Epilogue

Two years later…

 

 

“There he is, Max!? You see your daddy?”

I turn to Max who is sitting beside me in the booth in the Ohio football stadium as we watch his dad play Alabama for the national championship. In my arms is our second son, Jonathan, named after Chris’s father. He’s just over a year old now. People say he has his father’s nose and my eyes.

“I see him, mommy!” Max shouts, waving his enormous foam finger around above his head. Nothing excites him more than watching his father play, and with all the excitement around today, he’s been running around and jumping like a madman.

The game has been intense. Everyone expected Alabama to blow us out, but it’s been back and forth and right now they’re up by one and have the ball. It’s fourth down and it looks like they’re going for a kick. There’s barely any time left in the game, and if they make this, we’re going to have to pull out all the stops to come back and win.

I’ve been on the edge of my seat the entire game. Chris needs this, and I want it for him. Last year we made the championships, but Alabama took it over us by one touchdown after an interception and took the title by the skin of their teeth.

“This year is payback,” Chris had said as he kissed me before the game. “And I’m coming home with a trophy.”

I believed him. I still believe in him. But there’s only so much one man can do in a team sport.

Alabama lines up and Ohio takes their places. It’s not looking good, but I’ve got my hopes up. I’m sending every good vibe I can Chris’s way and have my fingers crossed too.

“Are we gonna win, mommy?!” Max asks me.

“I hope so, sweetie!” I tell him. “Your daddy is very talented. If anyone can do it, he can.”

And here it goes. The quarterback hikes the ball behind him and they plant the ball for a kick. The kicker rushes up, but that’s when it happens.

Somehow, Chris manages to leap over the line of scrimmage and knock two Alabama players aside. They just weren’t expecting him.

Alabama’s kicker winds up, but Chris’s just too fast. As he brings his leg down, Chris leaps forward. The kicker’s foot connects, but Chris is there. He snatches the ball right out of the air and pulls it to his chest.

The crowd goes absolutely wild and mayhem breaks out on the field. Ohio bursts forward like a charging army, sending Alabama’s offensive line scattering out of the way like broken statues.

Chris isn’t a running back, but he’s got a lead on Alabama’s team and he’s running his heart out.

“Go, daddy!” Max shouts. I’m on my feet, bouncing Jonathan gently in my arms, trying not to let my excitement shake him up.

My eyes go wide as an Alabama player heads straight for Chris. But just as he’s about to tackle him, Noah, number twelve on Ohio, nails him and knocks him away.

Chris’s sprinting. He’s at the forty, the thirty, the twenty…

The entire stadium is on its feet screaming, shouting, waving foam fingers and streamers in the air.

The ten…

He’s going to make it!

And with a flourish, Chris leaps into the end zone.

Touchdown.

* * *

The entire town is still celebrating Ohio’s victory. Chris had his time with the team after and got up in front of the crowd and made a speech. His highlight, game-winning play was all over TV for weeks. It even got to the point where Chris got tired of seeing it while he was scrolling through the channels.

It’s been two weeks since that day – the day Chris brought the championship home and stuck it to their rival team. Things have finally started to cool down and we’ve been able to spend some real family time together.

Off season is Heaven. I love being married to him and watching him play, but having him home is what I love most.

We were married soon after I learned I was pregnant with Jonathan. It was a small ceremony. A few guys from the team, Carla was my maid of honor, and of course our mothers were there.

Chris rented out a small church one town over in Watertown, a beautiful old place that had been recently restored and sat right on the edge of the woods and wasn’t a far walk from the river. The ceremony was sweet and magical and ended just around dusk.

There were amber Christmas lights hung everywhere on the gazebo and the porch, and we took a walk down by the river and watched the fireflies.

“You lucky bitch,” Carla had joked with me as she took a sip of her wine. “Landing a football star while I’m still getting hollered at by douchebags at the diner.”

“Hey!” Chris chimed in with a laugh. “Is that any way to talk at a wedding!?”

“Oh, shut up, you,” Carla laughed. “And go buy me a car or something!”

Carla warmed up to Chris after everything that had happened. She’s a protective friend, and I love that about her, so it took a little convincing for her not to think of him as a total dickhead. But once she saw how much I loved him and I told her everything, she was good with it.

Like he promised, Chris took me to see the house his father left him and I instantly fell in love with it. It was everything he promised it would be and more; the perfect place to raise Max and now Jonathan. It’s just far enough out of town to give us some privacy, but not far enough to be an inconvenience.

Chris got my mom into an even better hospital and took over the payments for her medical care. She was able to get the best treatment available and her cancer is in full remission and she’s feeling the best she’s felt in years. She still goes in for regular checkups, but the doctors are very hopeful and say she’s doing incredibly well.

And to top it all off, Chris convinced her to move in with us and sell her place in town. It just felt right. The house isn’t enormous, but it’s not small either, and she has a bedroom on the corner downstairs looking out across the backyard, and we have one upstairs on the opposite end of the house so we can all have our privacy.

But it’s been amazing for all of us. She loves Jon and Max and I don’t have to look for a sitter anymore if Chris and I want to go out. With all mom’s new energy now that she’s feeling better, she loves playing with them.

