Epilogue
The waves and bubbles continued to tickle their bare feet nearly a year later as they walked hand-in-hand along a flawless beach in Cape Verde, an island country just off the coast of West Africa.
An island with no extradition.
The island was a short drive from the home they’d built a few miles away and just as majestic. Linc wore a white t-shirt and white cargo shorts while Mia and Emma donned matching yellow sundresses. As they strolled, Mia tightened her hold on Linc’s fingers with her right hand and Emma’s with her left. Her heartbeat tripled, causing her to squeeze harder.
“Ouch!” Emma cried, slowing in mid-skip to glare up at Mia.
Mia clenched her teeth when she realized the diamond ring on her left finger had shifted and nicked Emma’s skin. “Sorry.”
Placated by her genuine regret, Emma gave all her attention back to the iPad she held in her free hand. The yellow stuffed bear she’d once worshiped had been replaced by the habit-forming device, which had held her captive since the moment she’d ripped the wrapping paper from the box during their first Christmas together, months earlier.
“Gotta get it sized, baby.” Linc’s deep voice pulled Mia’s eyes back to him. “Been telling you since the wedding.”
“I’ve been meaning too, but…” She didn’t finish, a lump moving down her throat.
“Don’t be nervous,” he said.
She shook her hair out of her face when the beach’s soft gust blew her strands across it.
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not.”
He smirked but didn’t dignify the lie as the three continued their trek across the sand toward the lone beach mansion that waved at them from atop a hill in the distance.
Small, colorful abandoned ships littered the white sand for miles around, begging to be boarded and reacquainted with the water. A handful of them bobbed in the water as well, several miles out. For the most part, however, the private beach went empty. Its turquoise waters largely unblemished by the heedless touch of mankind.
Mia knew she’d earned that dubious smirk from Linc. It was the first time in her life that the crash of the waves licking her ears, the bubbles popping between her toes, and the distinct smell of seaweed tickling her nose didn’t ease her heart.
Even as he smirked at her, Mia also didn’t miss the way Linc’s fingers twitched from where they were entwined with hers. The way his chest rose high once they’d finally made it to the long wooden staircase that led up to the beach house they’d been trudging toward. The way his free hand reached up to smooth his hair—pulled back in the slickest bun she’d ever seen him accomplish. Even his cheeks heated up once they’d cleared the staircase, finding themselves trudging across an expansive, grassy front yard, still several hundred feet away from the house that was reddening his face.
Emma appeared to be the only member of the family who hadn’t a care in the world, her green eyes locked to the game on her iPad, with a pep in her step that refused to let up. Her blonde curls danced with the wind as well, as if it had sucked up all the carefree serenity that neither Linc nor Mia could manage. Emma’s pace only slowed when she got especially into her game—forcing Mia to drag her along—her eyebrows pinched in concentration, her tiny thumb dancing all over the screen.
After clearing the staircase they found themselves faced with a sprawling, beautifully landscaped yard that faced the back of the house. Sharp shards of grass crunched under their feet as they began across it, growing nearer to the home every second. Before they’d even made it to the halfway point of the expansive yard, the backdoor to the house flew open.
Linc was the first to freeze in his tracks, causing a domino effect as Mia followed suit, making Emma trip over her own feet even though the sudden stop did nothing to tear her eyes away from her iPad.
Mia instantly recognized the person who’d stopped Linc in his tracks—a slim, dark-skinned black woman wearing a formfitting white midi dress with big afro textured hair—as Veda Vandyke. A woman whose pictures Linc had shown Mia many times using the throwaway Instagram account he’d created solely to stalk the people he loved most. The people he loved most, but couldn’t risk communicating with, because he was an American fugitive. No longer a fugitive who was in the top ten, but a fugitive never-the-less.
Veda froze in the doorway as well. The baby she held on her hip had a fairer caramel complexion than her but the same full lips and big eyes. A forest of black curls sprouted from his head and he was in the process of trying to shove his entire fist into his mouth. He appeared oblivious to his surroundings, including the gaping woman whose hip he sat on.
Veda’s red lips dropped open from the doorway as if she were in the midst of a scream she couldn’t quite manage to produce.
For a long moment, no one moved.
Then, Veda finally managed the scream that’d been fighting to leave her parted lips, startling the baby, who removed his fist from his mouth and looked up at her like she was crazy. She paid him no mind, her brown eyes lighting up as she raced out of the backdoor and began charging across the grass toward them, her free arm flying all over the place in excitement, fingers splayed. Her screams rose in volume the nearer she got and the baby on her hip bounced as she ran, along with his voluminous curls, the confusion on his face ripe even though he didn’t whine or complain as the hip he sat on became something of a bumpy ride.
Mia released her hold on Linc’s hand so his arms would be free to take Veda into the neck-breaking hug he clearly had coming. So when Veda went straight for Mia instead, slinging her free arm around Mia’s neck with an ear-splitting squeal, smashing the bewildered baby between their breasts, Mia couldn’t help a surprised laugh.
