EPILOGUE

E ight months later …

“Are you ready?” Dom asked Silas as he took his hand in the hospital waiting room and walked him down the hallway toward room 345.

“I’ve been ready for months,” Silas said impatiently. “Then you made me wait at the hotel with Uncle Jagger. Why couldn’t I be there with you and Chloe in the delivery room?”

“Delivering a baby can take a long time. It can also be kind of messy.”

Silas shrugged and shook his head like he couldn’t believe the paltry excuse Dom was making for not including him in the whole ordeal. “I’m good at waiting. And I’m good at messy.”

“I agree with the latter, disagree with the former.”

Silas gave Dom some side-eye as they reached the door.

“Shh,” Dom said. “Quiet voices, okay?”

Silas nodded, and they stepped into the hospital room where Chloe was sitting up in the bed, holding the baby, all swaddled up.

Chloe’s face lit up when she saw Silas. “Hi, sweetheart.” She opened up her free hand to welcome him. He immediately climbed onto the bed and she kissed his head.

Dom’s son’s eyes went wide as he stared down at his little sister. “She’s so tiny,” he whispered. Then he glanced at Chloe. “Is she supposed to be that small?”

Chloe chuckled, the dark circles under her eyes were the only real tell of her exhaustion. Otherwise, the woman was absolutely glowing. “She’s the perfect size. Babies are generally pretty small. But she was a nice weight. Eight pounds, seven ounces.” The size and weight were lost on Silas.

Jagger had already made him wash his hands, so when he held out his finger, and the baby grabbed it, Dom wasn’t concerned.

“What is her name?” Silas asked, smiling down at the blinking and curious little girl in the blanket and purple knit cap.

Chloe and Dom exchanged smiles. Then she ran her hand over the back of Silas’s head. “May Elizabeth McEvoy.”

Silas’s eyes lit up like twin birthday candles. “Like Aunt May from Spiderman?” He glanced at Dom with his mouth hanging open in gleeful shock.

“The very same,” Dom said with a chuckle. “And Elizabeth is Chloe’s middle name. We thought it worked well with May. What do you think?”

May still had him by the finger, she was holding on tight. “It’s perfect.” Then he fixed his focus back on his sister. “Hi, May. I’m your big brother.”

May blinked at him and it was probably just gas, or reflex, but one corner of her mouth tipped up slightly as if she was smiling.

“Oh my god, I love her so much,” Silas whispered, almost as though he was surprised. “How can I love her this much when I just met her?”

Tears formed in the corner of Chloe’s eyes. “That’s the magic of children. They’re such wonderful little creatures, it’s impossible not to fall in love with them almost instantly.”

Dom knew she wasn’t just talking about May. She was talking about Silas. Because even though their start had been a little awkward, after that storm back in December, Silas was really shaken when they told him a bit about what happened—because he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Almost immediately, he latched onto Chloe like a barnacle on a hull.

Her hesitation with him disappeared too and she latched right back. They formed their own little bond, had inside jokes, and she was eager to learn all she could from him about the weather. He also liked to read to the baby in her belly at night, which was how they got him to practice his reading. Win-win.

“I’m going to make sure nobody hurts you, May. I’m going to be the best big brother.” He gently pried his finger out of her grasp, held out his pinky and gently looped it through hers. She wasn’t really getting it, but she was so mesmerized by him that she allowed it. “Pinky promise. I’ll always protect you, May. Forever.”

Even Dom had tears in his eyes now. This couldn’t have gone any better. He already knew Silas was going to be an incredible big brother, but his reaction to May surpassed anything Dom or Chloe could have ever imagined.

Chloe met his gaze and tilted her head to the side, her eyes sliding the same way.

“Oh, right!” He grabbed a gift bag off the floor and set it on the bed in front of Silas.

“May bought you a gift,” Chloe said. “It’s a big brother gift. She heard you like the weather, so …”

He wrinkled his nose. “How’d she go shopping? She was born just a few hours ago.”

Dom snorted and ruffled Silas’s hair. “Obviously, we bought it, bud. But it’s from May.”

Silas gave them both some crazy eyes. “That’s what I figured. I mean, how’d a baby go shopping?” He shook his head. “It didn’t make sense.” Then he went to work opening up the bag. His gasp was adorable as he pulled out the glass and water Galileo thermometer, the ambient weather outdoor glass barometer, and the kids weather science kit. “I’m going to know what’s happening before the weatherman,” he said, almost like a mad scientist, his eyes taking on a hilarious, maniacal gleam.

Chuckling, Dom reached across Silas, and Chloe helped him pick up the baby. He pressed a kiss to May’s forehead and cradled her against him while Chloe and Silas discussed and explored the gifts a bit more.

Wandering over to the window, he stared out at the parking lot below.

Their path here wasn’t an easy one. But he wouldn’t change a second of it.

Chloe’s entire pregnancy had been rough. She had nausea and morning sickness nearly the entire nine months. It got better in the second trimester, but put her out of work completely halfway through her third trimester. She could barely keep any food down, and was actually losing weight.

After a lot of back and forth with Justine, and their OB-GYN they collectively decided on a scheduled C-section. Given all the stress Chloe was under with the pregnancy, both mentally and on her body, they wanted to mitigate as much of it as they could.

