Epilogue

Callow - 1 week

Daphne was having a sleepover at Allie's place. The two girls wanted to gush about the book series Daphne had been staying up late every night to read, leading to her being grumpy and slow in the mornings.

It was something Sabrina decided not to be upset about since the kid clearly earned a little escape after the shit she'd gone through. Besides, the late night reading meant she wasn't trying to sneak off to go anywhere.

Surprisingly, Sabrina had welcomed Tammy into the apartment the day after the kidnapping. She'd brought a basket full of snacks and self-care shit and had been apologetic for not being more responsible for the underage girl.

She wasn't a bad kid either. Just kind of adrift in the world, having grown up with two parents struggling with addiction who treated her like shit and barely kept a roof over her head. No one could blame her for getting out early and finding the easiest way to make a boatload of money that would let her be independent of them.

That said, I think Sabrina and I were both pleased that Daphne had reconnected with Allie. At least we knew that when she was with her, she was also with Britney and Sam, who would keep an eye on the two of them for us.

That allowed me to finally get a chance to take Sabrina out again. This time, without any threat hanging over our heads that might ruin it for us.

I didn't need Sully's input for this date, either.

It was all just kind of kismet.

When I'd been checking out venues, I noticed that one of the bands that Sabrina had a concert tee of was playing a local show with another band she said she'd liked.

So I got the tickets and worked out a plan with Daph to make sure she was somewhere safe for the night, so we didn't have to worry about her.

Because we were heading into the city, going to the concert, then getting a hotel room for the night.

Sure, we'd been together every night since I'd first moved into her bed. But it felt nice to get time together… privately.

"Okay. Is this good?" she asked when she walked out of the bedroom after fretting over her outfit and hair and makeup.

It was the first time I'd seen her with any makeup on since the night of our kayak date.

She'd put on black skinny jeans, some combat boots, and a hilariously spot-on band tee with a black sweater over it.

"That's perfect," I said, getting up off of the couch.

"Are you still not going to tell me where we're going?"

"We're going to the reunion concert of the band shirt you're wearing," I told her.

She actually had to look down to see which band that was. When she did, her face split in a giant grin.

"Really?"

"Really," I said. "But it's in the city. So we gotta get moving."

She was like a little kid for the next several hours. She gushed over all the sights in New York, telling me all of the food we had to try before we went back to Navesink Bank, bouncing as we waited to get into the venue, getting tipsy and screaming her lungs out, and buying just about everything at the merch stand.

"Lean in," she demanded for the fifth time as she pressed herself against me, raised her phone, and snapped no fewer than a dozen pictures.

"You sound scratchy as fuck," I said as she looked through all the pictures she'd taken. At least half of them were selfies of us. And I was absolutely going to make her send me a few of them.

"Too much woo-wooing," she said as she drafted a text to Daphne, then sent her a bunch of images. Including pigeons we had to stop to talk to, this massive-ass bookstore we passed, the concert, and yes, ones of us.

"Does that mean you don't want hot pretzels?" She shot me small eyes, making me laugh. "I'll take that as a yes, you do still want them."

"And the sesame steak. And the chicken curry. And…"

"We will hit them all on the way back to the hotel," I assured her, giving her thigh a squeeze.

A text came through, making Sabrina smile. "Daph says we have to take her to that big bookstore for her next birthday."

"I have a feeling she will talk us into taking her much sooner than that," I said as Sabrina snuggled into me.

The booze was wearing off. And, clearly, she was the type to get sleepy as hell on the downslide.

"You wanna skip the food and go to sleep?" I asked, fingers sifting through her hair.

"No. I'm staying awake to eat all of that food," she told me, then leaned up to my ear to whisper so the cab driver didn't hear, even though he was on the phone, talking animatedly in Hindi. "And then have lots of sex where we don't have to worry about being loud," she told me.

Then promptly napped on my shoulder.

Luckily, we were stuck in traffic for a bit on the way back to the street the hotel was on.

We got our food.

And her energy returned after eating.

Then, yeah, we had lots of loud sex before curling up under the covers.

"Callow?" Sabrina called, sounding scratchier than before thanks to several rolling orgasms.

"Yeah?" I asked as my fingers drifted through her soft hair.

"Thank you for the best night ever."

She had no idea that I planned to keep giving her as many ‘best nights ever' as I could from here on out.

But I couldn't wait for her to find out.

Sabrina - 7 months

"Moooom," Daphne groaned when I didn't step back from the car.

"You gotta let her go," Callow reminded me. Then, when even that didn't work, he grabbed my hips and pulled me back onto the sidewalk.

"Thanks," Daphne said, giving Callow a megawatt smile.

