Epilogue
Eighteen Months Later:
Laila strode into the kitchen dressed in her purple work scrubs. Six months into her new job as a radiologist and she was still very much settling in, with so much left to learn. She loved the challenge and the stable routine, working regular daytime hours at a clinic about a thirty-minute drive from her home.
As expected, Adrian was already in this room, one a great deal bigger and personalized since he’d sold his LA apartment and gone halves with her on a place early into landing her new job. The house stood on the farther edges of Harlow, where she could be part of this town while still a little closer to the neighboring district with its hospital and several medical clinics.
“You look lovely.” He made a point of looking up at her, as he plated scrambled eggs for Whitney’s breakfast, before he took her to kindergarten, then moved onto his own job working with Blaine. “Come here and let me kiss you.”
She laughed and playfully backhanded his bicep but leaned in for a quick peck on the lips, while she also reached past for a piece of toast for the drive to work.
He extended a side-glare, one that said that quick peck wasn’t nearly enough. “You better hurry back tonight. Your parents are picking Whit up from kindergarten and keeping her for the night. I can’t wait to help you out of those scrubs when you get home.”
And that was another thing Laila loved about her new life, not only did her parents have a new home, but Whitney’s sleep overs had reduced down to Friday nights only, with weekends open for get-togethers with extended family.
Another good thing? Adrian’s new work look. Those button-down shirts and heavy work boots never failed to bring a slow smile to her lips every time she looked at him a little too long.
He’d spent a good portion of the last year fine-tuning his building skills at Oak Tree Furniture and helping with the town’s rebuild. Blaine’s business continued to grow, and once all the out-of-town construction crews moved on, the town would need people to keep up the day-to-day repairs.
Adrian loved his job. He no longer worked alone and got to spend more time outside in the clear country air. And she loved how much lighter his presence had become from all the new friends he’d made along the way. Oh, and the fact she now lived with a man who spent all day working with his hands…
Her cheeks twitched with a growing grin, just as the thud, thud, thud of Whitney’s bounding footsteps barreled down the stairs. She wore a pink dress and red leather shoes, ready for kindergarten. Well, except that her dress was backwards and her shoes were on the wrong feet.
Laila chuckled and bent to give Whit a kiss on the head. “Good try there, kid.”
“Mommy, can I bring Buddy with me today?” The little girl referred to the six-month-old Beagle puppy they’d settled on buying in lieu of the sibling Whitney kept insisting on.
Laila was so new to her career and wanted more time to just enjoy Whitney without the same pressures that had dogged her in those early years.
“No, sweetheart.” She shook her head and wrestled to spin the Whit’s dress the right way around. “Your kindergarten teachers are busy enough looking after you and your friends, but Buddy can come for the ride in and say, ‘Hi’ to the other kids, before Adrian takes him with him to work.”
Whitney gave an excited nod and bounced on the spot.
Laila turned back to Adrian and pointed to Whit’s shoes. “Can you fix those? I’ve got to run.”
She gave him one last kiss goodbye, and then headed for the door, where the scene of a healing Harlow landscape opened up before her. But so much more than the land continued to heal.
As much as she and her new family loved the occasional sun-filled holiday in LA—with beach visits and time with Adrian’s boisterous family—Harlow still had her heart. Besides, Adrian liked the slower pace. Even if the whole syndicate ordeal had taught her to keep those close to her, closer. That this town, like any place, had its flaws.
And speaking of the syndicate, as seemed typical, Rudolph wasn’t yet in prison. Like most people with his kind of money, he’d surrounded himself in a fortress of red tape, though at least his credibility was shot, and he didn’t have the same influence as before. Meanwhile, a great number of syndicate members farther down the ladder were incarcerated and the organization itself had disintegrated to nothing.
“Laila!”
She paused just as she was about to slip into her open car door, the urgency in Adrian’s tone forcing her to turn around. His long strides brought him from the front door in a hurried jog to her side.
“You forget these by the bathroom sink.” He extended a hand, and she caught the metallic ting of two rings colliding in the palm of her hand.
Her wedding and engagement bands. The wedding ring was made of plain yellow gold, and the engagement ring equally simple, except for a small, oval aquamarine Adrian said reminded him of her eyes.
Though their wedding day had occurred two weeks after moving into their new home, the event had been a subdued affair. That simplicity suited their personalities, as well as the mood around town given how much had been lost. They held the celebration in their yard overlooking the Mirabelle River, the event doubling as a christening of their new place. An expanded homecoming party of sorts. Only close family and friends invited, and Ally acting as Laila’s bridesmaid with Whitney as an adorably cheeky flower girl.
Laila pushed the rings back on and smiled up at him. “Always got my back, don’t you?”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then held her gaze, his dark stare, as always, speaking volumes without him having to utter a single word. Just like Harlow, a lot of things could be rebuilt. Homes and lives. Relationships, too. And as much as this moment right here would have seemed mundane to most anyone else, to Laila, this small slice of ordinary was everything she’d wanted for so long.
So, even as Adrian’s lips paused before hers, just a breath away from kissing her goodbye, she closed her eyes and believed him when he replied, “Always.”
***