The C-section went off without any complications, and at four fourteen on July twenty-fifth, with a full head of dark red hair like her mama, May Elizabeth McEvoy joined the world—and their family—screaming with her powerful lungs. She wore a cute little purple knit cap now to keep her warm, but Dom could already picture the future and this beautiful little girl running the hillside behind the houses with her cousins, bouncy red curls glistening in the summer sun. She was a stunner, just like her mother. She had Dom’s nose, and ears though.

Resting his nose against her forehead, he pulled in a deep, cleansing, baby-scented breath as he reflected on the last ten months and his relationship with Chloe.

They started off rocky—because of him—but now they were unbreakable. Stronger than he ever could have imagined. And maybe it was the event at Hawke’s that they needed to get there. He liked to think they would have gotten there anyway, but realizing he could have lost her or the baby really set him straight. No more fucking around. No more letting his guilt rule his happiness.

They both knew what led them to this point. To this happy little family that they treasured so much. Their journey was paved with loss, trauma, danger, and horrific tragedies that nobody should ever have to endure. Dom considered himself a broken man, incapable of being fixed when he met Chloe. But with her love, he was able to see through the storm of his agony and not just survive, but thrive.

Joey, of course, was sent to prison.

Turns out, he’d been squatting just next door to the McEvoy property in Bonn Remmen’s old house. After Abe kicked him out, Joey was lost and without a place to stay. Until he heard about Bonn Remmen’s house and the fact that the land was empty as the Council waited to hear the proposals. It was Vica who first suggested they check the abandoned house, and she’d been right.

It made them all sick to their stomachs that they’d been living so close to the deranged fucker, and didn’t even know it. All the McEvoy Marines felt a little embarrassed by that fact, and now they took turns going on nightly patrols to check every inch of the property, not to mention the adjacent land.

When he came to Hawke’s, Joey was on hallucinogens that he found in Bonn’s house. He tried to get off on an insanity plea, but nobody bought it—least of all, the judge. The drugs he was on would make him see rainbow shitting unicorns, not cause him to scare a woman and trash a hostel.

He was still in prison as far as Dom knew, and was forbidden from even stepping foot on the island again.

As for Hawke’s hostel, Azzy, the Australian woman and the Scots, Kit and Dex, not only helped Hawke fix the place up, but they started working for Hawke too. They arranged their schedules accordingly with the crabbing and fishing boats to make sure Hawke always had a right hand available. They also knew exactly what to do on social media to bring a positive light back to the hostel and get people booking stays there again. Now that the high season was upon them again, the hostel was fully booked every day.

Because of the storm and the emergency with Chloe, the Island Elders were very understanding about Dom and his brothers needing to postpone their proposal. However, that meant that all the proposals were postponed since the Council wanted to hear all five pitches the same day. Nobody was presenting until March the next year when those heading to the Baja to ride out the winter returned. Dom and his brothers offered to do their proposal the next day, but the Council made their ruling, banged their gavel and wouldn’t budge on their ruling.

Last but not least, Carnation. Unfortunately, the big storm back in early December toppled trees on several island homes. One of them being Carnation and Wynona’s. Luckily, they were both fine. Shaken up, but fine. However, since that was not their family home, and Wynona and her ex were separating anyway, she had no claim to the house. So Carnation and her mother moved off San Camanez and back to the mainland, making everyone’s lives easier—especially Silas and Aya’s.

The sun shone off to the west on the beautiful late July evening. It was the perfect day for a new life to enter the world. And as Dom gazed down at his beautiful daughter, then back at Chloe and Silas, he made sure to send out a silent bit of love and gratitude to Remy. Because he knew he had her blessing. That she would be okay with him moving on and finding love again. It took him a long time to come to terms with it, but he finally did, and he was grateful to her for the life and love they shared, and their son. He was also grateful to her for her forgiveness. It allowed him to forgive himself, and the fact that he hadn’t been there when she passed.

Swallowing the thick lump at the back of his throat, he pressed another kiss to May’s forehead. She’d fallen asleep, and her long, fair lashes flared out across her pudgy little cheeks. He turned back around to find Chloe smiling at him, so much love and happiness in her eyes.

“They’re here,” she said softly.

“Who?” Silas asked, having opened up the science kit.

“Remy and Elliott. Do you feel their love?” She rubbed Silas’s back.

He paused for a moment and shifted his gaze back and forth, then slowly nodded. “Yeah. I think I do. They’re happy for us.”

Emotion clogged Dom’s throat and tears stung the back of his eyes as he nodded. “I feel them. And I think so too, buddy.”

“They’re happy for us and they love us,” Silas said, his eyes landing on May. “Can I hold my sister now?”

Chuckling softly, Dom brought May over and gently set her in Silas’s arms. Then he brought out his camera and took a picture.

“I think this might be the happiest day of my life,” Silas said, still staring down at his sister.

“It’s definitely up there for me,” Dom said, meeting Chloe’s eyes.

Tears brimmed and she smiled as they fell down her cheeks. “Me too.” She kissed Silas’s head and rubbed her thumb over May’s cheek. “Me too.”

*

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