Embracing her in return, Mia snuck a look at Linc, seeing that he appeared just as stunned—if not a little offended—that Veda had gone for her instead of him.
“Oh my God, I’m Veda!” Veda pulled back, met Mia’s eyes, and clapped her hand over her heart, adjusting the baby since he’d fallen low on her hip.
“I’m Mia.”
“From that rock on your finger, I’m assuming Mia Hill?” Veda beamed.
“You’d assume right.”
“Oh my God.” Veda shook her head, letting her eyes run Mia’s body. “Well, no offense, Mrs. Hill, but you are not allowed to stand too close to me for the duration of this visit,” she teased. “This is my special day and I won’t have you and your gorgeous self stealing all my shine.”
Mia laughed softly, her eyes falling as her cheeks heated up.
Veda adjusted the baby again. “This is my son, Lincoln Blackwater. Your nephew-in-law.” She gave Mia a playful look before looking down at Lincoln Jr., who’d resumed sucking on his own fist. “And he’s really excited to meet you as well even though he’ll never be more excited about anything than he is about that fist that stays lodged in his mouth. He’s teething.” She met Mia’s eyes again, frowning softly. “And I hope you’re a hugger, otherwise we’ve just given you the most intrusive greeting ever.”
“Definitely a hugger,” Mia said, covering her own heart. “And honestly? I needed that. A little nervous to meet you all.”
Mia ignored the knowing look she felt Linc giving her, refusing to admit to him that he’d been right all along about her being anxious as hell.
Veda waved a hand. “Oh, girl, you have nothing to be nervous about here. Every person in that house behind me is stone-cold crazy. And, since we’re being honest, I might be a little nervous too. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I talk a lot when I’m nervous.”
“We noticed,” Linc said.
Both Veda and Mia snapped their heads toward him and he couldn’t fight the smile that crossed his face when him and Veda’s eyes met.
“Man are you a sight for sore eyes,” Veda breathed.
His smile grew. “You, too.”
What Mia thought she would feel in that moment—blind rage and jealousy—never manifested as Veda and Linc shared a hug. Instead, all Mia could do was wait with baited breath for Linc to interact with his nephew for the first time. Wondering whether they’d like each other. Hoping Lincoln Jr. would respond favorably to Linc, who she knew was just as nervous as she and Veda.
Veda seemed to be on the same wavelength because when she and Linc pulled back from the hug, she immediately offered him the baby. With a deep breath, Linc snuck his hands under Lincoln’s arms and lifted him from Veda’s hip, his teeth slightly clenched and eyes apprehensive in the way they only could be when a person was taking a baby out of the comfort of his mother’s arms.
As Linc cradled him on his own hip, the baby removed his beloved fist from his mouth once more just to frown up at the mountain man now holding him. His big brown eyes searched Linc’s face, his every bone motionless as if he hadn’t yet decided whether or not he was okay with any of this.
“Aye,” Linc said to him, his deep voice only causing his nephew’s frown to sink deeper. “I’m your uncle. You’re named after me. You’re not allowed to reject me right now.”
When he seemed on the verge of doing just that, Linc reached up and gave his belly—slightly visible from where his baby blue shirt had come undone from his plaid cargo shorts—a gentle scratch.
Lincoln’s frown ebbed at the tickling sensation, but he didn’t smile.
Linc tickled his belly again.
Still no smile from Lincoln, but he did lean in ever so slightly, his eyes locked to Linc.
Linc raised his eyebrows and tickled his belly again.
And Lincoln continued leaning in, so gingerly he appeared to be moving in slow motion, before finally setting his head on Linc’s shoulder, re-depositing his fist in his mouth, and meeting Veda’s eyes as he sucked.
“Typical,” Veda mumbled. “He already likes you more than me.” She looked at Mia. “He doesn’t even have to try.”
“Yep,” Mia grumbled, sounding equally vexed. “It’s always the ones who could care less about being accepted that everyone loves the most.”
As Mia and Veda waxed on about Linc’s penchant to show the entire world nothing but naked distain while receiving nothing but love in return, Linc looked behind Mia where Emma was still enamored with her iPad.
“Aye?” Linc said, stealing Emma’s attention. “Say hello to your Aunt Veda.”
Emma broke her eyes away from Linc to look up at Veda, clearly dying to go back to her game as quickly as humanly possible.
“Hi,” Emma said.
Veda gave a soft wave and then opened her arms, giggling when Emma stepped into them and gave her a quick hug.
Veda cupped her cheeks once they’d pulled back. “Girl, you look just like your grandmother, you know that?”
Emma’s eyes fell as redness crept up her cheeks. “My dad tells me that all the time.”
Mia stroked the top of Emma’s head with a gentle smile.
“Well, she’s inside,” Veda said, hands falling back to her sides. “So you’ll get to see the uncanny resemblance for yourself, soon enough.”
Linc bent down. “Come meet your cousin.”
This time, Emma didn’t seem like a child being torn away from what she really wanted to do, dropping her arms, and her iPad, to her sides and approaching them.
