Epilogue
Some days, it was easy to forget Ilari had only come out of a decades-long war five years ago. Today was one of those days. What had once been the Holy City had been renamed Victorita, and almost every building, old and new, had been decorated with flags, streamers, and bunting.
The first UEF government representative since the war had ended was being sworn in—Prime Chancellor Halden Laurent would be the first leader of the new Ilari.
Bren, Cam, and Neve had arrived a few days earlier to explore the city. Neve had turned twelve the day before, and it had been her request. They’d visited a memorial to those lost in the war—too many to name. Neve had laid flowers for her parents. The sight had made Bren’s heart ache. They’d given the girl a stable, loving home, but she’d always have a hole in her heart, and though she rarely spoke of it, not knowing exactly what had happened to her parents had to be hard.
Today, however, the three of them were heading to Ilari’s newly opened spaceport to meet one of the incoming shuttles. The Valiant Knox had arrived back in orbit overnight for the celebrations, but also because Commander Yang would be receiving a prestigious military medal for his service during the war.
“Are you nervous?” Cam asked her as they waited at the arrivals gate, watching a screen that was scrolling with information about landing shuttles.
“It’s not like we haven’t talked every other week for the last few years.”
The Valiant Knox had luckily remained deployed within short trips of Ilari, so they’d all kept in contact easily, with video calling between visits.
There’d been lots of reasons to celebrate over the years—weddings, and babies, and kid’s birthday parties.
“Yeah, but you’ve been keeping a kind of big secret,” Cam replied, setting a hand over her rounded stomach.
She elbowed him. “Watch it. I’m not that big.”
He gave a low laugh and kissed her jaw. “Compared to a battlecruiser. No, you’re not.”
Fine. She was huge. Those twins were taking up a damn lot of room. And she only had a few weeks left until they arrived. So many times, when she’d been talking on the comm to Seb, or Alpha, or Sacha, whom she’d become close friends with, she’d almost told them. But she’d known this day was coming for a few months now, and had decided it would be more fun to surprise them face-to-face with the news.
Especially since Cam and she were the last to be doing the whole pregnancy-baby thing. Heck, Sacha and Commander Yang had managed to have three kids in five years—a girl and two boys. Alpha and Mia had one boy and one girl, seeming satisfied with two. Seb and Jenna had one rambunctious little boy, who was the spitting image of his father and giving the guy hell, which everyone found hilarious.
Cam and she had been content giving their full attention to Neve. But then, kids were scarily perceptive, and it’d been their clever cookie who’d said out of the blue one day that she’d like a baby brother or sister.
“Shuttle’s landed,” Cam commented. He set a hand on Neve’s shoulder and she smiled up at both of them. She was holding an armful of gifts she’d picked out for all the kids. So close to becoming a teenager, but still as sweet as ever.
Bren reached down and threaded her fingers with Cam’s. Some days she still couldn’t believe how lucky they were, that this was their life, that it wasn’t some dream. The war they’d spent so long fighting was a distant memory, and everything was so wonderfully settled, mundane in the best way possible.
She spotted Alpha first, carrying a kid in each arm.
“Here they come.” Cam almost seemed more excited than she did. Despite his long years in the UEF military, he’d taken to civilian life with ease in his position as liaison between Ilari’s government and the UEF, embracing the different pace of things.
Alpha pulled to a stop, a grin splitting over his face when he saw her. Cam tugged her forward, and next thing she knew, she was surrounded by her family, all hugging and kissing and exclaiming over her huge surprise.
Neve was already wrangling the kids, handing out gifts, and taking Alpha’s little girl, who was the youngest at eighteen months old.
“Twins!” Seb hollered, the last one to offer his congratulations. He hugged her and then turned to slap Cam on the back. “You two always did have to go one up on everyone else.”
“Like I got pregnant with twins on purpose,” she muttered in return, but couldn’t help returning his grin. “You know how hard it is being this big? I can’t even get out of bed by myself. And I stopped being able to see my feet about two months ago.”
“You just need to tell those kids who’s boss, CAFF.” Seb winked at her, but the effect was lost when his son, Zach, barreled into his legs, waving around the toy jet Neve had picked out for him.
“Uh-huh,” Cam drawled. “How’s that working out for you?”
“Whatever.” Seb leaned down and picked up his squirming three-year-old. “We have a mutual understanding of controlled chaos.”
“We should get moving,” Cam announced loud enough for everyone to hear. “I organized a shuttle bus for all of us. We’ve got a celebration to get to.”
The attention turned from her to Commander Yang, who tried to downplay what was a very important accolade.
“Yeah, yeah. They’re going to pin another medal on my chest. I’m more interested in taking Ellie and Huan to the children’s farm.” His two oldest children immediately started in with please, please, please can we go now at his suggestion.
The children’s farm had started as a way to help orphans and traumatized kids—working with animals and getting out in the country being psychologically beneficial to them. But in the last two years, it’d become Ilari’s first tourist attraction, with people coming from out of system to visit. And considering Commander Yang’s kids lived on a giant space ship, going to a real farm would be a huge novelty.
Once everyone had double-checked all kids were present and accounted for, they moved off as a group, leaving the terminal.
Cam set an arm gently across her shoulders as they walked, keeping with her slower pace.
“You know, I imagined a lot of ways my life would play out when I first left my home planet and signed up to join the UEF military,” he commented, tone thoughtful. “But I never thought I’d end up here.”
“You didn’t think the war would end?” She thought of the people who hadn’t made it. There would always be a dull ache within her, especially over Jordie, but it wasn’t a pain that impacted her life any longer. “I never imagined anything beyond it, either.”
“I hoped the war would end. I don’t know if I ever fully believed until the day it happened,” he answered, tightening his hold on her slightly. “But it’s more than that. I mean all of this.”
He waved a hand to indicate everyone walking ahead of them, chatting and laughing between themselves, seemingly without a care in the world.
“These people, this family we’ve made. I never expected so much happiness.”
He glanced away, and she could have sworn she’d seen a sheen in his eyes before he’d blinked. She pulled him to a stop and turned to face him.
“You’re right. Some days I feel like I’m living a dream.”
“But in a good way?” He reached up and smoothed his hand through her hair.
“In the best way.”
A smile spread over his lips before he leaned in to kiss her.
And though she hadn’t realized it, she’d still been holding on to a tiny piece of the past, living with a small worry in the back of her mind that somehow the CSS would regain power, take the planet back, and plunge them into a new war. But now it released and flitted away. She and Cam had made their home on Ilari, and she was finally ready to put the past firmly behind her.
A new life was starting for all of them, one brimming with endless, happy possibility.
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