by MK Schiller
“You’d give up football?”
“Sunshine, I would give up a lot of things for you.” Hell, I’d give up everything. “The point is, your dreams are as important as mine.”
She put her hand against my cheek.
“You support me every day. I’ll tell you something, Flynn. I love to sing, but it’s not what I want to do for a living. I never thought college was in the cards for me for a long time, but the possibility of it excited me. I love that. And you…you always had so much faith in me. More than I had in myself. I’ve never thanked you, but believe me when I tell you I am in the right place.”
I angled her mouth toward mine, drawing her in for a kiss.
We were both in the right place, because I belonged next to her.
I’d never forget the trauma of the lost years. They would remind me to look at each day with gratitude. What was lost sometimes gets found.
My heart finally found its rhythm.
Epilogue
“The End,” I said, closing the book.
“Read it again,” the girl said.
“I’ve read it three times already.”
“One more, Daddy.”
She did that little pout that I had a hard time denying.
“Stop procrastinating.”
Her eyes widened with the new word. “Pro-procrastinate?”
I smiled at the way she lisped it. We’d need to invest in braces soon. She had my hair, but everything else came from her mommy. Right down to the little dimple when she smiled just right.
“It means delaying. You have to get to bed on time tonight. Santa’s on his way already.”
“Okay,” she groaned. “Airplane first.” She held up her arms.
I picked her up and spun her around as she squealed. When we’d made our way through the room, I landed her in the bed.
“Wait, Daddy,” she said, tugging my sleeve.
“What is it, sweetie?”
She didn’t answer. I adjusted her so I could sit on the small canopy bed. “Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”
She looked down at her pink teddy bear as if he’d provide the answers.
“How did you know something’s wrong?”
I tugged on one of the braids she’d made in her hair. “Daddies always know.”
“When I saw Santa today, I wished for a new bike.”
“That’s a good choice. You need a new bike.”
Yep…and I had the perfect one with a vintage pink frame and white basket waiting in the basement.
“I should have asked for something for the new baby.”
“No, pumpkin, what you asked Santa for is exactly the kind of thing a kid should.”
She nodded, happy for the affirmation. “Do you think I’ll be a good big sister?”
I ran my finger down her nose. “The best. Just as Aunt Anna is to me.”
“Daddy, why doesn’t Mommy come to visit Santa with us?” The girl looked worried. “Is she really scared of Santa?”
I smiled, putting my forehead against hers. “Yes, but that’s a story for another day. Go to bed. Everyone’s coming over to celebrate with us tomorrow.”
“Who?” she asked in that pointed way that told me she wouldn’t rest until I answered to her satisfaction.
I named every name as patiently as I could, surprised myself at how large our family had grown.
“Will they all fit?”
I laughed. “We’ll make room. We always do. The point is we have a full house and I need you well rested. The two of us have to be Mommy’s helpers tomorrow, okay?”
My daughter nodded her head enthusiastically. She wrapped her arms around my neck.
“G’night, love you, Daddy.”
I kissed her forehead and covered her with the blanket.
“Good-night, Rosie, sweet dreams.”
Downstairs, my wife wrapped one of the many presents in the living room, which currently resembled a toy factory.
“Is she asleep?” Scarlett asked as I took the seat next to her.
“No, but she’ll get there.”
She shook her head, her ponytail bouncing in sync. “She always talks you into another story.”
“Yeah, well, she beamed me the dimple-smile. I can never refuse the dimple-smile.”
I stuffed one of Santa’s chocolate chip cookies in my mouth and washed it down with cold milk. As I looked around our home, an overwhelming sense of gratitude filled me.
My girl and I had been through hell and back, but every struggle led us to each other. Her capacity to forgive, her fierce need to protect, and her constant generosity amazed me. I always wanted to be someone she was proud to call hers. She made me a better man.
Aunt Rose passed a few days after the barbecue. We visited the cemetery once a week to lay flowers on her and my mother’s graves. The sisters were buried side by side. Rose left us the house, but she gave us so much more than that. There was not enough gratitude in this whole world for what that woman did for me.
Dad eventually sold the diner and moved to the mainland after he met and married a very nice librarian, who loved our little Rose with all her heart. Anna and Keith had two growing boys and a jet-setting life in New York they loved but I never envied. They came to the island often to get away from the hustle of the city.