"Drive safe, kid," he said, wrapping arms around me to give me a comforting squeeze as my kid drove away from me for the first time.

"I don't like this at all," I said, heartbeat hammering against my ribcage.

"I know. But we bought her the safest car on the market," he reminded me, pressing a kiss to my head. "And we have the GPS tracker on. She's a really good driver."

"I should have driven with her more."

"Well, babe, we all decided that was a bad idea," he said, dangerously close to laughing at me.

And, fine. I was a chronic gasper and forever stabbing my foot into my invisible brake pedal when in the passenger seat. We had all unanimously decided that Callow had the better temperament to teach Daphne to drive. Which he did. Happily. And often. I had nothing to worry about.

But I was a mom.

Worry was my default state.

"I have a surprise to distract you," he said, waiting for me to turn to look at him.

"What kind of surprise."

"One the kid and I have been keeping from you for a few weeks now."

I faked a gasp, pressing a hand to my heart.

"Betrayed by the two people I love most!"

"In the best way possible. I hope," he said, looking uncharacteristically worried.

Which, yeah, piqued my interest.

"Okay. Do I get any hints?"

"Not one," he said, reaching down to take my hand and leading me over to his motorcycle.

I had a lot of rules about riding on the bike. Namely, because I was a mom and I had to be there for my kid, so safety was of the utmost importance. So even though I loved the way the wind whipped my hair and my belly bottomed out on curves like a carnival ride, we only took it if we were riding back roads, not the highways where speeds and other drivers made it more dangerous.

So wherever we were going was relatively close to the apartment. Which was intriguing.

After slipping on my helmet, I climbed on behind Callow, loving that I got to wrap myself around him on the drive. In fact, I was so distracted by his nearness that I didn't even notice we were making our way deeper into a neighborhood.

Until the engine cut.

And I sat back to realize we were parked in a driveway to a sweet little penny brick ranch.

It had a ton of curb appeal thanks to the flowerbeds out front that were overflowing with pinks, yellows, and purples. And the weeping willow out front actually had a little swing hanging from it.

"What is this? Are we having dinner with someone?" I asked.

"Yeah," he agreed as we both climbed off and removed our helmets. "Come on," he said, reaching for my hand again.

Maybe I was being particularly dense, but I didn't get it until I saw Callow take a key out of his pocket and stick it in the lock.

"Callow, what is this?" I asked, excitement sparking across my nerve endings.

"It's home," he said, giving me a soft smile as he moved aside to let me in. "Our home," he clarified.

It was, too.

It was clear the second I moved inside and saw that not only had Callow bought this house, but he'd decorated it. Or, rather, he'd likely done the more back-breaking work like refinishing the gorgeous, wide-plank floors and painting the walls. Whereas Daphne had almost certainly picked out the couches, tables, lamps, art, and curtains, since it very much reflected our mutual style. With, I had to give her credit, little bits of masculine accents in her attempt to make Callow feel welcome as well.

"Wow," I said, sniffling hard as the tears flooded my eyes.

"Good wow ?" Callow asked, following me as I hugged my arms around myself as I walked through the living room, into the dining room, then through to the kitchen.

"No," I said, turning to face him, then walking right into him, my face against his chest. "Perfect wow . Absolutely blown away wow ."

"And you haven't even seen it all yet," he said, pressing a kiss to my head, then pulling away to grab my hand and pull me through the rest of the house.

The kitchen melted into a cozy family room before heading back through the house to lead me down the hallway off of the living room.

There was a full hall bath then the guest room, Daphne's room that was full of bookshelves just waiting to get filled up, then the primary bedroom with, luxury of all luxuries, its own bath.

"Oh, my God," I groaned as we moved into the bathroom.

It wasn't even about the walk-in shower niche that Callow and I could easily use at the same time, thanks to several shower heads and more than enough space. Or the his-and-hers sinks. Or the soaking tub.

It was mostly just about not all having to fight over one bathroom anymore.

"No more crossing your legs and begging Daph to get out of the bathroom," Callow said, smiling at me.

"You read my mind," I said, beaming at him. "Everything is so perfect."

"Yeah?" he asked. "We really busted our asses to get it done in time for you not to renew your lease," he told me.

"I can't believe Daphne was able to keep this secret that long."

"I had to catch her several times," he admitted, pulling me against him as we made it back into the bedroom that was a perfect mix of my bedroom at the apartment and Callow's bedroom at the clubhouse. "But she was as excited about this as I was. But, look, I don't want you to feel pressured into moving—"

"Don't," I cut him off, "finish that sentence. I want to move in. Right now. Make the prospects go pack up my stuff right now. Wait. No. I take that back. The last thing I need is for those guys to come across my vibrator."