Face-to-face, Lincoln Jr. and Emma looked upon one another for ages. He didn’t seem to need as much convincing with Emma as he had with Linc because he was instantly leaning in for her, causing the three adults to laugh softly.
“Look at that. He already loves you, huh?” Linc said, setting the toddler down in the grass in front of Emma, supporting him around the waist.
“Can he walk?” Emma looked up at Veda.
“Yeah, he can walk.”
With a soft smile, Emma took the baby’s hand and began to guide him away from the adults, bent over at the hip as the little one toddled along with his fisted hand clasped in hers, making sure he didn’t wobble enough to eventually fall down.
“Careful,” Veda warned, smiling after them as her son toddled along. “That one’s a real drool machine. He’ll have you drowning in an ocean of saliva before you even realize what’s happening.”
“That’s okay,” Emma said, not even looking up from the baby she was clearly already completely enamored with.
Veda, Mia, and Linc watched them for a long while with gentle smiles.
Veda was the first to break her eyes away, drawing in a deep breath.
“Gotta admit,” she said to Linc. “I was beginning to wonder if those phone calls were real or just some amazingly vivid product of my imagination. Started wondering if it was really you on the other line. When I told you about the wedding… I knew it was a long shot to hope you guys would show, but God I’m so glad you did. And Gage owes me fifty bucks too. He’s gonna die when he sees you.”
Linc’s chest rose at the mention of Gage’s name. “Where’s he at?”
“Inside, napping like an old man. Lincoln has literally aged us both fifty years.”
Linc went to respond, but the sound of his nephew whining stole his attention. He looked across the grass and caught sight of Lincoln and Emma sitting side-by-side on the ground. Lincoln was reaching for the iPad with his tiny fingers splayed, whimpering. Emma snatched it away—even farther than she already had—with a heaving sigh as her cousin continued to reach for it desperately.
“No,” Emma cried, frowning at his tiny, glistening fingers. “Your hands are all slobbery.”
“I warned you.” Veda winked at Emma.
But Linc was far from playful.
“Aye.” He gave Emma look when her eyes shot to his, still holding her iPad out of her cousin’s reach. “Share with him.”
Pouting, Emma brought the iPad back down to her lap so Lincoln could see the screen, her lips poking out when his slippery fingers were all over it once more. He couldn’t talk yet, but his fervent mumbles and bumbles expressed nothing but pure delight.
Linc kept his hardened eyes on Emma for a long moment, letting her know he meant business, before he returned his attention to Veda and Mia. He went to speak, but Emma’s voice came again.
“No, Lincoln!” she bellowed, nudging his drenched hands away from the screen. “Not like that. That’s not how you do it.”
“Aye!” Linc waited for Emma to meet his eyes once more. “What I just say?”
Emma rolled her eyes.
“Share with him, or it’s gonna be gone,” Linc warned.
“But he doesn’t know how to play, Daddy. He’s too little. He’s gonna ruin my score—”
“Share with him, or it’s gonna be gone.”
Emma humphed, clearly having fallen out of love with her adorable cousin just as quickly as she’d fallen in love with him, cutting sour looks at him from the corners of her eyes as he continued to pound his grubby fingers all over her precious device.
Even as Veda and Mia continued talking, barely paying the kids any mind, Linc kept his heated green eyes on Emma, knowing she’d try him.
The moment she snatched the iPad away from her baby cousin again—this time whispering her admonishments in an attempt not to be overheard—Linc calmly left Veda and Mia and moved swiftly across the grass.
Emma didn’t even have a moment to object when Linc zeroed in on her, bent down, and snatched the iPad out of her hand. A horrified gasp left her lips as her most precious possession was taken, and for a moment, she seemed to be in complete shock. When Linc turned and walked away without a word, her face went beet red. Lips curling, eyes filling, and fists clenching, it was a wonder steam didn’t come shooting from her ears.
Linc didn’t even look back when she gave an agonized scream and then fell into a fit of deafening sobs, collapsing into the grass, face buried in the green shards, arms and legs thrashing as her cries took over every inch of her body. Baby Lincoln remained calm from where he was still plopped next to her in the grass, already having become reacquainted with his fist, which he was working hard to get shoved into his wide-open mouth.
“Aw, man,” Veda said, once Linc rejoined her and Mia. “I mean she’s not totally wrong. His fingers really are slimy and gross.”
“She’s fine,” he said, handing the iPad to Mia, who put it in her purse, never taking his eyes off Emma.
“I know,” Veda said. “But, as her aunt, it’s kinda my job to stick up for her no matter what.”
“Yeah, well…” He watched Emma for a moment longer, waiting until the theatrics had subsided and she’d pulled herself together. With tears still staining her crimson cheeks, she adjusted herself until she was sitting Indian-style in the grass, crossed her arms tightly over her chest with another humph, and glared up at him.
Linc blinked lazily back at her, his eyebrows raised so high they seemed seconds from going airborne, making it clear to his daughter how utterly unmoved he was by her latest tantrum.
Linc was the first to break the stare, looking back at Veda just in time to see a gooey smile on her face.
