Epilogue
The bed dipped, and I blinked through the haze of sleepiness when Vice wrapped me up in his arms. Rolling, I cuddled in close and kissed his chest. It was mornings like this I loved. Actually, I loved every moment with Vice.
“Is Drew awake?” I asked. I knew it wouldn’t be long. He was a very early morning riser, especially when it came to days he was excited about. Like Christmas. We’d been living with Vice for six months, and it was our first Christmas together, I think I was as excited as Drew.
“Not yet, but he’ll be awake soon.”
Pulling back, Vice dipped his head so our eyes could meet. His eyes held a glint to them, meaning he’d done something.
“What did you do?”
“Baby, get your pj’s on.”
“Vice, what did you do?”
He smirked, leaned in and kissed me. Once his tongue touched mine, I was on my back with him hovering over me. Only when things had heated, his lips trailing down my neck, that he shifted back and got out of bed.
“Hey,” I called, annoyed.
He chuckled, and while putting on warm clothes, he said, “It seems my girlfriend can’t get enough of me.” He faced me, smiling. “I had you last night, twice, baby. Thought it would get you through the day. I see it won’t, but baby, you’re going to have to wait. I promise I’ll make it up to you tonight. Quick, Addy, get dressed.”
My brows dipped, but I slipped out of bed and pulled on my pj’s Vice had taken off the previous night. “I don’t understand why it’s so urgent when Drew isn’t even—”
“Mom!” Drew yelled, his voice full of awe and elation.
Vice winked. “Come on, baby. Santa’s been.” Vice took my hand and tugged me out of our room, down the hall to enter Drew’s room. I’d thought Drew would already be in the living room where the Christmas tree was with all the presents under it. A Christmas tree we all went shopping for and one we’d all decorated. It had been another perfect night, one of many nights, days, and mornings we shared. Of course, everything couldn’t be all roses. We had our days where we went head-to-head against each other, but even on those days I loved him.
Because the making up part I looked forward to something fierce.
Vice stepped away from the doorway, and my mouth dropped open. Drew, still in his bed, held a blond Labrador puppy, who he was cuddling tight.
“Look what Santa brought me.” Drew beamed up at us. His eyes held wetness. He’d been asking for a dog since he could talk. When Puss-it had rocked up at Mom’s place, his need for an animal settled a little. It wasn’t until after we’d moved, and Drew wanted Puss-it to stay with his nana in case she got lonely without them there, did he start hinting at a dog again.
As Drew shoved his face into the dog’s neck, I turned to Vice and whispered, “You got him a puppy?” That must have been why he kept going into the garage the night before; he said he was doing some work on the car. Of course he knew I’d tune that out, not wanting to investigate when it had something to do with a car. He was a smart cookie.
“He’s wanted one for a long time, baby. Couldn’t not get our boy his first puppy.”
Our boy.
I loved hearing Vice call Drew our boy.
He’d been wonderful with every aspect of altering his life with ours. Once we moved in, he made sure he was home to each dinner with us. He came to all the basketball games, helped Drew with homework, and loved reading with him. After we’d got back from Hawaii, John called, and when I refused to answer, Vice had.
“No, you’ve got Vice,” he answered. “Not sure she’s ready to talk to you.” He frowned, listening. “Right. You know where I want it to lead with Addy and Drew, so you have to understand I’ll be in their lives from now on.” He paused. “Good to hear. You’re still his dad. I’d never stand in your way, but if you fuck with either of them again, I will come down on you like a ton of bricks.” My va jay jay danced at his words. “Okay, I’ll let her know, and come back to you once we’ve talked. Later.”
As soon as he hung up, he pulled me onto his lap on the couch and told me, “He didn’t like I answered, but he knows I’m a part of your world now. He wanted to apologize. Said he’s kicked Cammy to the curb and wanted it clear he was still Drew’s dad. He’s moving back, baby. Wants more time with his son.”
“Vice….”
He tucked my hair behind my ear. “He’s getting his thumb out of his ass for Drew. It’s a good thing. Wish my dad would have thought of his kids instead of his dick. But we’ll sort it so you and Drew are comfortable with whatever you want to give him.”