"There's enough here right now to get us through a few nights," he told me, reaching to slide his hands down my back, sinking into my ass. "And until we can get your vibrator, you'll just have to make do with me."

He pulled me flush against him, making me feel the outline of his hardness as we both seemed to have the same thought.

That it was time to break in the new house.

While it was empty and we didn't have to worry about how noisy we could get.

We had time, but we found ourselves tugging at clothes, our impatient hands not happy until they were sliding over bare skin, until we were pressed against each other.

Grabbing me, Callow pushed me back against the wall, his lips on mine, kissing me hard and deep as I wrapped my legs around his hips, rocking his cock against my cleft until we were both too impatient to play around any more.

Callow pulled back and slammed inside of me to the base, both of us moaning at the sensation.

He was fucking me then.

Hard and fast, driving me up through one orgasm before pulling out, turning me, and slamming into me from behind.

His hands dug into my hips as he used them to slam my hips back into him as he thrust forward, making me take him as deep as my body would allow as he fucked me harder and harder. Until the orgasm was crashing through me, leaving me crying out and gasping for breath as he slammed deep, coming inside of me.

"Fuck," Callow sighed afterward, holding me against him.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"We should get cleaned up."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I wasn't fucking with you before. We are having dinner with people. I might like the idea of you walking around with my come inside of you, but I don't think you want to be dealing with that when we have company."

"Probably right," I agreed as we slid away from each other. "Who is coming for dinner?" I asked as we both moved into the shower niche, turning on our respective shower heads.

"Daph is bringing dinner. And then Britney, Sam, and Allie will be joining us too," he told me, passing me a bottle of my favorite body wash.

"Did they know before me too?"

"Well, they only knew since this morning," he told me.

"That makes sense. Britney never would have been able to keep it a secret."

"So, you're happy with it? We can make any changes you want. But we wanted to make it move-in ready."

"I don't want to change anything," I said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him closer, so I could lean up to press my lips to his. "Thank you."

"Got nothing to thank me for," he said. "I want to build our future here. Make lots of memories. Always have a place for Daphne to come home to if she wants or needs to."

God, I was forever thinking that I couldn't love this man more.

And he continued to prove me wrong.

"I'm home!" Daph called as we were still naked in our towels a few minutes later.

And so she was.

So were all of us.

Callow - 1.5 years

"You're being weird," Daphne told me as she dipped a fry in her chocolate shake, eyeing me through the thick lashes she started wearing a few months ago.

"Am I?" I asked pushing my onion rings around on my plate.

To that, I got one of the eye rolls she was so notorious for.

"What is it?" she asked, stiffening. "I haven't gotten in any kind of trouble."

Amazingly, that was true.

That had been a bit of an up and down thing.

No, she didn't sneak out again.

But, yes, there were times when she was supposed to be one place and ended up somewhere else. She'd come home once smelling like beer covered up with perfume. And weed covered up with, I suspected, fabric freshener.

Kid shit.

And she was almost eighteen, was about to head off to her chosen college where she was going to do all those things and more. In a way, I was glad she experimented a little bit while she was still at home, so she knew her limits and shit like that. The idea of her getting drunk the first time while somewhere notoriously unsafe like a frat party was the kind of shit that kept me up at night.

"I know," I agreed. "You've been behaving yourself."

"Or so I want you to think," she said with a glint in her eye. She was fucking with me. But a lot of truth was said in jest too. "Come on. You're even weirder than you were when you brought up the house."

"I guess I am," I agreed, sucking in a deep breath as I reached into my pocket to produce the little emerald green ring box, opening it, and pushing it across the table toward her. "I want to marry your mom," I told her.

Fuck, I did.

More than I think I'd ever wanted anything.

It was, I guess, just a formality at this point. We'd been living together since almost the beginning of our relationship. But it felt like an important formality. I wanted her to have my name. I wanted everything mine to be hers. I wanted all that traditional shit I'd never given thought to before Sabrina.

Daphne was uncharacteristically quiet as she stared at the ring in the little cushion, a fry poised over her milkshake, unmoving.

"Daph?" I called, stomach twisting in knots.

Nerves aside, I guess I never really considered the idea that Daphne would have a problem with this.

But her silence was kind of telling, wasn't it?

"Do you not want me to marry your mom?" I asked, my pulse beating so hard in my chest that it felt like it was gonna burst out of my rib cage.

"That depends," she said, still staring at the ring.

"On what?" I asked, glad I hadn't eaten much because I was pretty sure I would be puking it up if Daph didn't give me her blessing.

To that, Daphne pressed her lips together for a long moment.

When she spoke, her gaze didn't slide to me until the very end.

"On if you will adopt me or not."

Fuck.

I was out of my seat in a second, reaching for her and pulling her out of hers to crush her to my chest.

