Epilogue
Maisie
Three Years Later
“Ryder James, do not torment your poor auntie,” Charlotte scolds the two-year-old red-headed hellion in my lap, who is currently playing patty-cake with my face.
Not that I much mind. In fact, I’m rather enjoying this little game of ours. His mother, on the other hand, is not quite so amused.
“He’s fine, Char. We’re playing.” I smile at Ryder, his hair and eyes so much like his mother’s it’s uncanny. The rest of him, however, is all River.
“You’re teaching my son it’s okay to smack people in the face,” she needlessly points out.
“I am doing no such thing. Besides, this is the first time I’ve seen him in four months. If I want to let him play patty-cake with my face, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” I tell her matter-of-factly.
This adorable little creature in my lap has my whole heart. A heart that nearly broke last year when Charlotte and River decided to move to New York to pursue Char’s dream of working in the literary field. Not that it didn’t pay off. River got a better job. Char basically landed the job of her dreams. And Ryder... Well, from what I hear, he’s thriving.
And then there’s Lyric and Kai, who moved back to Lyric’s hometown after he finished his master’s program last year. She wanted to be closer to her parents, as well as Dalton and the girls, and after his grandmother passed two years ago, I think Kai was ready for a change, too. Like Char and River, they seem to be doing really well. In fact, Lyric landed a job teaching in the same school as her mom shortly after they moved.
I truly am so happy for them. But I miss them, too. I miss all of them so much. We used to be a few minutes’ walk away, and now we’re spread so far out that gatherings like this are few and far between. Really, it’s only holidays and special occasions where we’re all together. Though this weekend is neither a holiday nor a special occasion, but when Lyric invited all of us to stay with them for the weekend, I could not turn down the opportunity to sit on the beach with my best friends.
My eyes slide to Lyric, who’s watching the exchange between me and Char with a smile on her pretty face, her hands currently resting on her overly swollen belly, which is on full display given that she’s wearing a two-piece bathing suit.
Needless to say, a lot has happened over the last couple of years. Char and River got married shortly after they announced her pregnancy. It was a small and intimate ceremony, but no less grand than the much larger wedding ofKai and Lyric that took place two months after Ryder was born.
As it stands, I am the only one left who is neither married nor has children. And truly, I’m okay with that. The settled-down home life was always more their style, anyway. Well, Lyric’s style. River had to tame Charlotte first. Not that it took much effort. She was eating out of the palm of his hand within five minutes of meeting.
“What?” I hitch a brow at Lyric.
“Nothing.” She chuckles. “Just thinking about the day when you have kids of your own.”
“Ha. Ha,” I deadpan. “The only kids I plan on having are the ones you two keep popping out.” I kiss Ryder on his forehead and then set him on his feet when he starts to become restless in my lap. Smiling, I watch him run across the sandy beach and practically propel himself against his father’s leg, who is standing at the edge of the water.
“You say that now,” Char disagrees.
“While marriage and babies look great on both of you, Macallan and I aren’t there yet. He’s knee-deep in his clinical rotations, and honestly, it’s not going to slow down for the foreseeable future. What little time we do get together... Well, let’s just say I’m not ready to share him just yet.”
“Dr. Stewart. Who would have thought.” Charlotte follows my gaze to where Mac is standing on the beach with Kai and River, the three of them laughing and talking about Lord knows what, Ryder now firmly held in his dad’s arms. Those three gossip like a bunch of teenage girls when they get together.
As if sensing me staring, Macallan’s eyes slide in my direction, locking with mine, a grin instantly touching his lips.
“I love you,” I mouth, just needing to say it and for no other reason than I want to.
“I love you,” he mouths back, turning his attention back to Kai when he addresses him directly.
“Who would have thought many things about that man,” Lyric chimes in.
“Indeed.” I’m inclined to agree, knowing he has pretty much surprised me at every turn.
When we first met, he was a self-absorbed manwhore who hurt me more than any other man had hurt me before. Mainly because he was the first man I ever actually felt something for. Today, he stands before me as the man of my dreams. Kind and loving. Hard-working and determined. A talent in the bedroom that far surpasses anything I’ve experienced before him. And a heart that I will forever cherish. And that is my favorite part of him. How passionately and wholly he loves me, in a way I never imagined I’d be loved.
“How much longer does he have with his clinical rotation?” Char asks.
“A year and then once he graduates, he will be doing residency for another three after that.”
“Who knew it took so much to be a doctor.”
“At this point, he’ll be thirty before he’s a full-blown doctor.”
