Epilogue
Ryder
Two years later
“Quito! We open in an hour.”
“No me grites, okay. I heard you the first time.”
“I was not yelling. I was just informing you that we open in an hour.”
“You have informed me about a hundred times. Enough already. What are you nervous about?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because Madison invested all the money from the sale of her house into this restaurant and if it bombs she’ll no doubt serve me with divorce papers.”
He slaps me on the back. “She would never serve you with divorce papers.”
“I hope not. I would never…”
He grips my shoulder. “She may give you your walking papers though.”
I shrug his hand off me. “Thanks. Real supportive.” I say snidely, straightening up the tables in the main dining room.
He chuckles. “C’mon, relax. Loosen up a little. Stop worrying about everything.”
I point at him. “You don’t worry enough.”
“What are you worried about anyway? You have the best partner helping you and Mommy is in the kitchen looming over us so there are no mishaps preparing her recipes. What more could you ask for?”
Exhaling a deep breath, I pull out a chair and sit at one of the tables. “You’re right. I just don’t want to disappoint Madison.”
“Have you seen the way she looks at you? I don’t think you could ever disappoint her, other than not doing your best; which you are. Anyone can see that.”
I smile, because there is no way I could ever erase the memory of the loving way Madison looks at me. Her heart-melting, knee-weakening gaze is forever burned in my mind. I see it every time I fall asleep and am blessed with the sight of those beautiful, sparkling blue eyes each time I wake up in the morning. “She does love me, doesn’t she?”
Quito laughs. “Let’s not get cocky.” He nods to the front door. “Speak of the devil.”
I turn in my seat, then stand, making my way over to Madison and the boys. I take her hand in mine, placing a kiss on her lips and guide her to the table where Quito is still standing. Pulling the chair out for her, I wait until she slides onto it ever so slowly. I drag a chair closer to her as the boys sit at the table across from us.
My hand automatically goes to Madison’s growing belly. She’s in her third trimester and the time can’t go fast enough for me until she gives birth. Waiting to see my son is the most nerve-wracking, exciting moment of my life. I slowly rub her stomach. “How are you feeling?”
She blows out breath. “Exhausted.”
“You should have stayed home. You shouldn’t be on your feet.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “If it were up to you I wouldn’t stand for the rest of my life.”
“I just want you to rest.”
“I do. Besides, I wouldn’t dream of missing your grand opening. You couldn’t keep me away even if a herd of wild horses came raging through here.”
I chuckle. “Well, I might have tried that if all our money wasn’t invested into this place.” She rests her hand on mine as I brush my thumb over her belly.
“Don’t be so nervous.”
“I’ve been trying to tell him that all day. Maybe you can get through to him.” Quito says, nodding in my direction.
“I am not nervous.”
“Yes you are!” Both Madison and Quito say in unison.
“Okay fine, I’m scared shitless I’ll…” Madison pinches my hand, then drags her eyes toward the boys. It takes me a second to realize my slip up. I’ve been trying extra hard not to curse in front of the boys, especially since we’re going to have another baby in the house, but fuck this shit is hard. “Sorry.” She gives me a warm smile, so I continue. “What if fail miserably? What if everything we worked so hard to accomplish blows up in our faces all because of me?”
Madison slides her thumb over my knuckles. “You are going to do fine. We are all here to support you because we believe in you.”
I bring her hand to my lips. “Thank you.”
“Oh, I talked to your mother this morning and she said she’ll be here a week before the baby is due and she’ll stay a week to help after he’s born.”
“My mother is going to stay with us for two weeks?”
“Yes.”
“Good Lord help us.”
“You’re so mean. I love your mother.”
“Sure you do. You two are thick as thieves.”
She laughs. “True.”
“What about your Dad?” I ask, sitting back in my chair. Last year I suggested that Madison reach out to her father so they could reconnect and he could meet his grandchildren. It was really sad to me that she didn’t have a relationship with him anymore because of Mitch, but since he’s no longer in the picture, I thought it would be a good time to at least start talking to each other. She was apprehensive at first because they hadn’t spoken to one another for years and she felt guilty for putting an end to the connection they had. But I told her if it were me, I wouldn’t care if ten years passed or a hundred, I would still love my daughter and would want to see her. Of course I’d been right. Her father was all too glad to hear from her and now he visits almost every week.