The boys love her too. It really is a perfect family, beyond anything I ever could have dreamed of. It’s hard to believe four years ago I was working at the diner, single, my mother was sick and I had no idea where my life was going – and now I’m married to the most amazing met in the world, with two kids and my mom’s completely out of the hospital.

When I’m not playing with the boys, talking with my mom, spending time with Chris or out at one of his games, I’m doing my jewelry again. Back in high school, sometimes I played around making earrings and necklaces from a little kit my mom bought me.

I gave it up when the real world happened and I had to start working for a living, but now I actually have some time to do things again. I set up a mini-studio in one of the rooms at the house and even have a small display at one of the stores in town. It’s not like I plan to make a lot of money or anything, but it’s nice to see people like the things I make, and when I see someone wearing one of my pieces it makes me feel warm inside.

“Hey, you,” I hear Chris’s voice behind me and it breaks me out of my daydreaming. I do that a lot these days. Part of me just can’t believe this is really my life now, and I just find myself drifting off and thinking about just how lucky I am.

I turn as my handsome husband steps outside onto the back porch with me. It’s dusk and I love watching the sun go down here, listening to the sound of the wind through the trees, away from all the noise of town.

“Hey, you,” I say, turning to him as he slides his hands around my waist in that way that still makes my heart start to race. “The boys asleep?”

“Max is reading,” he chuckles. “He thinks I can’t see the flashlight under the sheet.”

I smile. Max is shaping up to be just as athletic as his father, and just as handsome, but he has a wonderful creative side to him as well and pores through books faster than we can keep up. He’s taken to reading at night when he’s supposed to be asleep. I guess there are a lot worse things your child could be up to.

“I’ll go up in a half hour,” I say. “I love that he’s reading, but he does need his sleep.”

Chris takes a seat on one of the chairs and pulls me onto his lap. I love being close to him. His legs are rocks of muscle, like the rest of his body, and when I’m in his arms, the world is just better.

“I can’t believe this place,” I tell him as I gaze across the backyard at the dark blue purple sky. “Why do you think your father didn’t tell you about it?”

Chris shakes his head. “I don’t know. Maybe he thought I wouldn’t appreciate it when I was young. And to be honest, if he’d left it to me before I met you…I probably would have just sold the place.”

“Well, whatever his reasons were, I’m glad he did it.”

“So am I.”

We sit there together in silence for a while. That’s how you know you’ve met someone special – when you can just sit with them and not say anything and be completely comfortable.

Chris is way more thoughtful and insightful than anyone would expect for a football jock. Carla didn’t believe me at first when I told her the things we would talk about – the things he would ask me. We talk about life, how we feel, and made sure to get to know everything about each other.

I understand him and he understands me, and we very rarely even fight. He doesn’t snap at me and I don’t snap at him. Of course, we argue about things, but we manage to make up almost immediately after and I don’t think I have a single bad memory so far relating to our relationship.

Once the sun is finally down, Chris stirs beneath me.

“Should probably go make sure Max is sleeping,” he tells me.

“Yeah,” I say, standing up. Chris takes my hand and we walk together into the house. I don’t even bother shutting the door behind me. It’s warm out and I love the way the breeze comes through the house, and it’s safe enough out here that we never have to worry about anything.

We take the stairs up to Max’s room and gently push the door open. I hear him fumbling around, trying to situate himself so he looks like he’s asleep, but he doesn’t manage to turn off the flashlight in time.

“Max?” I say. “Are you sleeping, honey?”

No answer. I look at Chris and smile.

“Max,” Chris says a little more firmly. “Come on, buddy. It’s time to get some sleep. Put the book away.”

Max sighs and flips the covers off and looks up at us.

“How did you know!?” He says with a sigh.

“Your father knows everything,” Chris says with a grin, leaning forward and taking the flashlight from him. “And never forget that.”

“And your mother,” I add in. I lean down and give Max a peck on the forehead. “Really though. It’s time for some rest. You can read your book tomorrow.”

Max lets out an overly theatrical sigh and lies back. “Okay, okay.”

“Atta boy,” Chris says, patting his son on the head. “Get some rest. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Love you, Max,” I say as I turn from the room.

“Love you, mom. Love you, dad.” I’ll never get tired of hearing that. Chris and I leave the room and shut his door behind us and step across the hall to the nursery. Jon is sleeping soundly and we both just stand there for a moment watching him.

“Maybe he’ll sleep through the night,” Chris jokes.

“You wish!” I say with a soft laugh.

“All right, mommy,” Chris says, taking me by the hand. “Time for us to get to bed too.”

“Already?” I ask, but before I can say anything else, Chris snatches me up in his strong arms and carries me into the bedroom. I look up at him, and as he sets me down on the bed and climbs on top of me, I feel butterflies in my stomach. The fact that I still get them amazes me, but I hope they will never go away.

“No,” Chris says with a sly smile. “I had something else in mind.”

Chris leans down and kisses me. Our lips meet, and just like every time we kiss, it feels like the first time. I know I’ll never grow tired of my beautiful husband, and he’ll never grow tired of me. I never thought it was possible to be this in love with someone. I never thought it was possible to be this happy. I never thought it was possible to be this lucky.

But it is. And I am.

 

 

Thank you for reading and for your support. If you enjoyed this book, please If you would like to leave me private feedback, please shoot me an email at . Love, Eva.

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