“What?” he asked.
Veda shrugged. “Just taking it all in.”
“Taking what in?”
“Linc.” Her smile widened. “You’re a father.”
He hissed out a laugh. “Shit, trying. Feel like I’m failing every day. Hell, every second.”
“You’re a great father,” Mia countered from next to Veda. “Never gives himself enough credit.”
Veda smirked. “Guess some things never change.”
As they continued watching him with knowing—borderline critical—grins on their faces, Linc’s eyes narrowed away and landed on the kids once more. When he caught sight of Lincoln Jr. looking off toward the house with a beaming smile—the biggest Linc had certainly seen on his face since they’d met—he followed the baby’s eyes to the house, curious what had lit him up like a Christmas tree.
And his mouth dropped at the sight.
Mia and Veda’s gazes moved to the house as well and the smiles on their faces grew even wider, their eyes shooting back and forth from the house to Linc as if they couldn’t decide which sight was more captivating.
Gage Blackwater lingered at the backdoor, motionless, his dark brown eyes locked to Linc’s across the grass. His big hand rose to cover his stomach, which was heaving under the white button down shirt he had tucked into black slacks. His olive skin jumped out against the bleached fabric of his shirt but the gleaming smile that crossed his face matched the starch white cotton to a tee. The sun shining overhead gleamed across his perfectly gelled jet-black hair, so polished and glossy it almost caused a blinding reflection to flash across the yard.
Then, Gage was moving, stepping out of the doorway and making his way across the grass, never taking his eyes off Linc.
Linc followed suit, head falling slightly as he began toward Gage as well, running his hand down the back of his head to smooth the low bun that had already been slicked to perfection.
“I’ve never seen him so nervous,” Mia said to Veda, her voice somewhat astonished as she watched Linc fix his hair and straighten his clothes, all while his eyes shot all around the yard, looking at anything but Gage.
Veda didn’t respond from next to Mia, speechless, clapping a hand over her smiling mouth as the two brothers finally met in the middle of the yard. Gage was the first to open his arms, which broke down the too-cool-for-school barrier Linc had subconsciously constructed, causing him to open his arms as well. Their deep chuckles mixed and rose into the dewy air as they clapped their arms around each other, embracing in what looked to be a bone-crushing hug. A hug that would surely steal the last breath from any pair of lungs but those two enormous men.
Veda and Mia moved closer like zombies. Not too slow. Not too fast. As if both were terrified of destroying the loving moment. The moment where two brothers who’d never known each other as brothers were meeting each other consciously for the first time. The hug was everlasting, going on for ages. Long enough for Mia and Veda to sneak up close behind them and hear every word they said.
Linc pulled back and met Gage’s eyes, cupping a hand on the side of his neck and shaking him softly.
Gage laughed breathily at the shake, keeping his hand on the back of Linc’s neck too, looking at him as if he were seeing him for the first time.
“Look good,” Linc said, voice low and soft. Perhaps even slightly unsure.
“You too, bro.” The smile on Gage’s face could light up the darkest black hole in space, and seemed to grow even wider the moment he allowed the unspoken word—“bro”—to live and flourish in the air.
“How you been?” Linc asked.
Gage nodded. “Good, man. Real good.” When a blush crept up his cheeks, he released his hold on Linc’s neck and let his head and eyes fall, massaging the back of his neck. “Shit, just inside watching the playoffs.”
“Oh my God,” Veda mumbled, low enough not to disturb them. “I have never seen him like this. He doesn’t even watch sports, okay? He has no idea what he’s talking about. He has no idea what teams are even playing.”
Mia covered her mouth to stifle an adoring laugh as Linc instantly lit up at the mention of sports, releasing his hold on Gage’s neck too, his eyes widening.
“Yo, that play by Durant was brilliant, though,” Linc beamed, covering his mouth with a fisted hand and rapidly shaking his head, eyes wide, waiting for Gage to join him in his amazement over Kevin Durant’s skill.
Gage pointed at Linc, his eyes slightly shifty, sputtering, “Yeah… yeah… Durant… he’s, uh… I mean—that play…”
“This is painful.” Veda whispered, drawing a soft laugh from Mia. “Like, he literally has no idea who Kevin Durant is.”
Oblivious, Linc reached out and used his fisted hand to give Gage’s shoulder a shove. “Only seven fast break points and fifteen assists? Shit was ugly. But an ugly win is still a win, right?”
Gage’s eyes widened.
“Let me go save my baby before he crashes and burns.” Veda moved toward the two brothers and slid her arms around Gage’s waist, drawing their eyes away from each other before Gage could embarrass himself any further. “Can we please talk about how cute you both are right now?”
Mia slid her arm around Linc’s waist as well, sighing when he circled his big arm around her neck, pulled her in, and kissed her temple.
“Hey, I’m really glad you’re here, man.” Gage motion to Linc, his voice sobering, clearly relieved that he’d been freed from the secret hell of talking about sports.