"Of fucking course I'll adopt you, kid. You've been mine for almost two years now. Would love to make that shit official."

She sniffled against my chest as her arms went around me, squeezing tight.

"When you adopt me," she said, voice small, made smaller still by how she was muffling it against my shirt. "Can I call you Dad?"

My heart always seemed close to bursting these days.

But, somehow, it just kept getting bigger, making room for all these new, amazing, unexpected, big feelings that kept coming my way thanks to Sabrina and Daphne.

"I would love that. But you can call me that anytime, kid. Don't have to wait for the paperwork to be official."

She squeezed me a little tighter for a moment before pulling away and sliding back into her seat.

"Okay then. And Mom is gonna love that ring," she told me, plunging another fry into her milkshake.

She was right about that.

And by the end of that year, I had a wife and a daughter.

Sabrina - 4 years

"Mom! Where are you?" Daphne yelled into the phone, but I could barely hear her over the band playing their hearts out.

"Concert," I called, walking further away from the speakers. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Calling to check in," she said.

"Baby, it's a Friday night," I said as I moved outside, Callow at my heels. "Why the hell are you calling your mother? Isn't there some party you should be at, doing things you know I would not approve of?"

Though, considering I was four drinks and a few hits in, I would be a real hypocrite if I took issue with any of her college antics.

What can I say? I spent my twenties changing diapers and crying over bills. Now that my kid was grown and out on her own, I was maybe making up a little bit for lost time.

"Some of us have finals to worry about," she said, sounding hilariously prim and proper.

"Nerd," I accused, getting a small laugh out of her.

"What concert are you at?"

"Oh, one of those bands that you call ‘classic rock' even though they are from just, you know, twenty years ago."

"That is classic rock, Mom," she reminded me.

"So, how are things? Are you still seeing that pre-med guy?"

"The one Dad called… oh, what was it?"

"The product of too much tequila and a drugstore condom," I said, having to hold back a laugh. That wasn't even the funniest thing he'd had to say about that particular love prospect of our daughter. It was still not quite as mean as what Callow used to call Daph's first boyfriend who had an unfortunately large head, making Callow once say was a ‘sniper's dream.'

What can I say?

Callow hated every guy who looked Daphne's way. He was so certain in his belief that no man would ever deserve her.

He stayed true to that thing she told me he said to her the night he saved her at the bar.

That boys ain't shit .

"That's over. Long over," she clarified.

Long over? I was pretty sure she'd still been dating him when I talked to her seven or eight days ago. But, I guess, when you were that age, time seemed a lot more endless than it actually was.

"Uh-oh. What did he do?"

"He's just not right," Daphne said. "You and Dad ruined me," she declared with a dramatic sigh.

"I'm sure we did. But how, exactly, in this way did we fuck you up?"

"Are you drunk?" Daphne asked.

"Yes. Answer the question."

To that, she sighed.

"I'm not interested in anything that's not what you guys have," she said.

Well, of all the things we could have passed down to Daphne, our very high standard of love was the best possible thing for her to have taken to heart.

"You'll find the right guy, baby," I assured her.

"It's not too late to become a nun," Callow called, making Daphne snort.

"Maybe I should come back to Navesink Bank after I finish college and find myself my very own arms-dealing biker."

"Oh, honey, don't narrow your prospects that much. You could also nab yourself a loanshark enforcer, mafia capo, hacker, or cartel lieutenant."

"I'll keep that in mind," Daphne said, sounding like she was smiling. "Go back to your concert. I'll see you next weekend."

"Okay, kid. Don't study too hard. There is beer that needs drinking."

"You're a terrible influence," Callow grumbled.

"Your father wants me to remind you to keep your location turned on and always have condoms on you."

"I didn't say that," Callow called over my shoulder.

"Do you want her to be having unprotected sex?" I asked, loving screwing with him when it came to our kid.

"I'd rather she become a nun," he reiterated.

"Love you guys," Daphne said.

"We love you too," I said before hanging up.

"You're a terrible influence," Callow said as I tucked my phone away.

"I've heard that before," I agreed, sliding my hands around his back.

"You want to go back in?" he asked.

"It's almost over," I said, yawning hard.

I might have been making up for some of the stuff I'd missed out on in my twenties, but I was in a body steadily approaching middle age. Sure, I was excited to drink, experiment with a little weed, and go to loud concerts. But I also wanted to go home early, curl up in comfy PJs, and get a solid REM cycle.

"How about… Chinese in bed with some reruns?" Callow asked. "Then we sleep in until eleven."

"Oh, you know the way to my heart," I said, smiling up at him.

"It's my favorite place to be," he said, leaning down to press a kiss to my forehead.

XX