31. Epilogue: One Year Later

Epilogue – One Year Later

Ellie

" I t's time to quit," Grey announced.

He held Joey against his broad shoulder, rubbing the baby's back in an effort to get him to burp. Joey gurgled, waved his chubby arms, then spit a gob of milk on the towel.

Grey sat the baby on his lap, then wiped our son's tiny mouth. "Okay, champ, nighty night."

Though the late afternoon streamed brilliant sunlight through the living room's curtains, Joey often napped until early evening. I curled up on the sofa as Grey set Joey in his cradle at the sofa's end. Joey offered a protesting squawk before snuggling into his blanket and falling asleep.

"Won't Owen offer you a job as a coach?" I asked as Grey returned to his place.

With more gray in his shaggy hair and the lines around his eyes and mouth growing deeper, Grey sighed and shrugged. His nose had never fully recovered over the last two seasons and carried a permanent bend to the right. His left cheek bore a scar from the jagged edge of a broken stick. With this season's end, his contract with the Vermont Vipers had now expired.

"He offered me a new contract," Grey murmured. "He hopes for a third Cup win."

"No," I said, immediately and emphatically. "You can't. I don't say this to put you down, but you are too old. This is a young kid's game, and that, my love, you are not."

He smiled. "I'm forty-two. It's time to quit."

"You sure don't need the money."

"True. Coaching makes decent money, though. I can demand a big paycheck to coach the Vipers to another Cup. The question is: Do I want to?"

I leaned my cheek against the sofa's back, watching his face. "It's just as physical."

"Yep. And it's a good reason to stay in shape so I can keep up with my very virile and energetic wife."

"You'll work out downstairs as you always have."

Part of me craved to have Grey home, sharing baby duties, keeping house, raising Joey and his siblings we hoped to have. The other part of me knew Grey would hate being home all the time. He may talk about fully retiring, toss the idea around like a ball, make plans to work on the house, add an addition onto the rear but I knew better than to think that would make him happy.

"You'll go crazy," I murmured. "Maybe you should take a coaching job."

"Yeah, I might," he admitted. "I want to stay here with you and Joey. Do stuff I've never been able to do."

"Like what?"

"Oh, I dunno. Write a book."

I laughed. "I'll write the book. You go to work. Look, I want you here, I really do. But you'll be like a caged tiger. You'll get under my feet. Then you'll piss me off."

"But you're so cute when you're pissed."

The doorbell chimed, jerking me out of the pretense I wasn't nervous, the vague hope he had changed his mind and decided not to come. Grey took my hand as he stood, bringing me up with him. He hugged me briefly as though offering his courage, winked, then walked to the door.

I wiped my sweaty palms down my jeans, my stomach filled with a riot of butterflies. True, we'd spent time talking on the phone. Yes, we'd communicated in text and email. We'd forgiven one another.

That's not quite the same as having him walk into my home.

Grey's voice rose in greeting, excitement, though I couldn't see past his big frame to view our visitor.

"It's so great to see you, it's about damned time, too." Grey swung the door wider.

Smiling, his arm over Grey's shoulders, Colton walked in.

It had been over a year since he held the knife to my throat. Like Grey, he'd aged a bit in that long year. He'd cut his hair, for instance. His face, handsome yet rounded and childish, had grown hard angles. His blue eyes snapped with a smile, and his welcoming grin disarmed me immediately.

"Ellie," he cried, crossing the room in long strides. "You're as beautiful as ever."

Crushed under his strong arms, I hugged him back, for once truly and happy to see him. "Colton, I'm so glad you're here. Meet your brother."

He stepped to the cradle and looked down, his face softening. "Hiya, bro. How's it hanging?" He glanced up. "Can I hold him?"

I looked to find Grey accompanied by a tall woman with rose-gold hair and blue eyes. Grey grinned as he shut the front door, obviously knowing who this woman was while I hadn't.

"Ellie," Colton said, taking the woman's hand, "meet Sylvia. My fiancée."

"Oh!" I cried. "How wonderful to meet you."

As though I'd known her forever, I embraced her, gushing over her beautiful fall of hair, pushing her close to the cradle.

"This is my son, Joey," I said, picking the baby up without waking him. "Here, hold your brother."

Grinning, Colton gently held Joey in one arm as Sylvia crooned and tickled Joey's tiny fingers. I held Grey's hand as Colton stared down into his sleeping brother's face, awed, transfixed. Sylvia couldn't seem to stop smiling, meeting my gaze.

"I want a baby so bad," she said. "We agreed after our wedding would probably be best."

"When is that?" Grey asked.

"Tentatively planning for this summer. Then a cruise to the Bahamas for our honeymoon."

"We need to save money for both," Colton added, glancing up. "My job pays well, but we're trying to buy a house, too. That's a lot of cash."

I caught Grey's eyes, and I knew what he was thinking. He wanted to help pay for some of their expenses. Nor could I object. I gave him a subtle nod and a wink. He slid his arm around my waist to squeeze me hard against him.

"Congrats on the game, by the way," Colton added, sitting down with Joey still asleep. "Are you retiring now?"

"Thinking about it."

"You are getting up there, Dad."

Grey rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the reminder."

"Welcome."

"May I?" Syvia asked.

"If you can get him away from Colton."

Colton passed Joey over to Sylvia, who had surely held babies before. She cooed and clucked, clearly in her element, smiling with utter delight.

She'll make a great mom, I thought. Colton finally grew up. It's almost hard to believe.

For the next few hours, we talked and laughed in perfect, family harmony. My gaze met Colton's frequently, the passionate love we once possessed had grown into a firm and powerful friendship. I might be his young stepmother, his father's wife, I was also his half-brother's mom. His easy way with both Joey and I told me exactly how much he'd matured, moved on from what we had.

Grey took Joey to his nursery for a diaper change, followed by Sylvia. Colton and I sat on the same couch and looked at one another.

"You've forgiven me?" he asked, his voice low. "Really?"

"I really have."

"I'm thankful, Ellie." He scooted across the couch to sit beside me. "Thankful you're in Dad's life, thankful for Joey, and because you wouldn't take me back, I found Sylvia."

"She's perfect for you."

He grinned. "Yeah. I'm over the moon in love. She's everything to me."

"I can see that."

"Sorry I missed the wedding."

Grey and I had a small wedding in the courthouse, with only a few special friends to witness it. "We didn't want anything formal. Anything more may have brought the reporters down on us."

"Wouldn't want that." Colton grimaced. "I've had to change my name. Being Grey Aldine's son isn't easy, especially after what I did."

"Give it time. People forget, move on, there's always another crisis to grip their attention."

"We don't want to move back here," he went on. "Sylvia likes New York and we're nicely anonymous. My boss likes my work and says he doesn't want me to ever leave the company."

"Just come back and see us now and then."

He kissed my cheek. "You know it."

Grey, Sylvia, and Joey returned. Freshly awake from his nap and with a clean diaper, he grinned up at me as I took him from Grey. Holding him in my lap, I fed him as we discussed where to go for dinner.

"As I haven't been forgiven by the people of Vermont," Colton said lamely, "let's go somewhere with little light."

"I have just the place," Grey commented. "Son, I'm really glad you came. We're a family again. I've missed that something terrible."

Colton and I smiled at once another.

"We're family," I murmured. "But you'd better not call me ‘mom'."

Colton and Sylvia laughed, holding hands. "Never," Colton said. "Mom."

THE END.