“Ah.” Linc waved a bashful hand. “I wouldn’t miss this, man. The richest kid on Shadow Rock Island, marrying The Shadow Rock Chopper? Common, man. Shit’s better than cable.”
Gage’s face fell.
Veda’s did, too.
Linc’s eyes shot back and forth between them, and as he seemed to make sense of their horrified faces, his own face collapsed as well, his mouth falling open and then forming itself into a small ‘o’ as if he were realizing for the first time what he’d just said.
Mia’s squinted eyes dashed back and forth between the three of them, not missing the way Linc’s arm had tightened around her neck, not understanding what had just happened. Not understanding why Linc’s last sentence had just sucked all the air out of the yard.
Gage’s eyes widened, more every second, and his nostrils flared. He cut a heated look at Veda.
But Veda didn’t return Gage’s hot look, her own wide eyes locked to Linc as she pressed her lips together so tightly it made the plush globes disappear from her face completely.
Linc pressed his lips together as well, nodding sharply at Veda. “You didn’t tell him.”
Veda slammed her eyes closed and didn’t answer, drawing in a deep breath through her own expanded nostrils. Several moments of silence passed before she found the courage to look up at Gage. When she was met with his stunned face, eyebrows raised so high they were seconds from joining his hairline, she couldn’t speak.
Gage let the silence linger, just watching her with wide eyes, as if waiting for her to tell him it was a joke. That he hadn’t just heard what he’d thought he’d just heard. He waited for her to deny it. His eyes nearly begged her to.
Instead of denying it, however, Veda reached up to cup his cheek. “Baby—”
Gage snatched his head away because her pleading tone was confirmation enough. A dazzling smile crossed his face. Not a happy smile, but an astonished one. When Veda tried to cup his cheeks again, he swept her hands away once more. Still smiling, he turned and left them all without a word, stalking across the grass with a hand over his mouth, shaking his head the entire way.
“Gage,” Veda begged.
When Gage didn’t so much as look over his shoulder in response, Veda shot Linc a poisonous look.
Linc shrugged his shoulders so high they nearly touched his ears. “How the hell was I supposed to know, Vandyke? How the hell is it possible you never told him?”
“I was planning on telling him, Linc, I just didn’t think the weekend of my wedding would be the optimal time.”
“You’re right, the weekend of your wedding isn’t the optimal time. Any weekend before your wedding would’ve been a much stronger choice.” He tilted his head, frowned at her in amazement. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Veda looked away with a scoff and stomped off without responding, running after Gage, who’d already moved across the yard, around the house, and out of sight. “Gage, please, baby! Will you just stop and listen to me for a second...?”
Veda’s voice petered away once she’d disappeared around the house as well, following the blazing path Gage had just left, leaving Mia and Linc to look after her in dismay, stewing in a stunned silence.
Mia was the first to break the quiet, cocking her head back to look up at Linc. “What the hell was that? The Shadow Rock Chopper? What’s a Chopper?”
“I don’t even know where to begin.” Linc shook his head. “But I think I might’ve just ruined the wedding.”
“What?”
A lump moved down Linc’s throat as he ran a hand over his face. “Fuck…”
Mia hugged her arms around Linc’s body as he silently chided himself, her eyes narrowing to the backdoor of the yard once more as she pulled his slim waist into the tightest hug she could manage. The sight that met her at the backdoor, however, drew every bit of her attention away from her anguished fiancé.
The sight of an older blonde woman watching them in silence with tears glistening in her brown eyes took Mia hostage. A woman Mia recognized instantly for the same reason she’d recognized Veda and Gage instantly. Because Linc had shown her and Emma every picture he had of this woman, over and over, on Instagram. She looked exactly like her photos, as well. Dirty blonde hair, ghost white skin, and a left eye that twitched involuntarily. One of the many hints her body often gave to a former drug dependency.
“Linc?” Mia whispered.
“The fuck did I just do?” Linc mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Um, Linc?”
“Why’d I open my fucking mouth?”
“Linc!”
“What, baby?” He dropped his hand from his eyes, looked down at Mia, and then followed her gaze across the yard.
When he caught sight of his mother, Grace Hill, standing in the doorway, a gasp lifted his chest. Many familiar faces had showed themselves at that backdoor over the last few minutes, but none that had left his eyes watering, his chest heaving, and his teeth clenching as he fought to keep the emotion surely swirling like a tornado in his gut at bay.
Grace burst into tears that reddened her brown eyes. A wail left her thin, parted lips as she pushed away from the door and began racing across the grass as fast as her skinny legs would allow. Her tribal summer dress blew in the wind as she ran and so did her chewed up blonde hair, fluttering as she raced to Linc, the deep lines already eating up her wrinkled face ebbing even deeper as the emotion of seeing her son for the first time in years overtook her.
“Mom.” Linc released Mia and stepped forward just as Grace lunged at him, wrapping her willowy arms around his neck as tightly as they could go. “Oh, Jesus,” Linc breathed, embracing her just as fiercely, locking his arms around her waist and burying his head in her shoulder. “Oh, Jesus.”