“Before everything, John was a good dad. Turned out, he just wasn’t great at being my husband. I’ll never forgive him and my sister for what they did. I have a lot of hate inside of me for them lying to me for so long. However, I couldn’t have Drew miss out on time with his father since John and I did do one right thing together. Bringing Drew into the world. Doesn’t mean I’ll ever be happy to be around John. You may have to deal with him.”
“I can do that. Anything for you and Drew. Anyway, it won’t be for a while until he moves back, so we have time to organize the times he has Drew.”
“Okay, honey.”
“You good?”
“Yes.” I smiled.
That was no lie, I was good because I had Vice at my side.
John moved back two months later, and he now had Drew every second weekend. Both son and father looked forward to those times, and maybe, eventually, we’d come to some type of agreement where John could share the special events with us. Though, it wouldn’t be just yet. We were still working on a congruous relationship between us.
Watching Drew lavish the puppy with attention, my eyes misted. Stepping close to Vice, I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Love you, Vice Salvatore.”
“Love you, Addy. Always.”
“Can I name him? Can I?” Drew climbed out of his bed with the dog in his arms.
“Careful,” I said.
“I know, Mom,” Drew replied, then looked at Vice and rolled his eyes.
Snorting as Drew got close, I tugged him into both Vice and me. “Kiss and hug first. Then you can think of names while you take him out the back for a bathroom break.”
Drew sighed and puckered his lips up to me. I leaned in for a quick kiss and then wrapped him close to Vice and me. Vice placed his arms around the both of us.
“You happy, kiddo?” Vice asked, gazing down at Drew.
“Totally.”
“Good.” He ruffled Drew’s hair and then added, “Now go do what your mom said, and no peeking at the other presents.”
“That’s like when Mom asked us not to touch the cake she made yesterday, but… nothing.” His eyes flicked to me quickly and then away. He wiggled his way out and started for the door.
“Drew, did you have some of that cake?”
“Um. Sorry, gotta take Optimus Prime out. Ask Vice.”
Turning my glare to the man at my side, I placed my hands on my hips. “Vice Salvatore. Tell me you didn’t let Drew touch that cake.”
His lips twitched. “God, you’re cute when riled.”
“Vice?”
The doorbell rang. Vice smirked. “Saved by the bell.” He dipped in for a quick touch of my lips and dodged my fist. He chuckled as he made his way out of Drew’s room.
It was just lucky my guys were cute, and I’d made a second cake hidden at the back of the refrigerator because I’d known, once I saw them eyeing it, they wouldn’t be able to resist.
“Merry Christmas!” was shouted from the front door. Mom had arrived.
“Jesus, woman. Warn before you do that” was boomed just after by Trent.
Grinning, I made my way out of Drew’s room and down the hall. Since the barbecues, Mom and Trent were getting to know one another. Well, that was what they both told Kenzie, Lori, and me, but we were sure it was more since they spent a lot of time together. Of course, we teased them about it all the time. That was until Mom sat me down and said if I didn’t act my age soon, she would go into great detail about her time between the sheets with Trent. Then she’d added not that she had as yet. Since I never wanted to hear it, I cut my teasing back to the bare minimum and mainly focused on Trent because when he blushed, he went bright red, and then he’d start stuttering or calling us every name under the sun.
“Merry Christmas!” I called, walking into the living room to find them already sitting on the lounge, waiting for Drew to come back in.
“Merry Christmas, sweetheart.” Mom smiled.
“Merry Christmas, shithead,” Trent grumbled.
“Hey, I haven’t even started.” He rose a brow. “However, I have a question.” He sighed, Vice chuckled, and Mom glared. Still, I went on. I just couldn’t resist. “Since being here so early, did you and Mom have a sleepover, Trent? Do I call you my stepfather now?”
He coughed, glared, pointed his finger at me while opening and closing his mouth.
Drew came running in. “Nana, Pop. See what I got? His name is Optimus Prime, but Prime for short.”
One day when we were at Mom’s, and Trent was there, as he usually was, we were all sitting down to a meal when Drew turned to Trent and asked, “You’re always with Nana so can I call you Pop?” It was another time Trent blushed, coughed, choked, and spluttered words without a real answer. So Mom came to his rescue, placed her hand on Trent’s thigh and said, “Drew, my boy, that would be fine, and it’s really sweet of you.”
