Epilogue

Grace

One Year Later

“Hey, big girl, all done with your nap?” I say and lift Bethany out of her crib.

Leo pokes his head in the door and says, “She’s up?”

“Yes, she had an extra long nap today, didn’t you, Bethany?” I say, smoothing back her curls from her cheeks.

Four-month-old Bethany isn’t interested in my hairstyling, she reaches her hand in the direction of the giant giraffe at her crib side. The entire nursery is like stepping onto the Serengeti. Lions, elephants, giraffes and every other African animal you can think of cover the walls, not to mention all the stuffed animals. Including the six-foot-tall giraffe that we’ve dubbed Jerry.

Leo walks across the room and pats my ass before taking Bethany from my hands.

“Do you need your diaper changed, sweetie?” he asks and kisses her forehead.

Keeping our bodies close together we moved to the changing table. Leo takes off her cute little shorts that are covered in little shovels and sandcastles and removes her diaper.

I pass him the wet wipes and fresh diaper and watch as he expertly changes her and puts her shorts back on. It’s been a similar activity ever since Bethany was born.

Leo has barely left our sides.

A month after the telephone conversation between George and Leo, George agreed to sell his share of Newbury Toys. Most likely because his lawyers went over the paperwork and realized the clause was ironclad. If he’d waited until the baby was born, it would have reduced his percentage of ownership and cost him almost a billion dollars.

Leo immediately started the process of selling Newbury Toys to Sun Toys, and the sale was completed just before the baby was born. Which means Leo hasn’t had to work for one second since the baby came along, giving him all the time in the world to, as he puts it, enjoy us.

“Let’s go find Aunty Charity. I bet she’s waiting for us,” I say and pick Bethany up off the table. Her chubby little arm reaches up and her fingers wrap themselves around my hair. “Oh, don’t do that, honey. That will hurt Mommy,” I say, trying to free my hair from her grip.

“You never do that to Daddy, do you, sweetie?” Leo says proudly.

“Maybe Daddy should grow his hair long and we’ll see if you like it pulled or not. Right, Bethany?”

Bethany gurgles in response and blows bubbles from her tiny mouth, as if challenging her father to grow his hair. Leo laughs and turns to the door, ignoring us both.

I can’t wait until she’s older and can talk, we are going to have so much fun toying with him.

Carrying the baby, I follow Leo through the house to the back door. The decor is similar to the New York apartment, very simple and unostentatious. Unlike the New York apartment, we only have seven bedrooms. Leo jokes that he’s the only person ever who got married, had a baby and downsized.

While I was pregnant, we realized Charity and her kids had never been to a beach. Leo immediately insisted that we all have a trip to the beach and flew her and her kids to meet us in Myrtle Beach.

They had so much fun that they never wanted to leave. None of us did. We all decided that the beach was where we belonged.

Charity hadn’t started to build the house Leo wanted to build her. Instead the six of us drove down the coast looking at real estate. That day, we found two beach houses four doors apart, and fell in love.

Leo bought the properties on the spot.

One is bright blue with a white veranda wrapped around the entire house. That’s the one Charity lives in. Our house is modern, with an all-white exterior with walls of glass overlooking the ocean.

We see each other all the time, but the few houses between us mean that we aren’t on top of each other and we don’t get on each other’s nerves. We are also going to have lots of babysitters in a few years when Charity’s kids are a little older.

“Wait, I forgot the drinks,” Leo says, and turns back to the kitchen. He smiles at me, and like every smile he’s given me since we met, my insides melt a little bit.

“It’s okay, I have to put sunscreen on and get her hat anyway,” I say. Opening the hall cupboard, I pull out the wicker basket filled with beach supplies. I put Bethany’s pink sunhat on, fling a beach blanket over my shoulder and start slathering her with sunscreen.

I am beyond lucky to have found Leo. I can’t imagine my life without him or little Bethany. And I also have Charity back in my life because of them. I never would’ve gone back to Tennessee if I hadn’t been pregnant and jobless with nowhere else to go.

Charity and I are almost as inseparable as Leo and me.

