EPILOGUE
A YEAR LATER
MARCUS
“Here we are!” I said, opening the door to our new home.
I looked over at Emma, who was smiling wide, as we walked through the door to our new beachfront home. With things getting serious between Emma and myself, living next door to her parents was no longer ideal. Her father, while not outwardly hostile anymore, hadn't quite warmed up to me. Whenever he looked at me, I could see the anger in his eyes, and relations between me and her folks, not to mention many of the others in the neighborhood, had grown decidedly frosty.
It hurt to leave the home I'd bought with Gina behind, but in the end, it was time for a new chapter. With Emma now a part of my life a fresh start, in a fresh place was the best thing for all of us. The last thing I ever wanted her to feel was that she had Gina's ghost looking over her shoulder, something she might have felt had we stayed in my old house.
That fresh start and new chapter in life also included leaving my old job behind and doing something I always dreamed of doing, owning my own restaurant. Business was booming, it had been a smart choice to do it when I did. My restaurant was a hit around the city and I couldn't be happier.
“Daddy! Emma! The ocean is right there!” Zoey said, screaming with delight as she stared down at the beach from our cozy little hilltop. “We can surf whenever we want now, Emma!”
Emma laughed and looked over at me. Zack lost interest and ended up quitting the surfing lessons after a while. That became Emma and Zoey's thing and Zoey was getting really good at it too. Emma kept telling Zoey that she was going to be really, really good and that sponsors would be knocking down her door any day now, something that never failed to make Zoey beam with pride
Zack just didn't have any interest in surfing. He preferred walking along the sand and collecting shells on the beach to playing in the waves, much like his daddy. That was exactly why when he told me he wanted to quit, I hadn't forced him to stay. I was just grateful that Zoey had someone in her life to share that newfound passion with.
Hand-in-hand with Emma, we walked over and opened the patio door. Both kids rushed out with us, nearly knocking us over in their haste to get to the patio. The sound of the crashing waves was heavenly, and I knew Emma appreciated it as much as the kids. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath of the fresh sea breeze and smiled.
“Life is wonderful,” she said.
“Yes, yes, it is,” I said, kissing her hand. The ring on her finger caught the sunlight and sparkled dazzlingly.
“When you and daddy get married, you should do it right here, on the beach,” Zoey said.
“That's the plan,” Emma said, squeezing my hand.
“Yes!” Zoey said, grinning from ear-to-ear. “Now let's go see our rooms!”
We followed the kids inside and upstairs, although, they were in such a rush, they beat us upstairs by a wide margin. The kids each had their own rooms with a shared bathroom between them. They marveled at their rooms, obviously pleased, and then we showed them the rest of the house.
“And this will be daddy's office,” Zoey said.
“No, my office will be downstairs,” I said. “Off the living room.”
“Then what will this room be for?” Zoey asked. “It's just extra.”
With a smile, Emma knelt down, putting herself eye level with my little Zoey and said, “Well, we were thinking it would be a nursery someday,” she said. “For a little brother or sister. Would you be okay with that?”
Zoey's eyes went wide. “Really? A baby?”
“Maybe,” Emma said with a laugh. “One day. Hopefully once we get settled in and after the wedding, we'll talk about it.”
Emma had told me she wanted lots of kids. We agreed to maybe having three or four total, including Zoey and Zack . Our new house was big enough to allow us to grow if we wanted to. And we did want to, which was something that surprised me. I didn't think I'd ever have the desire to have another child, especially since that child wasn't going to be mine and Gina's.
But as she'd done with so many things in so many ways, Emma had helped me see it all very differently.
Emma stood up and I kissed the side of her head. I so badly wanted to grow my family with her, but she was right; we needed to wait. The first step in our plan was to buy a home for us. Now that we’d done that, we could look forward to the rest. The next of our plan was the wedding, and that was happening in a few months. After that, we'd start trying for a baby of our own right away. By that time, Emma would have her early childhood education degree and could work with kids or she could stay home with our little horde. The choice was up to her.
Either way, this was our family.
The End