EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Ethan
Five years later
It’s been five whole years since Olivia came into my life. Back then I was focused solely on business and raising my daughter. I was lost without a woman in my life to help me. I wasn’t about to look for one though, as I assumed the one didn’t exist. At least not to the level I demanded.
Was I ever wrong, and was she ever Ms. Right. But now she’s Mrs. Right, or more accurately Mrs. Stone. As we like to tell our clients, with us you get two for the price of one, not that I’d ever think about giving a discount though.
We need all the money we can get, but not for ourselves. Olivia has shown me how important it is to give back and how that’s the true way of “earning” in one’s life. And she’s absolutely right.
And the most important part of giving back is giving as much time as we can to our three beautiful children. Only two more to go and we’ve hit our goal of five kids. I don’t know where we’re going to find time to squeeze in two more kids, but then again I still don’t know how we squeezed in the first two plus Leah.
But where there’s a will there’s a way, not that I need any will to make it happen. As a matter of fact I have no willpower when it comes to her. I catch myself thinking about her constantly. First and foremost how much I love her and the family she’s given me. Not far behind are all the things I want to do to her in and out of the bedroom. We’ve gotten very creative over the years, and there’s still room to explore. I can’t keep my hands off her so I know I’ll continue coming up with new and inventive ways for us to explore each other’s bodies, minds, and souls.
I can barely even believe I’m thinking this way. I must be getting softer with my old age. I don’t think I ever used the word soul until her. Embarrassingly enough maybe that’s because I didn’t have the best of one until my life became filled with both Leah and Olivia.
I always thought in business and military terms, although I never served. Honor, courage, and commitment mean a lot to me. But once you understand your soul everything else falls into place.
I became more human and more caring. But if you mess with my girls, or any girls for that matter, the beast inside me comes out in an instant. I’ll use all my power, and I still have a tremendous amount, to avenge those wrongs.
But fortunately that’s not the case much anymore. Apparently Stone Solutions has even become a bit of a tagline for girls who are in trouble, whether as a joke or serious. It’s the new, “Must have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”
If a young lady’s date gets too handy, “Don’t make me call Stone Solutions.”
If girls run out of drinks on ladies night, “Bartender! You don’t want Stone Solutions all up in here!”
I laugh at some of the memes I’ve seen, but I’m glad to know our last name is being associated with good and protecting women everywhere.
“Dad, can we ride the ride again?”
“You want those scary teacups again?” I say. They sure did make me dizzy.
A chorus of “yesses” greet me.
“Okay, okay. Last one there’s a rotten egg.”
Leah, Emma, and Paige take off running the twenty or so feet to the ride we just got off.
I scoop up Paige and Olivia holds Emma. Leah’s big enough to ride by herself. It’s perfect. The five of us pack into the teacup and away we go.
I immediately feel dizzy again, but it just reminds me how head over heels I am about my family.
And soon my feelings of dizziness are replaced with laughter. There’s nothing more enjoyable or infections than a child having fun. And my little girls make me feel like a child too.
I always told Olivia I owed her Paris since I went there by myself right after I offered her the position to work with me. Well, it took five years, but here we are. We made it, just like we always do.
And speaking of make, once the kids were tired out from the day and tucked in I was going to spend the rest of the night making love to my wife. After all, loving my beautiful wife and our babies is worth more than all the billions in the world.