Mia covered her mouth as the mother and son embraced, seeing the exact moment when the entire world ground to a halt for Linc. When nothing else existed. Not Emma, still pouting in the grass behind them. Not Veda, still running after Gage somewhere. Not even Mia, still watching the two of them with adoring eyes.
All that existed to Linc in that moment was his mother.
And Mia didn’t dare interrupt the moment they both needed. No matter how long it lasted.
——
Grace’s moment had lasted into the next day at the rehearsal dinner, where tears still filled her eyes as she looked upon the granddaughter she’d only just met the day before. The granddaughter who hadn’t left her arms since the moment they’d laid eyes on each other in the grassy backyard. Who hadn’t left her comfortable seat in Grace’s lap for that entire dinner, where they’d talked endlessly about any random topic that popped up in Emma’s head—from games, to cartoons, to their extensive family tree back home in California. Emma talked Grace’s ear off, and Grace drank in every word, swiping away sentimental tears every once in a while as her brown eyes desperately searched Emma’s face as if trying to memorize her.
“Not sure we’re ever going to get our daughter back,” Mia whispered to Linc from across the table.
Linc smiled in response, tapping his fingers on the tabletop, too entranced by the fragrant, untouched food that lined the middle of the ten-seater dining table in the opulent dining room to respond. He was sure the home—which he, Mia, and Emma had eventually ventured inside of after the reunion in the backyard the day before—was the nicest in that entire African city. His mother had already told him that Veda and Gage planned to purchase the house to use as their official vacation home. That Veda and Gage had invited Grace to move into that house to be closer to her son, granddaughter, and daughter-in-law. Their only stipulation being that they could visit whenever they wanted. It wasn’t just an offer Grace couldn’t refuse, but one she’d boisterously agreed to.
Linc smirked, wondering what his mother was going to do with all that house. Leave it to his rich-boy brother to find the most expensive mansion in all of Africa and offer to pay for it in cash. Linc couldn’t dwell on what an extravagant spender Gage was, however, because he had a growling stomach that refused to be ignored.
He knew he wasn’t the only one, either, as his green eyes moved across the other guests at the table. Everyone was well dressed for the dinner, wearing all white just as Veda—who sat at the head of the table—had requested.
From the head of the table, Veda’s eyes dashed relentlessly toward every entry and exit in the dining room, lips sealed tight.
Sitting on Veda’s right was Gage’s mother, Celeste. A tall, pale, thin woman with silky black hair, just like Gage’s, that nearly touched her bottom. Her slim features were utterly European even though she was full Italian. Her eyes danced all over the room as well.
On the other side of Veda was the quiet gothic girl Linc remembered as her best friend, Hope. The only girl at the table not wearing a white dress but instead a pair of high-waisted destroyed white jeans with a fitted white tank top underneath. Her makeup was dark and heavy. Not a patch of her skin went without some form of piercing or tattoo. Linc was sure he could hear her stomach growling just as hard as his was across the table.
“Can we just eat, already?” Hope asked, nowhere near as patient, it seemed, as Linc as her desperate green eyes shot to Veda.
“No, Hope!” Veda cried, throwing Hope a sour look.
Every head at the table lowered at Veda’s response and no one else dared utter the question. Not Grace, not Coco—another of Veda’s closest friends—who sat alongside her. Not even Emma, who was still too young to know when to bite her tongue when she was hungry.
“I’m sorry,” Veda breathed, setting her elbows on the table and burying her head in her hands.
A deafening silence dominated, all eyes locked to Veda.
“I’m sorry,” she said, again, lifting her head from her hands and looking over her shoulder where Lincoln Jr., the only one who’d been allowed to eat, was munching contentedly on the Cheese Puffs scattered across the tray on his high chair.
With a deep breath, Veda looked back at her guests, eyes shining and voice wobbling as she motioned to the untouched food. “You know what Hope? You can eat. Eat your friggin’ heart out, okay? Have at it. Go nuts!”
Silence.
Hope didn’t move a muscle.
She was smart not to.
If Veda’s shattered voice, manic eyes, and trembling hands were any indication, sudden movements of any kind would be the biggest mistake of any of their lives.
“Obviously he’s not coming.” Veda’s voice shook even more as she addressed the elephant in the room—the empty chair that sat opposite her on the other end of the table. The chair that should’ve been filled, by the groom, nearly an hour earlier. “So go ahead and eat. Go ‘head. Demolish it, you guys. Eat ‘til you explode. Knock yourselves out!”
Again, no one moved. Linc was certain, in fact, that no one was even breathing.
The first tear fell down Veda’s cheek, causing a round of sympathetic sighs to move across the table.
“I guess he finally realized who he’s really marrying.” Veda sniffled, moving her big, blubbery eyes back to Lincoln Jr. “A mom who let’s her baby eat Cheese Puffs for dinner. Even though they’re chock-full of chemicals and preservatives that’ll reduce his life expectancy by nearly a decade. A woman who can’t cook and ordered this entire feast from a catering company in downtown Cape Verde. A woman who’d rather chew her own arm off than pick up a broom and sweep the floors every once in a while. All he wanted was for me to sweep the kitchen floor once in a while! That’s it! And I couldn’t even do that!”
