Always.
Epilogue
Maddox
Five Years Later
I was deep in enemy territory.
But I was a brave man.
As quietly as possible, I closed the front door behind me, carefully toeing off my shoes on the mat before setting my bag on the floor. My eyes darted up toward the staircase, waiting.
Nothing.
Good.
I crept down the hallway, peering into open doorways and scanning each room as I moved slowly toward the kitchen, where the ringleader was cooking.
There she stood.
The creator of our chaos.
Stella hummed softly to herself as she stirred something in a pan, completely at ease in the middle of the battlefield she’d helped create.
Our son bumped along the walls in his walker, his tiny feet moving at surprising speed as he attempted to hunt Trixxie down. The poor cat darted out of reach every few seconds, clearly questioning her life choices.
I was halfway across the kitchen when—
“Hi-yaaaaa!”
Maddie exploded out from nowhere and attempted to karate chop my leg.
I chuckled and grabbed her.
“Hey, I was about to land a sneak attack on your mum,” I said, hauling Maddie onto my shoulders.
“I got you, Daddy!” she squealed, bouncing excitedly while gripping my hair.
Stella turned, wooden spoon still in her hand.
“You’d have gotten this,” she said, raising the spoon threateningly,“all over that designer suit of yours.”
I closed the distance between us and kissed her while Maddie leaned down and smooshed our heads together.
“Hello, love. Need a hand?” I asked just as Samuel crashed his walker into my leg.
“Up,” he demanded.
Stella shrugged helplessly.“You’ve got your orders.”
I crouched down carefully and scooped him up, nudging the walker aside with my foot to prevent any further collisions. I always tried to leave work a few hours early so I could spend some time with them. I hated coming home when Maddie was already going to bed.
I missed her entire day when that happened.
Stella leaned in and kissed Samuel’s chubby cheek. His tiny hand rested against her face for a moment before Maddie launched into an enthusiastic story about something that had clearly happened at nursery.
I carried both of them upstairs so I could change out of my suit.