“Yeah!” Trent yelled. “What she said.”
Vice came up behind me and circled his arms around my waist as we watched Drew fly at Mom and Trent, then drop his wiggly, bouncy puppy onto their laps.
“Oh, wow, a puppy,” Mom cooed.
“You must have been a very good boy to get a puppy, Drew-Boo,” Trent said, ruffling his hair before pulling him onto his lap.
“I was. I ate all my vegetables, even though I hate them.”
“Say what? All of those pesky vegetables?” asked Trent with mock horror.
“Yep.”
“Good job, boy.”
Drew looked up. “Can we do presents now? Can we?”
“How about we get Prime into his playpen, so he won’t eat all the wrapping paper first,” Vice suggested.
“Good idea.” Drew nodded, scooping up his puppy and walking to the pen Vice must have set up in the night, before he placed him in. Warmth flooded me when I saw Drew kiss Prime’s head. “Presents?”
“Yes,” I cried, clapping. Then I ran over to the tree and picked up a bracelet-sized box. I couldn’t wait any longer to give Vice his present. “Drew, can you give this to Vice?”
“Sure can.” He skipped over, just as thrilled as I was over the gift since I’d told him about it the night before. Anything earlier and he would have spilled the beans about it. Drew was terrible at keeping a secret.
Drew made it to Vice with the gift and when Vice took it, he met my gaze and said, “I thought we were doing ours after Drew’s done his.”
“Just open, open, open,” Drew told him.
Vice chuckled. “Okay, kiddo.”
Wrapping my arms around my middle, I rocked back and forth on my feet while my nerves bombarded me. If he didn’t like it, I was screwed. He had to like it. No, he would like it. He would. Biting my bottom lip, I watched as he finally got the paper off and then lifted the lid of the bracelet box.
His eyes widened, his mouth dropped, and slowly he lifted his head to look at me. “Really?”
Once more, tears filled my eyes, and I nodded.
“What?” Mom asked.
“We’re having a baby!” Drew shouted. He spun around and did a jig, while Mom screamed then burst into tears. Trent, with his own eyes filling, pulled Mom into him.
“Addy?” Looking up, I found Vice right in front of me. “How far are you?”
My bottom lip wobbled. “Three months. I didn’t know for two, being so busy and you know how I suck at keeping track of my period. Then I wanted to make sure everything was perfect for us, and it was so close to Christmas, I thought I’d wait.” Second-guessing my choice, I asked, “I hope that was okay?”
“Fuck,” Vice clipped. “I don’t care when or how long you’ve known. You’ve made me so goddamn happy, baby.” He ran his fingers through my hair and dragged my body against his while his mouth came down on mine.
“Yuck!” Drew yelled.
One of Vice’s hands slid from my hair down over my shoulder to land flattened against my belly. He broke the kiss and looked down. “A baby,” he sounded in awe.
“Yes, honey.”
“Mom, can you make sure it’s a boy? I want a brother,” Drew stated, which made everyone laugh. “What?” Drew asked. “I do.”
“Sweetheart,” Vice whispered. I raised my gaze to his from my son. “Your present outweighs mine. Still, I’m going to give it to you.” He smiled softly. Then… my heart twirled in my chest because Vice got down to one knee. When I sniffed hard, he chuckled. “Never thought I would find my happy ever after, but I have with you and Drew. I made sure Drew was cool with this, and he was. Adalyn Rogue Sage, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“Yes!” Mom cried.
“Darlin’, I think he was asking your girl, not you,” Trent said.
Vice Salvatore asked me to marry him.
Vice Salvatore, the man with my dream penis, asked me to marry him.
Marry him.
Out loud and in front of people.
Wiping the back of my hand across my tear-streaked face, I nodded.
“I need to hear it, baby.”
“Yes, you crazy, bossy man.”
He slid the ring, a stunning diamond, onto my finger, stood, and picked me up in his arms. Before his mouth claimed mine, he said, “Best Christmas ever.”
It was the best Christmas ever. That was until the next year, when I surprised him with his second child, a daughter, and sister for Drew and Toby, who Drew helped name. Actually, every year onwards was a best because I had my family, friends, new and old. I had my booming business, which I’d expanded and hired more staff, and most of all, I had Vice Salvatore.
Finally, my life was making sense.