Epilogue

Victor

Five Years Later

“ I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Olivia says.

She wipes her hands down her jeans as we wait for the caseworker. I smile at her and wrap my arm around her shoulders. We’ve been fostering a brother and sister for the past year and finally received approval to adopt them. Karl is fifteen, and Chloe is his six-month-old sister. Their parents both died from overdoses. Karl has been angry almost all year, but Olivia opened up to him about four months ago and told him how she grew up.

She told him he had a choice: be angry for the rest of his life for the hand he was dealt, or prove to himself that he can overcome it and be whoever he wants to be. That clicked with him, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. The caseworker comes in with Karl and Chloe. Karl is holding Chloe. This is having to go through the court, so we’re sitting before a judge while our friends sit in the courtroom behind us.

Karl sits next to us, and Chloe immediately finds Olivia, reaching out to her. Olivia looks at the judge, not sure if she can hold her yet.

“Go ahead, Mrs. Valentine,” the judge says.

Olivia takes her and holds her close before leaning over and giving Karl a kiss on the cheek. Karl blushes, but doesn’t shy away from the affection. I pat him on the shoulder.

“Hey, son,” I greet him. Karl smiles and nods at me.

“Alright,” the judge begins. “This is informal, but part of the process. Michelle, do you have the paperwork for me to sign?”

Our caseworker, Michelle, steps forward and hands him the packet of paperwork. He reads through each thing and signs what he needs to before handing it back to Michelle, who brings it to us and shows us where we need to sign.

We both sign each section. Every time Olivia signs, she kisses the top of Chloe’s head and beams at Karl. She’d probably kiss him too if she thought she could get away with it. After the paperwork is signed, Michelle takes it to the judge.

“Mr. and Mrs. Valentine, if you will come up here with Karl and Chloe.” We all stand and step before the judge. “Karl and Chloe.” Chloe turns her head at the sound of her name and the pride swelling in my chest becomes almost too much to handle. “You are both Karl Valentine and Chloe Valentine,” the judge says. We gave Karl the choice to change their last name, and he immediately agreed. “Congratulations!”

There’s a roar of cheers behind us as we turn toward Karl. I can tell by the look on Karl’s face he’s hesitant, but I don’t give him a choice. I wrap an arm around his neck and an arm around Olivia’s waist to pull us all into a family hug. Olivia holds Chloe tight as she wraps her other arm around Karl and finally gives in to kissing his cheek. She’s crying, but she doesn’t try to wipe the tears away.

Karl wraps one arm around me and the other around Olivia. It’s the four of us against the world. “Son.” Karl’s eyes open and look at me. It’s almost eerie how much he looks like Olivia. He’s got black hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. There are tears in his eyes as he looks up at me. “I’m proud to call you mine,” I tell him.

The childhood he had was horrid. Never knowing if he was going to eat or if he was going to wake up to find his parents dead, only for that to happen. I want to make sure the rest of his life he feels safe and secure.

“Thanks, dad.” My heart stops in my chest. He turns to look at Olivia. “And mom.” Olivia slowly brings her hand up to cup his cheek. He used to flinch anytime we’d try to touch him, but he’s learning to trust us.

“I love you so much,” Olivia whispers.

Karl leans forward and kisses her on the cheek. “I love you too.”

Olivia hands Chloe to me and wraps her arms around Karl, hugging him tightly. Chloe’s hand comes up and rubs against my beard, then she giggles. I lean down and rub my cheek against hers, making her squeal. I chuckle and can’t stop myself from showering her with kisses.

“Alright, family, we need to go,” I tell them.

We all turn and are greeted by our friends. Everyone is hugged, including Karl and Chloe. Karl accepts it all. He’s already close to Connor, who has taken him under his wing and taught him a lot on the construction sites over the summer. Connor and I merged our construction business together. Mainly because I’m focusing more on my restaurants and the guy I had decided to move across the country.

If Karl continues in this direction and wants to be a part of the construction business, I plan on giving it to him the day he graduates from college. Connor has already made more than one comment about how he likes Karl better than me, so I don’t think he’ll be too upset about it. Everyone heads to our house for the welcome home party we planned for Karl and Chloe.

Caroline and Bass are bringing their three kids ; Julian and Bailey are bringing their twins. Lincoln and Ansley arrived back into town a few days ago from their trip to Europe. They plan on going to Japan in a couple of months. Everyone, even Malachi, Arden, and Lane, made it a point to celebrate this with us.

When we arrive home, there’s a welcome home sign hanging in front of the door. Karl sits forward and takes it in. “Wow! You guys did that for us?” he asks.

Olivia turns to look at him. “Of course we did,” she answers him.

I park, get Chloe out of her car seat, and we all walk inside to be greeted by Betsy, Crystal, Grant, and Lane. Lane is the only security I keep on the premises since Donovan is no longer alive. I don’t feel the need to have more. Although I might reconsider that when Karl begins driving and Chloe starts dating. They all hug Karl and from his expression, I can tell he wasn’t expecting this.

We walk into the kitchen and Karl’s mouth drops. There’s a buffet of his favorite foods; pizza, chips and dip, garlic breadsticks, and chicken nuggets. There’s also a huge cake we had made. He walks around the kitchen, taking everything in. Karl looks up at me and Olivia with tears in his eyes. He opens his mouth once, but closes it again. Then he walks across the kitchen and wraps his arms around both of us.

“Thank you,” he whispers.

His voice cracks. We both embrace him and look at each other. This is what dreams are made of. Everyone shows up, surprising Karl even more. Ansley comes over and says hi to Olivia, giving her a big hug before taking Chloe. Olivia chuckles as I walk over to her and wrap my arm around her.