I officially asked my girl to marry me shortly after graduation. We danced on top of our rock under a canopy of stars to her favorite song. I almost lost my balance and fell on my ass when I meant to bend on my knee before her. We still laugh over that story.
After she said yes and made me the happiest man on earth, I took her hand and led her to the Beach Shack for our surprise engagement party. Tommy, Russell and I performed another Temptations song dedicated to her—“My Girl.” I wished I could say I’d improved since adolescence, but I actually got worse. She loved it, though, and rewarded me with a dimple-smile, so it was all worth it.
Scarlett found an outlet for her passion working as a music therapist for special needs kids. As someone who had faced her fair share of adversity in school, she was a fierce advocate for her students. She became their champion…their hero just as she was mine.
Although my college career in football was impressive, I never made the pros. Instead, I became a writer, working for the local newspaper for a few years before publishing my own novels. It was the perfect occupation for me. After all, I had a vivid imagination and enough stories to last three lifetimes.
My math teacher once told me I should be a lawyer, but as it turned out, that was Tommy’s path. After college, he moved to the Midwest for law school. He still lives there today, fighting the good fight. He fell passionately in love with the law…and his Civics professor, but that’s another story and definitely not mine to tell.
It’s funny how people passed through your life, each making their own unique indelible mark. At the core, weren’t we all just the sum of our experiences? Last Christmas, we visited Anna and her family in New York. We dragged Russ along, claiming even natives needed to leave the island once in a while. We went to a popular blues bar recommended by Keith.
I practically had to slap Russ on the back to get his eyes from popping out of his head when a girl performed a moving melody on the piano. He spent an extra week in the city with her. A few months later, she moved to the island to be with him. Right about now, he’s proposing to her. Oh, and did I mention her name? Her name was Maisie. She’s an old-fashioned kind of girl who was just perfect for Russ.
Tomorrow, all of them would journey home to the island. To our house where we’d celebrate another found year.
Patiently, I waited for my wife to finish the bow. As soon as she did, I pulled her onto my lap. She automatically wrapped her arms around me. I kissed her soft mouth for the millionth time, but a rush still surged through my body as if it was our first kiss.
I smacked my lips. “Candy apple?”
She graced me with the dimple-smile. “I never thought I’d see the day when you actuall
y got one right.”
“Baby, there is a first time for everything.”
I moved my hand to her slightly protruding belly. A place it rested often these days. In about four months, we’d be blessed with another family member.
She laid her head on my chest. “Did I tell you I had a dream while I was napping earlier? I actually remembered it for once.”
“Yeah, was it a good one?”
“Hmmm…so good. You were in it.”
“Tell me all about it.”
She tilted her mouth against my ear. She whispered so many delicious things that I licked my lips in anticipation.
Grinning wildly, I tightened my grip on her.
“How about you and I go turn that dream into a memory?”
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Acknowledgments
A book is never a single person endeavor. Thank you to all the folks who have made this possible—
The Novel Sirens—Sienna Snow, Aliza Mann. and Sage Spelling
My amazing family—Nix, Pat, and J—who dealt with all my crazy and raised it with the perfect pint of dream cone sundae
The Smutastic Team—Heather Novak and Shelly Bell
My beautiful editor, Candace Havens
The entire team at Entangled Publishing, who took a chance on a crazy concept!
The readers—you keep me going!
About the Author
I am a hopeless romantic in a hopelessly pragmatic world. I have a full time life and two busy teenagers, but in the dark of night, I sit by the warm glow of my computer monitor, and attempt to conjure up passionate heartwarming stories with plenty of humor. I started imagining stories in my head at a very young age. In fact, I got so good at it that friends asked me to create plots featuring them as the heroine and the object of their affection as the hero. We’d spend hours on the phone while I came up with a series of unrealistic, yet tender events, which led to a satisfying conclusion. You’ve heard of fan fiction… this was friend fiction. Even with that, it took many years to realize I could produce an actual full-length book that readers would enjoy. I try to make my stories humorous, realistic, with flawed but redeeming characters. I hope you enjoy my stories and always find The Happily Ever After in every endeavor.
Also by MK Schiller…
The Scars Between Us
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