Her eyes flick to my face. “Yes.”
My grin pulls my whole face up as I pull the ring from the box and slip it onto her finger.
“I love you,” She whispers on a breath.
“Always,” I reply.
Epilogue
4 years later
“Momma?” Lily’s sweet voice calls from the door as I hear her and her father come in.
“In here, sweet girl,” I yell back as I finish up the paperwork I was doing. Lily’s dirty and wet Wellington boots slap against the tiled floor as she sprints toward me, and I stand just in time to catch her as she launches herself at me.
“I saw a butterfly!” She squeals excitedly.
“You did?” I gasp, “What color?”
“Green!”
“A green butterfly?” My brows lift, “Are you sure it was green?”
“Yes, Momma,” Lily answers proudly.
Dean follows in behind, Austin, our three-month-old son, strapped to his chest in the carrier.
“It was green,” He confirms.
“Well, did you have a fun walk?” I ask Lily, picking her up so she can sit on the side while I gather up the milk and cookies I promised she could have when she got back. I had so much workto do, and I love my kids — I truly do — but I needed a minute to get it done. So, Dean took them for a walk behind Silver Lake Estate, promising Lily could go butterfly hunting.
We opened Lily Flower Daycare six months ago, and while the first couple of months were quiet, nice really, as we settled into a new routine and got the business running, the past four months have been a whirlwind. We’ve had application after application for new children to join the setting that we now have a waiting list a year long and have had to expand the team by over fifty percent to accommodate the new arrivals.
“So much fun!” Lily reaches into her pocket and pulls out a crushed daffodil. “I picked you a flower!”
Dean hides his chuckle behind a fake cough, closing the gap between us. His lips whisper on mine before he starts to unwrap Austin from the strap so he can be fed.
“It’s beautiful, sweet girl,” I say to her, “It needs some water, do you want to do it?”
“Yes!” She hops down, stumbles a little, but catches herself before she waddles to the cabinet where the set of plastic tumblers are and pulls out a green cup. “Help, Daddy.” She demands.
It’s been four whole years of happiness. I officially adopted Lily a year after Dean and I got married. Seline gave up her rights to her months before, and it had been right for us. And then, just over a year ago, I fell pregnant with Austin. We had been trying for nearly a year for him.
Dean moves toward his daughter and lifts her so she can fill the cup with water at the sink before he places her down, and she waddles back over to me, lifting the cup so I can place the flower inside.
“So pretty,” I smile, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Momma,” And then she’s gone again, likely to find her doll or her tablet. Adjusting my shirt, I settle Austin down to feed and turn to my husband.
“Are you okay?”
“Never better, Butterfly.”
“Is that everything?” I put my hands on my hips as I stare at the spread of food on the patio table. After the wedding, we moved closer to the Estate, to a bigger house with more outdoor space for the kids, a pool for me, and an office above ground for Dean. Plus, the city was loud when we craved quiet. There had been so much happening in such a short amount of time; the peace only rural living could bring was too tempting to pass up. Even now, four years later, I still see my therapist twice a month, and while the nightmares are rare, they’re not gone completely.
“You’ve done great, baby,” Dean brushes his lips across my cheekbone, Austin cradled in his arms while Lily plays in the pool a few feet away. Behind us, the gate buzzes, alerting us to visitors. “That’ll be them, I’ll let them in.”
My sister had begged me to come home. An investigation had been conducted regarding Felix’s disappearance, and he was declared a missing person, but not a single trace of him has been found. The guys had been right, that clean up crew erased him from the books. My sister moved on and is now dating someone new, but Felix’s betrayal has scarred us both.
