked passenger seat.
I reach for his hand, wishing that all of them were here, but I can’t keep the secret any longer. And I know Pike won’t breathe a word until I can gather the family together for a formal announcement.
“I’m having a baby,” I tell him.
His cerulean eyes pop, jaw dropping at the same time. Gaze dropping to my still flat stomach, he blinks. “What?!”
“I’m pregnant. You’re the first to know.”
Complete shock washes over his face, and I can’t tell if he’s happy or upset. My smile fades. “Are you okay?” I ask. Then comes the smile, and I relax.
“Okay? I’m speechless, Aspen!” he purrs, reaching forward to embrace me. He lets me go, worry creasing his forehead. “But what about school?”
“I should be due just after the course,” I reassure him. “The timing is perfect.”
“Timing for what?” Flint’s voice filters into the still open window of the BMW, and I grimace slightly, realizing that Lily is at his side.
Well, I might as well tell everyone, I realize.
Pike gives me an apologetic look, but I’m unfazed. I wasn’t keeping it a secret so much as trying to figure out a time to make sure everyone was together.
“Lily is going to be a big sister,” I announce, my eyes fixed on the six-year-old’s face. I’ve never seen her so elated, her dark features brightening to light up the entire garage.
“You’re having a baby?!” she squeals, scrambling into the car. Flint climbs in, too, feeling awkward where he’s standing, and the four of us grin at one another. “Is it a boy or a girl?” Lily demands.
“It’s too early to tell, honeybee,” Pike explains. He eyes me. “It is too early, right?”
“I’ll need to find a good OB-GYN here in Cypress Gardens.”
Flint chuckles. “I bet I know someone who can give us a referral,” he suggests, and I exhale, starting the car.
“All right. It’s only fair that we go tell Caden now. He won’t enjoy being the last to know,” I agree.
“Wait, now?” Flint asks nervously.
“I guess no one’s going to school today,” I say, and Lily cheers from the backseat, scrambling to put on her seatbelt.
“Can we get pizza after we see Papa Caden?” she suggests slyly.
“You’re going to turn into a pizza if you keep eating it,” Flint warns her, but Lily scoffs.
“That’s an urban legend, Papa Flint.”
Tittering, I back out of the garage, catching Flint’s steely blue eyes in the rear-view as Pike takes my hand over the stick shift.
My family is growing, and I can’t wait to see what it will become.
* * *