Epilogue

EPILOGUE

ELI

THREE YEARS LATER

We have spent the last three years getting used to our new life in the big city and my new…perks. We both understood right away that we didn’t want to live like we had money, but we both wanted to be secure and enjoy the life we were blessed with and the level of lives we were given to love.

After we had Brielle, we knew we wanted another within the first six months. Luckily, a year after Brielle was born, my wife gave birth to Eli Junior or as we call him, EJ. My son is the light of my life and my look alike. He has my cheeky personality, but my wife's sweet nature and I am always shocked at the capacity of the heart to expand and welcome in so much more. I will say that having a daughter first made me a better person, but having a son has made me feel like a hero.

My wife is currently carrying our third child, another girl, and neither of us could be more thrilled. We talked about how many we wanted, and we agreed that four is the magic number, although if I am honest, breeding her is my personal drug of choice.

“My love, rest. I will go relieve Stephanie for the day.” I kiss my yawning wife and nestling daughter before leaving bed. The house is deceptively quiet as I descend the stairs, and I can’t help wondering if they have finally put the nanny to sleep.

You might be laughing, but have you seen a three-year-old and a two-year-old commit a misdemeanor? I swear I have at least seen mine plotting one. My kids are sweet as punch but way too slick and sneaky for me. I swear they whisper in supposed baby talk and plot against us. I trust them not, but I love them more than myself.

“Mr. Daniels. The angels just went down for their nap. They are taking a late one today on account of their playdate running over.”

“Ah. That’s no problem. You are free to go for the day.” She smiles because she is used to this. I often relieve her early. October and I don’t want someone else raising our children. We hired her for some downtime meant only to revitalize us and keep Mommy and Daddy charged.

“It’s no problem, really. I can stay later.” Smiling, I touch her shoulder and shake my head.

“You know their mommy, and I love caring for our monsters.” She scoffs at our term of endearment.

“They are angels. Not monsters. Pure angels.” My ass.

Once she is gone, I decide to get a jump start on dinner. October and I split duties, shifting and taking turns with each task. However, the further along she gets, the less I like her on her feet for long periods, so dinner ends up being my thing.

During quiet moments like this, when I am not working and the house is silent, I sit back and look around. I try to remember a time when there was only she and me, no children, just us walking through life the way we thought it should be, but I find it hard to remember that time.

Now, for me, there is no before my children, and for the rest of my life, I will be grateful that such a monstrous mishap turned into the best thing to ever happen to us. I can never express how being married to October has changed my life.