Epilogue
Miracles did happen and today was proof.
Thanksgiving, a year and three months after Kendall and Julian first reunited, Kendall invited everyone over to their new house for the holiday. As she set the table and got everything ready, she trembled, knowing she had so much to be grateful for.
She looked around her kitchen, in her house, in a neighborhood with a cul-de-sac on the same street as Nick and Lauren, in renewed disbelief. A glance at the wedding ring on her finger was yet another shock every time she looked down… and she’d been blissfully, happily married for four months.
Was it fast? Yes. Was it right? Without a doubt.
The fact that Kade and Lexie and their six-month-old baby, Matthew, and the other Blink partners had agreed to join them for the holiday was nothing short of a miracle. One she would never take for granted. And neither would Julian, who was outside placing the turkey in the deep fryer.
He was a different man now. A happy man who’d stopped kicking himself for his past mistakes and who rarely looked back, unless it was to acknowledge how much better his life was today.
Along with the Blink contingent, Julian’s sister was coming, as were Lauren, Nick, and Brian. Alex was upstairs and her boyfriend would join them, too.
She was a flexible kid, she’d had to be after all her moving around in foster care, and so she’d been willing to switch schools for her senior year. She was brave. And it had worked out. She’d made a few select friends and even met a boy. She’d applied to colleges and was going to New York University next year, smart girl, living in a dorm, and her entire life would change.
Thanks to Julian.
And in January, Kendall was starting classes to become a vet tech. She was following her dreams, with Julian’s encouragement.
“How’s my beautiful wife?” Julian asked, walking into the kitchen.
She’d never get used to seeing him, his handsome face smiling at her, the sexy scruff, the enticing muscles in his forearms, even in a long-sleeve waffle-textured shirt.
“Hi.” She smiled and walked into his arms. “Everyone will be here in an hour.”
“Is Alyssa bringing Blackie?” he asked of his sister’s emotional-support dog.
As Kendall had hoped, one of the dogs from the Maryland trip, a black Labrador mix, had the temperament to be matched for Alyssa’s needs. She’d named him accordingly, because it was an easy name to remember. All she had to do was look at her dog.
“She is. Waffles and Steve will have company. Where are they, anyway?”
“Out back.” In the fenced yard.
Really, could life get any sweeter? There had been a time when she’d been spiraling, and any kind of calm and happiness had seemed out of reach. But with the patience and support of her twin and the right treatment, she’d found a peace she’d never imagined possible.
She leaned back and tipped her head back so Julian could kiss her lips. “I love you, Julian Dane.”
“I love you back, Kendall Dane.”
* * *
Five Years Later
They needed a bigger house, Julian decided, as he slowly dipped the turkey into the fryer. Tradition was a wonderful thing, and Thanksgiving at his and Kendall’s house had become the custom for her family and his.
He glanced over to where his ten-year-old foster son, Jonah, was playing fetch with Steve and Waffles, successfully with Steve, not so much with the fur ball who preferred to roll around with the stick or ball. Kendall was inside with Randi, their thirteen-year-old foster daughter, setting the table for their guests.
He and Kendall had made a conscious decision to foster children who didn’t have a home. After talking to various doctors, they decided that going off her medication presented too big a risk of re-hospitalization. Statistics weren’t always right, but Kendall felt strongly about not taking that chance, and he respected whatever she wanted to do. They both knew they had enough love to give, and they could make up their family the way they wanted to.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he’d have a family of his own. Not growing up with his alcoholic mother, nor during his drug days, which were long past, although he still attended a monthly meeting.
And he certainly never thought he’d have a friendship with Kade, Derek, and Lucas, but he did. It was no longer a hesitant, wary tolerance.
Bygones really were bygones.
Kendall joined him outside, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Eew!” Jonah said, coming up behind him.
He rolled his eyes. He loved his wife, so sue him. He wrapped an arm around Kendall’s waist. “What do you say to house hunting? We’re outgrowing this place,” he said as Steve ran by, Waffles merely staring from across the lawn.
“Works for me. I just don’t want to move far from work.”
She had a job as a vet tech at a local veterinarian’s that gave her flexible morning hours and enabled her to be home after school. And since Julian still worked out of the house, someone was around in the mornings to get the kids out the door.
It all worked.
Because they trusted each other.
Loved each other.
And were still as deeply in love with each other as they’d been the day they admitted it out loud.
Thank you for reading . I hope you enjoyed my Billionaire Bad Boys series. If this is your first read, be sure to go back and start at the beginning! What’s next? The BACHELOR BILLIONAIRE Series! HIS TO KEEP coming next – .
Meet the Dares!
Dare to Love – Book 1 Dare to Love Series – (Ian Dare)
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Read on for an excerpt of Dare to Love, Ian and Riley’s story.