Even Emma now seemed to realize a potentially dangerous explosion was on the horizon, her big green eyes dashing back and forth between Veda and Linc, as if she were waiting for a signal from her father that it was time to make a run for it.
Veda’s voice rose to deafening levels, shattered with the tears still filling her eyes. “I guess he finally sees that I’m not marriage material or mother material. That he can do so much better than me. That he deserves so much more than me.”
“It’s just so weird.” Coco, the young black girl who’d latched onto Veda and made her a mentor—whether she liked it or not—from the moment they’d met, frowned from the seat next to Veda. “Just yesterday, he was all over you. He looked so happy and in love. What could’ve possibly happened in the last 24 hours?”
Veda shot Linc a look.
Linc took a heaving breath and rolled his eyes, knowing what Veda wasn’t saying. The words she couldn’t say in front of the people at the table who didn’t yet know the whole story. That her fiancé had ditched their rehearsal dinner, not because he didn’t love her, but because he’d just learned she was The Shadow Rock Chopper. Because she’d lied about being The Shadow Rock Chopper since the moment she’d met him. About being the madwoman who’d spent over a year running around Shadow Rock Island, castrating the bastards who’d brutally violated her when she’d been just eighteen. The madwoman who’d never been caught but had left a legacy that had persevered to that very day.
Linc assumed at least half the guests at that table were still clueless to the fact that Veda was The Shadow Rock Chopper. What he didn’t understand was why. If they could all sit there with him—knowing he’d murdered the ten rich animals who’d turned their small island home into one of the biggest sex-trafficking hubs in the world—without even blinking, surely they could accept that Veda had sliced a few balls in her day.
“When’s the last time you saw him?” Mia asked.
Veda sniffled. “Last night. We got into an argument. He said he needed some space.”
Linc cursed under his breath.
Emotion overtook Veda once more, making her voice hitch. “I haven’t seen him since…”
“Is the wedding not happening anymore?” Emma’s soft, innocent voice begged the question that the more seasoned individuals at the table wouldn’t dare.
“This is absurd.” Celeste threw down her napkin while tossing her hair over her shoulder, the legs of her chair disagreeing with the floor as she stood in a haste, shimmying to pull her fitted Marc Jacobs dress down over her taut body. “Veda, my darling, please don’t cry. He must be around here somewhere. We’re in Africa, for Heaven’s sake, how far could he have gone?”
Celeste’s left the table without another word, huffing as her heels clicked across the marble floors, clearly on her way to go find her idiot son.
Linc followed suit, his chair squeaking against the floors when he shot out of his seat as well.
“Aye,” he called across the table, waiting for Veda’s watery eyes to rise to his before he lifted his eyebrows. “We’re gonna find him and we’re gonna fix it. A’ight?”
Veda’s eyes expanded, puckered lips trembling. For a moment, she seemed to have hope. She seemed to believe there was a chance to fix it. Then, just as quickly, the truth seemed to sweep down on her like a black cloud, the hope vanished from her eyes, and her lips crumbled. A sob raced up her throat and curled her face, prompting her to hide it behind her hands once more as the cries wracked her body.
Linc cursed under his breath again and left the table without another word. As he stalked out of the kitchen to hunt down the groom, he heard the other dinner guests leaving their seats as well, each of them determined to find Gage Blackwater and talk some sense into him before it was too late.
——
Linc assumed he was the first one to spot Gage. Only because, if any of the women had found him first, Gage’s skull would currently be on the receiving end of all their purses as they sent them flying angrily into his head. But there was no violence from where Gage sat at the far end of a long wooden dock, looking out into the sunset. He wore white slacks and a white button down shirt. The white tie hanging from his neck was halfway undone. His white suit jacket was slung on the wood slats next to him, brown eyes gleaming under the shards of the vanishing sun.
He didn’t look up as Linc approached, even though he surely heard him as the wooden slats groaned under Linc’s weight.
“Judging by your white suit, I assume you at least planned on showing up,” Linc said once he was within a few feet of Gage. “So I guess all hope isn’t lost, right?”
Gage turned his head but didn’t look over his shoulder at Linc. Wisps of sunlight blazed around his head and highlighted his chiseled jaw.
“She lied to me,” was all Gage said before he looked back out onto the flawless waters and colorful horizon.
Linc took a deep breath, drawing in the scent of ocean mist and seaweed before beginning closer to Gage once more. He lingered behind him, gazing out at the view as well, letting a long silence fall in.
“You know.” Linc started, eyes dashing across the glistening waters. “I don’t really know how to be a big brother.”
Gage turned his head slightly, but again, didn’t look up into Linc’s eyes.
Linc shrugged. “Never learned how. But… I think if I knew how, I’d tell you not to make the biggest mistake of your life right now. I’d tell you not to do something you’re gonna regret ‘til the day you die.”
