Hadley Epilogue- One Year Later

As I gazed down at our newborn son, I couldn’t believe how much had happened over the past year. Much of it had been amazing and filled me with happiness, but not all of it. On the amazing side was my move to the Hampton area. In the end, we decided to get a different house.

Griffin didn’t like where his house was located. He felt it needed more privacy and security. Plus, it allowed us to find something to meet our various needs, present and future, which included guest quarters within its own part of the house. We were able to buy the perfect property and paid cash so we could take possession right away and move in. Dad was more than happy to make the move with us. The final addition to the perfect home was our guard dogs, Nitro and Astra.

We decided not to sell our estate in Fairfax. It remained there and was now used for company retreats. Staff who remained there stayed onboard with us. We used it whenever we went back to Gerard’s.

As for Gerard Industries, we still had the main RD and many of the other business divisions working out of the original building, but we’d opened a new headquarters in Hampton, which allowed me to stick close to home for the most part. When I needed to travel, I flew back and forth to Fairfax. Most of the time, Griffin accompanied me. He didn’t like me being too far away from him. On the rare times he was on an assignment, he had either one of his brothers-in-arms go or Ben, Heath, Beau, or Justin.

Thinking of Heath, thankfully he made a speedy recovery and was back out causing trouble as I teased him in no time. He was a frequent visitor at our house. He kept things interesting to say the least.

Right after we moved, Griffin asked me to marry him and presented me with a to-die-for engagement ring. Of course, I said yes. Dad had been almost as happy as I was. We didn’t waste time arranging an intimate wedding. For one, I didn’t want to wait to marry the man I loved, and secondly, I wanted Dad to be a part of it and walk me down the aisle, which he did.

The wedding and reception were memorable, to say the least. The looks on our friends and business acquaintances’ faces, when they saw the bulk of the groom’s side was military officials along with bikers, were hilarious. I still chuckled every time I thought about it. Griffin liked to joke it was good for the stuffy ones. I agreed. To be honest, I enjoyed the guests on his side more than on mine. I ended up getting to meet many of the Warriors, Punishers, Pagans, and Horsemen I’d heard so much about, as well as seeing my favorites, the Marauders again.

Since moving I’d been introduced to my in-laws. They were amazingly warm and loving people. Graden and Jessica, a.k.a. Jessie, had welcomed me and Dad with open arms. They weren’t too far away, so we got to see them often. Jessie was giving me a sense of having a mom once again which I loved.

The final amazing part was discovering eight months ago that I was pregnant. Dad, Graden, and Jessie had been ecstatic, and so were Griffin and me. The only terrible part of it all was yesterday when Travis Graden Voss was born. His namesake wasn’t here to see it. Dad lost his battle with MDS and leukemia three months ago. I was still battling my grief, but he made me promise before he died not to mourn him too much. After all, he was being reunited with my mom, the love of his life. He passed away peacefully in his sleep with us at his side. He had a smile on his face when he passed.

“You thinking about your dad, baby?” Griffin asked softly as he came over to the bed. I was due to get discharged soon. Travis was sleeping in my arms. A tear slipped down my cheek as I nodded. I couldn’t hide anything from this man. He got on the bed and wrapped his arm around us.

“Babe, don’t. This is a happy time. I know you miss him. I do too. He was a wonderful man who raised the woman I love and adore. I know he and your mom are up in heaven looking down and smiling. They love their grandson. We’ll make sure Travis and our other kids know all about their two amazing grandparents in heaven.”

I nodded as I let the rest of my tears dry up. “We will. I love you, Griffin Voss.”

“Not as much as I love you, Hadley Gerard-Voss, and not as much as I will love you and our kids over time. Thank you for being such a revelation to me and showing me that I am the kind to settle down. All I had to do was wait for the right woman.”