Olivia pouts good naturedly. “She just wanted the baby.”

Ansley turns around and tilts her head at Olivia. “You know I love you, but honestly, can you blame me?” Chloe pats Ansley’s cheek and giggles.

Olivia shakes her head. “No, I really can’t.”

“Everyone, thank you for coming to celebrate with us today,” I say over all the rowdiness. “Go ahead and help yourselves to food, then we can all head outside so the kids can play.” I motion to Karl to grab his food.

“I’ll make us a plate,” Olivia says.

I lean down and kiss her. “Thank you, treasure. I’m going to get my daughter and we’ll head outside.”

She chuckles and shakes her head. “Good luck.”

I walk over to Ansley and pluck Chloe right out of her arms. She pouts at me, but immediately turns and grabs Cora, Caroline’s baby, from her. I walk outside and sit on one of the rocking chairs. Chloe has started to stand while we hold her hands, so I let her bounce up and down on my knees while she babbles away.

Sometimes I feel like she’s holding an actual conversation with me. She’ll do her chattering, then wait for me to respond with something like “Is that right, Chloe?” or “What else happened?” She starts chattering away again when I do. My heart is so full it might explode. I never thought in a million years this would be my life.

When all the shit happened with Josie, I assumed I’d be alone for the rest of my life. I never thought I’d find someone as amazing as Olivia, and I definitely never thought I’d be a dad. Olivia walks out with Karl and they both sit in the chairs next to me. Karl doesn’t speak as he scarfs his food down.

“Slow down, honey,” Olivia says. “You’re going to choke.”

He slows down by maybe a millisecond. I chuckle and shake my head. Once he gets done eating, I hand him Chloe.

“Please hold her so I can eat real quick, then you can go do whatever you want,” I tell him.

He nods and plays with Chloe while I eat the pizza Olivia brought me. She finishes eating and I can tell she wants to take Chloe from Karl, but when she sees how he’s playing with her, she stops. We watch them as he blows raspberries at her and she laughs each time like it’s the first time he’s ever done it. When I’m done eating, Karl notices immediately.

“Can I go get Sammy and play with him?” he asks. Sammy stays in the barn, but I’ve been considering getting Karl a house dog since he’s grown so attached to Sammy. Or let Sammy come inside. It’s something to consider.

“Sure, you can,” I tell him.

He stands with a big smile on his face. “Thank you.” He runs down the steps of the porch, but turns around. “Mia, Elle, Evan, want to go play with Sammy?”

All three kids jump and excitedly ask their parents if it’s okay. Mia is five now, Elle and Evan, Julian and Bailey’s twins, are four. They all run off and Connor stands.

“Bec and I have an announcement,” he says. Bec stands next to him with a big smile on her face. “We’re going to have a baby, too.” All the women jump up with various screeches and screams, running to Bec to give her congratulations. I stand and step toward Connor to give him a handshake after all the other guys congratulate him.

“Congratulations. How far along is she?” I ask.

Connor sighs. “She’s almost six months.”

“Really, that far?” I ask. It’s none of my business why they waited to tell everyone.

“We’ve struggled, so she wanted to wait until she started to show,” he says.

I nod in understanding, not asking anymore questions. Everyone stays over for a few more hours before they all leave. Betsy and Crystal clean up and I have to force Olivia to let them so we can get the kids to sleep.

Karl showers while Olivia feeds Chloe. After Karl is done, he joins us in the upstairs living room. We all sit around and watch one of those home improvement shows. It’s one of the things we all enjoy winding down to in the evening. When it’s over, Olivia gives Karl a hug and kiss on the cheek goodnight, then he gives her and Chloe both kisses on the cheek.

Olivia takes Chloe to her room to get her ready for bed and I walk to Karl’s room. When he first stayed with us, he had a hard time sleeping because the house is so big and he said he heard lots of noises at night. I slept on the floor for the first couple of weeks until he felt comfortable. I know he’s fifteen, but I like walking him to his room and telling him goodnight.

“Thank you for today,” Karl says. “It was the best day of my life.”

We stop inside his room and I wrap my arm around his neck, pulling him to me in a big hug. “It was the best day of my life too. I’m so grateful you’re legally my son now,” I tell him.

Karl wraps his arms around me and hugs me back just as tight. “Me too.” He pulls away. “Good night.”

I tell him good night and walk out. Stopping in Chloe’s room, I give her a quick kiss on her forehead. She’s sucking on her thumb and is almost asleep, so I try not to disturb her. After Olivia and I get ready for bed, we both climb in and she crawls over, draping herself across my chest.

“This was the best day ever,” she whispers.

I run my fingers up and down her spine. “It was,” I agree with her.

She sits up and looks at me. She is so beautiful.

“I love you, Victor Valentine.” She leans forward and kisses me softly before pulling back.

“I love you too, Olivia Valentine.”

She lays her head back on my chest and sighs in contentment. “You’ve made all my dreams come true,” she murmurs. I can tell she’s minutes away from drifting off to sleep. But she pops up again to look at me. She rubs her hand along my jaw. “The way I feel about you…” She swallows and blinks rapidly. “It’s like coming home after a bad day. You’re my safe place, and I never thought I’d have that.”

I sit up slightly and roll her over so I’m hovering over her. “That’s exactly how I feel about you too, Olivia. I love you more than words can say.” She smiles up at me with a look of utter contentment. “And I’m looking forward to coming home to you and our kids each day for the rest of our lives.”

The End