Gage licked his lips and finally craned his neck to meet Linc’s eyes over his shoulder. “She lied to me, Linc. She lied to me, pulled the wool over my eyes, but didn’t pull the wool over yours. Never yours.”
Linc looked away, smirking softly while licking his lips. “That’s what this is about?” His eyes flew back to Gage. “For real?”
Gage motioned to him. “Why does she always find it so much easier to be herself with you than with me? Always?”
“Please don’t tell me you think that girl told me the truth willingly. The only reason I learned the truth about Veda was because I fought and clawed for it for over a year. Because I spent every waking minute agonizing over the same case files, the same clues, the same puzzle pieces that just wouldn’t add up… until they finally did. Until I finally had to ask her, point blank, if she was The Chopper. And even then it was like pulling teeth.” Linc stopped himself when he realized nothing he was saying mattered. “She loves you, man.”
Gage looked away.
“And she had a good reason too. Doing what she did to those assholes.”
“Yeah, she told me,” Gage whispered.
Linc frowned. “And you’re still punishing her?”
Gage didn’t respond.
In that moment Linc knew deep down that Gage would forgive Veda. That knowing his fiancé had been brutally attacked by ten men when she’d been only eighteen was all the justification she’d needed to do what she’d done back home in Shadow Rock. That even if she’d killed the ten men who’d brutalized her—instead of just castrating them—she still would’ve been justified.
“You know, I almost walked out on Lisa,” Linc said. “On our wedding day.”
Gage’s eyes shot up to his again, face stunned.
Linc nodded. “Yeah. For a fleeting moment in time, it made sense. The closer the wedding came, the deeper I dug.” He made a claw at his stomach. “I would just dig, and dig, and dig… until I finally found something. Something that justified why I couldn’t marry her. Something so stupid, so inconsequential, I don’t even remember it anymore. But at the time it was almost enough to convince me to throw away one of the most important relationships of my life. In that moment, I really believed it, not because I didn’t want to marry her, but because I was scared. Terrified, really. Of what, I still don’t know. But what I do know, Gage, is that if I hadn’t married Lisa? That would’ve been the biggest mistake of my life. I would’ve never had the honor of meeting that…” He motioned behind them, where the mansion sat in the far distance. “That spoiled, bad-ass, loud-mouth, always talking back, breathtakingly beautiful little girl back there. I wouldn’t know the joy of hearing her call me Dad, every single day. Of knowing how important my role is in her life, every single day. How important it is for my face to be one of the first one she sees, every single day. How much my presence is going to shape her life for the better—hopefully, anyway. I would’ve lost all that if I’d listened to that bullshit voice in my head the day I married Lisa. I know you feel like Veda lied to you, and in a way… yeah…” He laughed softly. “I guess she did. But she did it to protect you. Let me tell you what the real lie is, Gage. The real lie is that voice in your head. That voice that’s about to ruin your life—and your family’s life—for no good reason at all.”
Silence.
Linc pressed. “Is Veda crazy as hell? Yes. Is being married to her going to be an infuriating experience? Absolutely. Is raising Lincoln with her going to be a real uphill climb? Without question.” He smiled softly, fighting a laugh. “But at the end of the day, no matter how bad we all fuck up, there’s no way any of us could screw up our kids any more than our parents did us, right?”
Gage sputtered out a laugh—one that had clearly come unexpectedly. As his smile petered away, he held Linc’s eyes over his shoulder, squinting against the glare of the sun, the line between his brows pulling deep.
“You’re wrong,” Gage said.
Linc’s shoulders collapsed and he looked away from Gage with his teeth bared, running his trembling fingers over his downturned lips before shaking his head softly.
“You’re wrong,” Gage repeated, a lump moving down his throat. “You do know how to be a big brother.”
Linc’s eyes flew back to him.
“A damn good one, actually,” Gage finished, his chest rising in a heaving breath.
Linc’s chest rose too, white-hot relief filling every corner of his body and slowly easing his bones.
——
The following afternoon, under the same blaring, unrelenting sun, with the sand between their bare toes and the waves tickling their ankles, Veda and Gage faced each other, hand in hand on the beach, the sheer train of Veda’s breezy white dress fluttering with the breeze.
“By the powers vested in me…” Hope’s amused hazel eyes dashed back and forth between Veda and Gage. “I now pronounce you, husband and wife.” Her shoulders collapsed. “Just fuckin’ kiss her already.”
Laughter filled the air from the small group of onlookers sitting in the white folding chairs situated before them in the sand, followed by applause as Veda and Gage’s lips met in a loving kiss.
Linc tightened one arm from where it was slung around Mia’s shoulder and the other from where it was slung around his mother’s. Emma hopped out from her seat next to her grandmother—the seat she’d insisted was hers and hers only—and raced over to Linc, kicking up sand as she went.
When she made it to her father, she gripped his knees and leaned in, puckering her lips.
Linc puckered his smiling lips too, leaned forward, and accepted the very same kiss that Gage was currently accepting from Veda.
He accepted the kiss from the love of his life.