Epilogue

EPILOGUE

MACI

Seven Years Later

L ukas has his hand on the small of my back as we walk through the house. It's the middle of the night, and we're checking in on the kids. Max sleeps curled up in a ball, his thumb stuck in his mouth. Lina is on her back, our little snorer, her night light shining on her smile. She's always smiling.

Finally, Adrian sleeps in his crib, his soft breathing audible in his bedroom and the baby monitor I carry clipped on my hip. He's our newest addition, our little bundle of joy. We walk into his bedroom together, looking down at him, savoring how his tiny chest rises and falls.

"It never gets old, does it?" Lukas says, kissing me just below the ear.

A tingle dances over me. "No," I whisper. "None of it does."

He knows what I'm talking about. A new baby is always a magical feeling, and the first time after the new baby is magical, too. Lukas takes my hand, leading me through the house and down to the basement pool. We've got security alarms and the baby monitor, in case our children need us, but this is just for us.

"You're so beautiful," Lukas whispers, his hands smoothing over my body as the lights shimmer off the pool's surface. "I swear, you get more beautiful every time."

I try to laugh, but it turns into a moan when he glides his hands up between my legs. It's been months since we could be fully intimate. Now, I feel like I'm starving for him.

No, drowning in him, in our desire, in the bliss of our marriage, a thousand moments popping like bubbles and then more bubbles forming, over and over, a constant cycle of perfection.

THE END