by Madison, Mia
He was mine—I knew that now. And more importantly, he knew I was his. We were a part of each other’s lives. We made each other’s lives better.
It had taken most of the year, but I’d found a man truly worthy of my love. A man who cherished me and excited me and needed me.
It was the best feeling in the world.
23
Epilogue One
It was a week before Christmas, and the four of us were in Luke’s kitchen.
“Not like that, Daddy, like this,” Ava insisted, using the cookie cutter to form a perfectly shaped candy cane. “You have to press it down evenly.”
“I am,” Luke said, but when I looked over, the Christmas tree he was placing on the cookie sheet had rather rounded edges. It actually would’ve made a pretty good Easter Egg cookie. I winked at Ava and she giggled.
“Can I do the sprinkles?” Brandon asked.
“It’s my turn,” Ava protested.
“Please?”
“We’ll both do half,” Ava said, and she smiled at her twin.
While the twins took the cookie sheet to the table, I moved around the kitchen, trying to rein in the mess. But soon, I drifted to Luke’s side. Leaning against the counter, we watched the two little heads bent over the table, talking a mile a minute, occasionally disagreeing, but ultimately working together.
I’d always loved this time of the year, but it was even more magical with children around. The look on Luke’s face showed the love and pride he had for his children as he watched them. The expression on his face didn’t change as he looked down at me.
“Ava? Brandon? Can you come here for a moment?”
“We’re almost done, Daddy—” Ava said.
“I have something important to tell you.”
I looked up at him curiously while the twins came over, their little hands—and Ava’s face—showing traces of the food coloring we’d used for the cookies.
We all looked at Luke expectantly. I didn’t have any more of an idea what he was going to say than the twins did. But the smile on his face made me smile in return.
“I know we’ve had a lot of changes in the past half year,” he said, addressing his children. “And I need to tell you about one more. I’ve been seeing someone. I have a girlfriend.”
My heart thudded in my chest as I watched the twins’ reactions. They looked happy… but not all that surprised.
“Is she pretty?” Brandon asked, his gaze flicking to me.
“Very pretty,” Luke confirmed, his arm sliding around my waist.
“Is she smart?” Ava asked.
“Definitely smart, too.”
Brandon got a sly look on his face. “Does she have white hair?” We all laughed. Earlier, I’d been crouched down, trying to get a mixing bowl from a lower cabinet at the same time Brandon had been measuring the flour on the counter above me. I did indeed have a dusting of flour all over my hair.
“Temporarily,” Luke said.
It was Ava who asked the most important question. “Do you love her?”
My breath caught in my throat as I looked up at Luke. We’d been back together for a week, but that word hadn’t come up yet. His whiskey-colored eyes seemed to drill right through me as he pulled me closer. “I do.” His lips met mine, a chaste kiss since we were in front of the kids, but one that made my heart sing all the more. “I love you, Gabi.”
“I love you too,” I whispered back.
“And we love you,” Ava said to me, as if that settled everything. “So can we put the cookies in the oven?”
“Absolutely,” Luke said, winking at me as he moved away. We’d have time later, when we were alone, to talk about our love for each other. But right now, I wanted to spend the rest of my afternoon with the man I loved and his two remarkable children.
I stood back, watching as the three of them discussed and debated proper cookie sheet placement. My heart flooded with feelings for each of them. A year ago, my two favorite people in the world were Kait and Sierra. Now my heart had expanded, and I couldn’t imagine life without Luke, Ava, and Brandon. I didn’t want to imagine it.
And as Luke ruffled his kids’ hair and smiled over at me, I knew I wouldn’t ever have to.
* * *
Valentine’s Day
“Attention. Can I have your attention please?” Tyler looked resplendent in his black suit. Kait certainly seemed to think so… the only time she could tear her gaze away from him was to glance at the sparkling engagement ring on her finger. “I propose a toast,” he said, looking around the private room at a fancy Italian restaurant that Ian had reserved. “To three remarkable young women who’ve done remarkable things over the past year. Red hot things, in fact.”
“Red hot!” Sierra said, standing up and taking over the toast. Tyler was a great guy, but she and her roommates had put in the time to improve their lives this year—therefore, they should be in charge of the toast.
“Red hot!” Gabi and Kait echoed, their men doing so as well.
“Seriously, I know I’m late to the party, but what the three of you have accomplished this past year is amazing.” Luke smiled at Gabi while she beamed at him. The kids were with a babysitter, and both she and Luke were enjoying the company of adults tonight.
“Even if people didn’t know how each of you got a new job… and a smoking hot man,” Ian said with a wink, “the changes to Kait’s house are nothing short of astonishing.”
“We call it the Red Hot House now,” Kait said. A few weeks ago, as one of the final home improvement projects, they’d painted the door a deep red.
“To the Red Hot House,” Sierra said, raising her champagne glass again. “May it always be full of women who take names and kick ass.”
“Cheers,” everyone chorused.
And as the food was served, conversations started among the three couples. “By next Valentine’s Day, we’ll be married,” Tyler said, squeezing Kait’s hand under the table.
“We’d better be,” she replied. “Since the wedding’s set for June.”