“My father is going to take a week off from work when your mother leaves to help me with the boys while you’re here.”
“Good. We’re gonna need all the help we can get.”
“Also true.”
“The entertainment has arrived.” We all turn our heads to the door where Tyler is and watch him as he approaches the table before pulling a seat next to the boys. He winks at Madison. “So, did you tell him yet?”
“Tyler!” She admonishes.
“What? I was just making sure I didn’t miss anything.”
“Well, I kind of have to tell him now, don’t I big mouth.”
A bit of worry starts to form in my gut because I have no idea what these two are talking about, Madison always tells me everything. Knowing she’s hiding something from me has me a little on edge. “What’s going on? Are you okay Madison? Is something wrong with the baby?”
She huffs out an aggravated sigh and swats Tyler on the arm. “You see, now you have him all riled up for no reason.” She turns back to me. “No, the baby and I are perfectly fine.”
I release the breath I didn’t realize I was holding while I waited for her answer. “Good. Then what’s with all the secrets?”
“Well, I was going to tell you later, but someone had to open his big mouth and ruin the surprise. Anyway, I got a call last week from our lawyer, Mitch signed over his parental rights. Now we don’t have to worry about him interfering in our lives anymore.”
This isn’t good news. I mean it is for me and Madison because we won’t have to deal with Mitch repeatedly taking us to court to try and get custody of the boys. He never wins, but he never gives up. We haven’t heard anything from him or the lawyers in the last few months, so this is a complete surprise. I turn to look at Aiden and he’s sporting the biggest smile on his face. Clearly he doesn’t understand what all this means. How is he not upset over his father giving him up? My heart is breaking for him, yet when I look around the table and see Madison smiling right along with Aiden, I’m even more confused than I had been before. I lean over to whisper in Madison’s ear. “Why is everyone so happy? Aiden must feel awful. Have you explained what this means to him?”
She nods. “Aiden, do you want to give Ryder the box now?”
He reaches into his backpack, pulling out small flat box with a red ribbon tied around it and hands it to me. “Open it!”
I open the box and inside is a folded stack of papers and a pen. I take them out, pushing the box aside and give Madison a quizzical look. “What is this?”
“Just read them.” She says.
I flatten the papers on the table reading the first few sentences as shock crashes right into me. I can’t believe what I’m reading. I must be seeing things or misinterpreting what’s written in the document. I am dyslexic after all. I start over again and nothing has changed. My chest tightens as a lump begins to form in my throat, tears already brimming my lids and blurring my vision. I blink and the salty drops slowly slide down my cheeks. I don’t even wipe them away. I’m too stunned to move because of this amazing bombshell that’s been suddenly dropped on me. I had no idea this was going on or if this had even been an option for us. Bringing the collar of my t-shirt to my face, I wipe the wetness away and clear my throat. “These are adoption papers.”
Madison brushes a tear out of the corner of her eye. “I know what they are. Aiden?” She says, pointing to me and he comes to sit on my lap.
He settles himself on my knee, looking up at me with those twinkling, inquisitive blue eyes of his. “Ryder?”
“Yeah little man?”
“Will you be our dad?”
More tears fall. I have never been more of a blubbering mess in front of people in my life, but I don’t care. I don’t care one damn bit because all that matters is this boy, this amazing little kid wants me to be his father. In my heart these papers don’t mean a thing. Aiden and Caleb are my sons in every sense of the word, only now it will be official. They’ll carry my name for the rest of their lives and one day get married and grow our family, giving the Storm name more worth and significance than I could have ever given it on my own. For a second my thoughts go to my own father and I wonder if he’d be proud of me. I glance around the table and then at Aiden and know without a shadow of a doubt that he would be.
I swallow hard against the lump in my throat. “Where do I sign?”
Aiden flips to the last page and points. “Right here.” He waits for me to finish and takes the papers back. “Ryder?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I call you Daddy now?”
“Absolutely little man. Absolutely.”
The End