Extra Epilogue
FINLEY
Some nights felt like rewinds of the past, but in the best possible way.
“It almost feels like we stepped back in time and brought the girls with us.” Rhodes settled his palm on my lower back as he guided me into the same ballroom where we’d met more than two decades ago. “Déjà gala.”
“Only you, baby.” He shook his head with a chuckle. “The smartest person in the room, even if they don’t realize it.”
I beamed a smile at him before my gaze swept over the crowded room. I’d been to dozens of charity events over the years, but this was the first time we’d brought any of our daughters to the charity event where we’d first met.
Evelyn and Harper were on his other side, and my oldest daughter leaned around her dad to murmur, “Thanks for getting glam for us tonight, Mom. We would’ve stuck out like sore thumbs with how much effort all the women attending put into their looks for tonight.”
“Did you see the diamond necklace on that one lady?” Harper asked, her dark eyes wide as she turned toward me. “I’m not sure how she’s even standing upright with that thing around her neck.”
Rhodes smiled at our girls. “And yet, you three outshine them all.”
“Aww, thanks, Dad.” Evelyn kissed his cheek.
Harper was about to do the same when he muttered, “Which is why this is gonna be a long-ass night for me with the looks you’re already getting.”
Harper rolled her eyes as she kissed his cheek. “Nobody’s going to try anything with us with you glowering at everyone who dares to come near.”
“Mm-hmm.” I tipped my head back to wink at him as I whispered, “The same way Uncle Lennox glared at you.”
“Exactly,” he growled. “That’s why I’m worried.”
Half an hour later, he hadn’t lost any of his tension. Evelyn and Harper were chatting with a small group near the edge of the dance floor. Both of our oldest girls were glowing tonight, their dresses shimmering under the lights.
“They’re fine,” I reassured him.
“They’re too damn beautiful.” He slid his arm around my back and pulled me against his side. “Just like their mom.”
I laughed into my glass of champagne, grateful that Caroline had decided to stay home tonight. Our third daughter was only seventeen, and people mistook her for a model all the time. I was convinced Rhodes aged five years every time someone asked if she had a date to prom.
Before I could reply, a familiar pair of voices joined us.
“Uncle Rhodes! Aunt Finley!” Vienna breezed up in a swirl of silver silk, her twin brother Gideon just a step behind.
Although they were technically my cousins, they’d always thought of Rhodes and me as their aunt and uncle since I was so much older than them and started having kids only a year after they were born.
They were both twenty-two now, grown into the kind of confident adults that made me nostalgic for the years when they used to come over for play dates with Evelyn and Harper.
I smiled and pulled Vienna in for a hug. “Look at you. I swear, you get more beautiful every time I see you.”
Vienna laughed. “Hardly. But you look incredible. Dad’s going to claim you stole Mom’s title for best-dressed again.”
I shook my head. “Not a chance when I learned my sense of style from her.”
Rhodes shook Gideon’s hand. “Tell me you’re here to help me keep an eye on the men who’re already circling my girls.”
“Already on it.” Gideon grinned. “I’ll make sure Evelyn and Harper don’t get cornered by anyone without a clue.”
Rhodes exhaled, visibly relieved—until I leaned in and murmured, “You do realize he’s only one guy looking out for all three of them?”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “I’ll take whatever help I can get.”
Vienna snorted delicately. “Don’t worry, Dad will be keeping an eye on all of us too. He just got waylaid by someone on his way over here. Like usual.”
A few minutes later, the twins drifted off toward the dance floor, and I caught sight of Evelyn and Harper laughing with them. Their easy joy in each other made me smile.
Rhodes, of course, wasn’t quite so zen. He stood beside me, his eyes narrowed as scanned the room like it was the football field and the girls were the quarterback he was tasked to protect.
“Relax.” I pretended to straighten his bow tie. “They’re in good hands.”
He looked down at me, his dark eyes softening. “Six daughters, Finley. I’m doomed.”
I smiled, slipping my arm through his. “No, you’re just surrounded by love.”
That coaxed a low laugh from him. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I leaned against his shoulder, my heart swelling as the orchestra shifted to something slow and familiar. The years might have added a few lines to our faces and a few streaks of gray to his beard, but the look that said I was still his favorite thing in any room hadn’t faded a bit.
“Come on.” I tugged on his arm. “Dance with me before you start issuing ejections.”
He sighed, pretending to be put-upon, but his hand was already finding mine. “You always were the best kind of trouble, you know that?”
“Maybe,” I conceded as he led me onto the floor. “But only with you.”
He grinned as he pulled me close. “Damn straight.”
We swayed together beneath the chandeliers, while our daughters looked on with happy smiles, oblivious to how hard their father was working not to age a decade on the spot.