“Everyone looks so good,” Sierra said to Ian as she looked around the room. Kait looked like a princess in her pale pink dress. Gabi wore a dark blue, jewel tone dress. She’d actually lost a few pounds recently—Sierra figured it was from trying to keep up with the twins. Or maybe it was Luke who’d helped her burn the extra calories. Though it wasn’t easy, those two still managed to find opportunities for some alone time.
The men looked handsome, too. All were around the same age with Luke the oldest. All had the distinguished look of handsome, successful, confident men. But in her opinion, Ian was the hottest of the three.
Gabi wasn’t thinking about Luke’s looks at all as she sat next to him, her chair pushed as close to him as possible. Her thoughts were full of gratitude and joy. “I had my doubts,” she whispered, leaning against him.
“About me?” Luke set his fork down and turned to her.
“About meeting someone as amazing as you. I was beginning to think that it wasn’t possible, but that was only because apparently, I had to meet Ava and Brandon first.”
“Lucky for both of us they tricked you into coming to their birthday dinner.”
Gabi giggled. “I’ll never forget the look on your face when you were expecting Ava and Brandon’s little friend and I showed up on your doorstep.”
“I knew I wanted you even then.” Luke picked up Gabi’s hand and kissed the back of it. “Even before my kids proposed to you.”
Gabi laughed. She was happy and wasn’t going to rush anything, but she strongly suspected that someday, she’d wear Luke’s ring on her finger just as Kait wore Tyler’s. “I guess we owe them for bringing us together.”
“I guess we do,” Luke said. “We’ll bring some gelato for them when we go home. But I also owe you. All of you.”
Luke’s voice was louder on those last three words, and suddenly, everyone looked around. “If you three hadn’t made that pact last year, I’d still be blindly moving f
rom one day to the next, never realizing what was missing from my life. Who was missing from my life.” He gave Gabi a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m profoundly grateful to all three of you for that pact you made.”
“And for your courage,” Ian said, smiling at Sierra.
“And your persistence,” Tyler said, beaming at his fiancée.
“And for your love. Happy Valentine’s Day,” Luke concluded.
More glasses clinked. More champagne was served. A few tears were shed. It had been a year full of ups and downs, but all six of them had ended up right where they were meant to be.
24
Epilogue Two
A few days later
“I guess that’s about it,” Kait said as she placed a box on top of a stack of three and taped it up.
“Tell me why we don’t have the guys up here carrying boxes?” Sierra grumbled.
“Because this is our time. We were roommates for a long time,” Gabi said, blinking back the moisture in her eyes.
“I should give you guys a minute,” Liz said. She was wrapping an oval mirror in a sheet of foam.
“No, you’re a part of the group now,” Gabi said.
“Definitely one of us,” Kait said with a smile. “And I’m glad you’re here. Once we all got boyfriends, the house was alternately very full or rather empty. Not matter how much we love our men, it’s still good to have some girl time. You guys are going to invite me over for wine in front of the fireplace, right?”
Sierra scoffed. “Invite you over? That sounds so civilized. We’re going to storm Tyler’s place and drag you back here so often you’ll think you never left.”
“Good,” Kait said, tears glistening in her eyes.
“This is a happy moment. You’re moving in with the man of your dreams,” Gabi said, her voice wavering. “The man you’re going to marry.”
“I know—and I want that, more than anything. But it also means that I’m leaving my sisters.”
“But that’s what’s supposed to happen. You’re supposed to leave the nest eventually. And you found a great man.”
“Yeah, I know.” Kait looked around. “I think it was in this room when Tyler first realized that I wasn’t the little kid he used to know. When he realized that I was a woman.”
“Because you shamelessly flashed that lingerie at him,” Sierra teased.
“That was an accident!” Kait protested.
Liz sat down on the bed. “I need to hear that story.”
Kait blushed and told it to her along with some other memories of the house. When she was done, a tear slid down her cheek.
Gabi put her arm around her. “This is still your house. It’ll always be a part of you. You couldn’t get away from it if you tried.”
“Yeah, you’re our landlady now,” Sierra said. “So we’re going to break all those things you had us fix this past year so we can get you to come back over here.”
Kait gave a watery laugh. “Let’s just stick to inviting me and/or kidnapping me for wine night.”
Liz’s phone rang. She grabbed it hastily and looked at the screen. “It’s my mom—sorry, I have to take this.”
The others nodded as she hurried out of the room.
Kait stood in the middle of the room. “Are you sure you don’t want to take this bedroom?” she said to Sierra. “It’s bigger than the one downstairs.”
“No, I’m good. I like it downstairs.”
Gabi cocked her head at her roommate. “Not that you’re there very much.”
Kait smiled. “You do seem to spend a lot of time at Ian’s penthouse. Do you think one day you’ll move in?”
Sierra shook her head, smiling a little at Gabi’s frown. “Not for a while. What we have is good—really good. We work together, we spend a lot of evenings together… but we both have our own home base to retreat to. I like what we have, and I don’t want to mess it up. We’re not in a hurry—I’m happy the way things are now. So is Ian.”
“What about you?” Kait said to Gabi.
“About moving into this room?” Gabi asked.
