Epilogue

Five Years Later…

The back of my neck prickled with sweat, and my breaths were coming heavy and fast. I panted and called out, "Stop!" Then I rested my hands on my hands on my hips and tried to look as relaxed as possible while I waited for the two troublemakers ahead of me to come to a halt.

Fiona stopped first. She was always the best at listening to directions, which was something Brendon tried to take credit for but was clearly my doing. Jude, the little shit, made a show of zigzagging around lamp posts with his arms flung out like he was an airplane before coming to a screeching halt in front of me. Fiona, seeing that her cousin had abandoned their game, came toddling over to my side.

"What did I say about running?" I asked in a stern voice.

Fiona had the good sense to look at least a little ashamed. Jude grinned, and rather than seeing his father in his features, for a second I caught a glance of his uncle. Not Brendon, either—Keilan. Lord help us all if he turned out like Keilan.

"We just wanted to go look at the ride," Jude offered.

Brendon, Avery, and Morgana finally caught up with us. I'd taken off running after the kids the second Jude grabbed Fiona's hand and made a break for it.

"Jude," Avery said, voice even more stern than mine.

Apparently just saying his name was enough to force an apology from the little brat. Then again, Jude idolized his dad so it wasn't much of a surprise.

"Sorry, Auntie Aurora," he said with mock sincerity that was almost believable.

I couldn't stay mad at him. "Don't do it again." I ruffled his hair and socked him on the ear playfully. "I'll send Brendon after you next time."

Julian didn't act like this in public normally. He and Aurora were both still dizzy with the excitement of the theme park, and I understood completely. Disneyland was an exciting place. It was my second visit too and I was nearly as jazzed up as the kids.

Brendon wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pressed a kiss into the top of my head. "Next time, let me go after them," he said, just low enough for me to hear.

I laughed. "Sorry. I went into panicked mother mode."

He chuckled, taking Fiona's hand when she reached for him.

It was a picture-perfect scene, even if I could never get Fiona's fiery hair to lie straight and Jude constantly had some sort of dirt or food on his face. I swear, Morgana spent half of her day cleaning him up. She had a never-ending supply of wet wipes in her purse and an indefatigable dedication to her child's cleanliness.

"I'm going to need to sit down soon," Morgana groaned. "Gosh, my feet are swollen."

I glanced at her pregnant belly and a twinge of jealousy hit me straight in the gut. Things had been crazy with Lock Knocks since we started expanding, and now we were the highest grossing children's store on the continent. We even opened our first store in Europe at the beginning of the year, but now things were beginning to slow down. Thankfully. I loved my job, even when it was crazy like it had been for the past couple of years, but I was ready to settle more into family life.

"I'll sit with you," I offered. "I've been feeling run down all day."

Morgana smiled and I took her arm while the men corralled our children and headed over toward the ride they'd been ogling.

"What's got you run down?" she asked.

We sat down on the bench and she let out a long sigh, rubbing the top of her belly.

"I don't know," I said. "I guess I've just been busy with work and Fiona and all that, and it's started taking a toll. I’m almost constantly sleepy."

"Huh." She nodded thoughtfully. "And when was your last period?"

I swiveled my head to look at her. She wore a smirk Mona Lisa would have been jealous of.

"I'm not pregnant," I said, muttering afterward, "Much as I'd like to be."

"I wouldn't be so sure," she said. "These Ralston babies are tiring. I don't know about your first pregnancy, but the first sign I had for both of mine was that I was too bone tried to do anything for the first month or so." She shrugged. "Just thought it was worth asking."

I stared out toward the lineup that Brendon and the kids were in. He saw me looking and gave me a jovial wave. I waved back.

"We haven't been trying," I said.

Morgana grinned. "You weren't trying the first time either."

"True, but what are the chances?"

She sighed and tilted her face up to the sunlight, eyes closed and a dreamy expression on her face.

"I could calculate the odds for you if you want, but I'm way too pregnant and grumpy to speculate without a calculator and some stats."

I accepted her answer and we lapsed into a comfortable silence.

Could I be pregnant? I was late this month, which was unusual, and I had been—as Morgana stated—bone tired. Maybe it was possible.

My heart leapt at the thought, and I couldn't keep the smile from my face. I didn't want to get my hopes up too high, but even if I wasn't pregnant at least I knew that I wanted to be.

The gang came back from the ride, chatting excitedly and raring to go to the next attraction. Morgana and I, under the guise of needing to run back to the hotel to grab something, slipped off to the pharmacy just outside the park's gates.

Hours later, the sky filled with light. Starbursts of brilliant color, red and green and blue and gold, cascaded from the heavens like thousands of shimmering diamonds. The kids were entranced, their little faces turned to the sky in wonder. Fiona held one of my hands in a tight grip, and was likely squeezing her dad’s hand just as much.

I looked over at Brendon, at the color splashing over his face. The music swelled in the background and I sensed the finale wasn’t far off. I tugged Fiona in front of me and wrapped my arms around her shoulders while I cozied up next to my husband. He wrapped his arm around my waist and held me close, pressing a brief kiss against my hair.

“Hey baby?” I asked.

I worried he might not hear me over the music and thunderous explosions, but Brendon tilted his face down to look into my eyes. His lips curled lazily and he pecked the tip of my nose.

“Yes, baby?”

A particularly vibrant firework burst into thousands of sizzling white lights that dripped like water droplets down the horizon, highlighting his face in shadow. My pulse thrummed in my throat.

“We’ve had a great life together, but there’s one moment we’ve never had that I’ve always wanted.”

“And what moment is that?”

“The moment where I tell you I’m pregnant and you lose your mind with happiness.”

He straightened. “Baby…”

I couldn’t hold back any more. The smile burst from my face like sunbeams and my eyes prickled with happy tears. “I’m pregnant.”

And, as the sky continued to explode overhead, the man of my dreams lost his damn mind. Just like I hoped he would.