She was relieved to get out of that small town. When we moved here, Leo talked her into going back to school, something she said she’d always dreamed of. At first, she didn’t want to because it would mean not only was she living in the house Leo bought her, she would be completely dependent on him, but he insisted.

Now she’s completing her GED and has already been accepted to study teaching next year. I’m incredibly proud of her.

Leo is still envious of my relationship with my sister, and wishes he could have at least a civil relationship with his brother, but I think he’s resigned himself to his situation.

Leo appears with the black cooler bag slung over his shoulder and says, “Okay, let’s go to the beach.” He holds open the back door and I walk through it with Bethany.

The view of the sea is breathtaking. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve looked at it, it never fails to impress me.

I lead him across the walkway and down the steps to the beach. We are meeting Charity and her kids in front of their house at four o’clock for our regular Saturday fun on the beach.

Leo bought all sorts of beach games and is teaching her eldest two to be master paddle ball players.

We turn south in the direction of Charity’s house, Leo puts his arm around my waist and we walk snuggled against each other.

Anna and Tyson got married two months after their baby boy, Joshua, was born. I didn’t go to the wedding. I’ve barely spoken to her over the past year. Not because I haven’t forgiven her for what she did, to both me and Tyson, or because she lives on the opposite side of the country, but because she’s become close friends with Shawna.

Shawna lost her house and car after the collapse of Mini Motivations and ended up sleeping on Anna’s couch for a while, during which time they became good friends.

Shawna, the person Leo hates more than anyone else in the world. In fact, she’s probably the only person he hates. He will never forgive her for the way she shamelessly dressed me up and sent me out to try to raise money for her company. Even though that’s how we met.

She continually comes up with new business ideas, and continually gets Anna to try contact me to get Leo to invest in them. Hell would have to freeze over before Leo gave her a penny. He wouldn’t even care if it was the best idea for a business in the history of the universe, he would never give her one cent.

I started to realize that when Anna phoned, she wasn’t calling to see how I’m doing but to try to get funding for another of Shawna’s ideas. It hurt that the person who was supposed to be my best friend only used me when she needed something, but I had to move forward. Five months ago, I told her to stop calling and blocked her number. Good riddance to her and Shawna.

I have Charity now, which is much better anyway.

“Where are the kids?” Leo says as we near Charity’s house. Normally they are racing around playing or in the water, but they are nowhere in sight.

Charity stands facing us, her white sundress blowing in the breeze. A man stands with his back to us and I briefly wonder if she has a boyfriend, but I know she has sworn off men until she finishes her schooling. Something about not making the same mistake twice in life.

As we get close, Leo freezes in his tracks.

“What’s wrong?” I say, looking at him. His face has fallen into a blank stare.

The man turns around and walks toward us. As he nears, I notice his jawline and eyes are remarkably similar to Leo’s.

He sticks his right hand out and says, “Brother.”

“George,” Leo says, his voice stiff.

I nudge Leo, and he sticks his hand out to George. They shake hands and George pulls Leo into an embrace. He pats Leo’s back. I step away, and observe the two brothers.

Charity walks up beside me and says, “I had George tracked down and have been working on him for months to reconcile with his brother.”

My heart warms and my love for my sister increases tenfold. “How did you manage that?”

“I wanted to repay Leo somehow for all the things he’s done for me and my children. I know as well as you do how envious he is of our relationship. I figured the least I can do was try.”

Leo and George walk to the shore and stand staring out at the ocean, talking. Charity and I watch in silence, both willing her plan to work. Eventually we lay out the blanket and sit down, playing with the baby. But I keep one eye on Leo and George.

Before long they are laughing and talking animatedly, and I stop holding my breath. They turn and walk in our direction. Charity takes Bethany and I stand.

“Hi, I’m George.” He sticks his hand out and I take it. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for my brother. And me. You’ve saved us both from ourselves.”

I’m shocked at his words and don’t know what to say. Leo says, “Come meet Bethany,” and the two of them sit on the blanket with Charity and the baby and act as though they’ve never been apart.

I look down at the four of them and cannot believe such happiness exists.

***

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