“No. Well, I mean you could. But I meant with you and Luke. You already take care of the twins half the day. Wouldn’t it be easier to live there?”
“Maybe,” Gabi said, leaning against a dresser that the guys were coming to move the next day. “But we’re still taking it slowly. Luke’s been the sole influence in their lives for so long. It’s an adjustment period. With kids involved, it’s good not to move too fast. Like Sierra, I like things the way they are now. Besides, thanks to my favorite babysitters, Luke and I are managing to get enough alone time.”
“It’s true, I am like super nanny,” Sierra joked.
Kait protested. “Every time the twins are over here, you take off after the first half hour.”
“But there are two kids, one for you and one for Liz. I know I’m leaving them in good hands. Right, Liz?”
Their newest roommate had appeared in the doorway, her face ashen, her phone in her hands.
“Liz? What’s wrong?” Sierra strode to the door and ushered her into the room.
“What is it, honey?” Gabi said.
“It’s… it’s my grandparents.”
“Oh no,” Kait said. “Did something happen to them?”
“No…” Liz staggered over to the bed and sat down heavily. Kait exchanged a worried glance with Sierra and Gabi.
“Come on, Liz, tell us what happened.”
Liz stared at her phone for a long moment and then set it on the bed. Then she looked up, seemingly surprised to see the three concerned faces staring back at her. “There, umm, there’s going to be a party for their fiftieth wedding anniversary next week.”
“That sounds like fun,” Kait said encouragingly.
“You had us worried there. For a moment I thought you were going to say one of them died,” Sierra said bluntly.
“No, they’re fine,” Liz said absently. She glanced at her phone again.
Kait sat down next to her, pushing Liz’s phone out of the way. “Tell us what’s wrong. This is what we do in this house. In the Red Hot House. We listen to each other’s problems and we fix them.”
Liz stared at Kait for a moment and then nodded. “My whole family’s been planning it for months. We’ve rented a huge ballroom at a hotel, and everyone my grandparents have ever met will be there. Everyone. My parents even invited my ex-boyfriend even though I begged them not to.”
“That sucks,” Sierra said. “Brett is such an asshole. I don’t get why your friends and family think he walks on water.”
“I don’t either,” Liz said quietly. “But they do. And my mom’s been nagging me for months to find a date to bring to the party, but I haven’t been able to find anyone.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Gabi said. She sat on the other side of Liz and took her hand. “It’s perfectly acceptable to attend something like that without a date. The whole point of the evening is to honor your grandparents, not to find Mr. Right.”
“But… she kept mentioning it over and over. Including just now. So… just to get her off my back, I told her I was seeing someone and that I’d bring him.”
“That? That’s not a problem,” Sierra said. “We can find someone for you to take. Between Ian, Tyler, and Luke, there’s got to be a spare hottie lying around somewhere.”
Kait and Gabi grinned, but Liz appeared not to have heard. “I, umm… I actually said more than that.”
Gabi looked at her with concern. “Did you say a lot about him? Because the more details you gave, the harder it’s going to be to find someone who looks the part.”
Liz stared at the ground, a dazed look in her eyes. “No, I didn’t describe him. I just… I just said one thing about him.”
“What’s that?” Kait asked.
Liz buried her face in her hands. “My mom was just going on and on about how Brett was going to be there, and how he was seeing someone now. My mom’s super close to his mom, and apparently she’s been h
earing all the details of his fantastic new relationship. And she’s been sharing them with me. She still thinks he’s the one that got away.”
“No offense, but that’s bullshit,” Sierra said. “It’s not a competition. Just because that asshole is dating someone doesn’t mean you have to be. But yeah, if it makes you feel better, show up with a hot-as-hell man and make Brett eat his heart out.”
Gabi patted Liz on the back, but Kait looked worried. “Wait, but you said you told your mom something specific about the made-up guy you’re supposedly seeing.”
“Yeah,” Liz said, her voice almost inaudible through her hands. “I… I… I was just trying to get her off my back. She’s been bothering me for months about the fact that I’m single.”
“What did you say?” Gabi asked. “Whatever it is, we’ll help you.”
“Yeah,” Sierra agreed. “Even if we have to kidnap a man who fits the description at gunpoint.”
Liz still had her hands over her face. Gabi and Kait exchanged a glance and then each of them gently pried a hand away from her face.
“Just tell us,” Sierra said.
“I… I said he… I said the guy I was bringing… was my fiancé.”
“Oh crap,” Kait said, and Gabi nodded in agreement. Tear tracks glittered on Liz’s face.
“That? That’s not a problem,” Sierra said, with a valiant attempt to sound confident. “Just call your mother back. Tell her that you were just kind of daydreaming out loud. Say that you’re dating John Doe and you hope someday he’ll propose, but he hasn’t yet. Tell her you misspoke.”
Kait handed Liz’s phone to her, nodding encouragingly.
“I’m not sure if she’ll believe me,” Liz said.
“But you have to,” Gabi said. “Do it now before your mom tells someone else.”
“Okay,” Liz said. But then her phone chimed as she swiped open her screen. She stared at it as her mouth slowly dropped open. “Oh no. Oh no, no, no.”