Epilogue

I righted the cap on Reed's head and straightened the dangling tassel, trying my damnedest not to weep. But god damn was it a losing game.

"You look good, kid," I choked out.

He laughed at me right to my face. "I knew you were going to cry."

"Yeah, well, crying is just a physical release of emotion. Am I not allowed to be emotional about my boy graduating high school?"

Looking away, he scrubbed his mouth with his hand and shrugged. "It's all right I guess." The thickness of his voice hadn't gotten past me. There was a time, not too long ago, he didn't think he'd get to this day. "I'm the one who has to go out there and walk across the stage. Don't try to make me cry with you."

"Then I suggest you not look at your sister," I murmured.

Of course, we both did at the same time.

Daisy had just come down the steps and caught sight of us. One hand cupped her bowling ball belly, the other was pressed to her cheek—a sure sign of imminent tears.

Reed shielded his eyes. "No. Not you too."

She waved her hand in front of her face. "I'm trying, but you just look so cute in your cap and gown, and this creature inside me is pressing directly on my heart bones. I have no control over myself at the moment."

"There's no such thing as heart bones," Reed chided.

She put her fists on her hips. "Then explain what I'm feeling inside right now." She paused, waiting for either of us to say anything. We did not. We knew better by now.

"That's what I thought." She padded across the living room of the house we bought soon after moving to Sacramento, barreling directly into Reed. He caught her easily and took all her weight, wrapping his arms around her gingerly. Since she'd gotten pregnant, he'd basically tiptoed around her, nervous to jostle or startle her.

It was cute as hell, and I loved seeing him care so deeply for his sister and future nephew.

She was seven months pregnant, and with her small stature and delicate frame, she truly looked like she'd swallowed a watermelon. I found it hard to believe her belly could get any bigger, but I never doubted Daisy could do anything she set her mind to, including carry my massive son to term.

"I love you, Reed. I couldn't be prouder of you," she said against his chest.

He gently patted his sister's back, looking at me with a slight panic. Not because of the hug. Hugs were commonplace around here. But because Daisy had let loose a sob to end all sobs.

"Love you too, Daze."

He passed my crying wife to me and skedaddled out of the living room. Probably to text his girlfriend about his guardians traumatizing him with their great big love for him.

I took Daisy to the couch and let her cry against me, splaying my hand on her belly. We had time before the ceremony and the descent of the Dunhams and Aldrichs to get some tears out.

The last three years had been the easiest of my life. Not at first, of course. We'd all been off-kilter when we'd arrived, and Daisy and I had been watching Reed like a hawk. We'd gotten him in therapy right away, but the thing that made the biggest difference had been starting school and getting to be a regular kid. Still quirky, but he'd found his people who'd enjoyed what he did, sat with him at lunch, and invited him out on the weekends.

Once he was settled, Daisy and I had been able to breathe and fall in love all over again. We hadn't had to wait for the next shoe to drop or look over our shoulders. No exes or crazy mothers showing up on our doorsteps. No one gasped when we said our last names. We could just be Daisy and Miles with our boy Reed. Because that was what he became. Not our son, but something more than a brother. Our boy.

He'd helped me plan my proposal when we'd been here for three months, and when Daisy and I had gotten married on the one-year anniversary of our first meeting, he'd stood up for me along with Weston.

Funny thing was, somewhere along the way, West and Elise had taken to Reed too. We'd hosted them at our place just as often as we'd been back to visit them. At least, until their son, Elias, had been born last year. Now, we'd been crashing with them much more frequently to get that baby fix.

Solomon climbed up on the couch and rested his narrow head on Daisy's belly—his favorite spot since she'd conceived.

"He's going to be such a good big brother," Daisy said as she stroked his fur.

"Thank god we're having a baby for him. He's going to go into mourning when Reed leaves for college."

"We all are." She sniffed. "But it's good. Berkeley isn't that far."

"Not far at all." I rubbed the underside of her belly, feeling Baby Boy rolling around. She placed her hand over mine and gave me a lopsided smile.

"We'll be happy too, and we'll hold onto it."

"That's what we do, Cupcake. Hold onto happiness for all its worth."

We'd had a lot of that over the years. Grazing by Daisy and Bea was steadily growing. Daisy still held the state senate contract, and through the contacts she'd made, she'd booked enough jobs to keep her busy and the business flush. My girl was proud of what she'd built, along with Bea, who was killing it in Denver. More than anything, I loved seeing her take pride in her accomplishments.

She inspired me not to slack off, which used to be a bad habit of mine. I kept striving so I'd be a partner she could be proud of too.

She was good about telling me she was. Always baking me cupcakes to celebrate my small and big wins. Never failing to remind me I was as important to her and this family as she was to me.

Even on the bad days—and there were some, like when my mother had managed to call from a number that wasn't blocked—I held tight to the happiness Daisy and I had created. There was enough of it, it never faded.

Reed tromped down the stairs, making as much noise as a herd of buffalo in his size thirteen shoes. The kid had surpassed my height at six and a half feet tall and had finally filled out. Since last year, he'd had girls calling and texting at all hours, but he seemed pretty stuck on the one he'd started dating the beginning of his senior year. We'd see how college went.

Oh shit.

There I went, getting choked up again.

"Are all eyes dry?" Reed called warily.

"I don't know what you want from us," Daisy lamented. "If you think we're bad, just wait a half-hour for Mama. She's going to be bawling."

He slapped his forehead. "Can you keep her away from me until after the ceremony? I don't want everyone's last memory of me to be crying like a baby walking across the stage. I'd like to leave high school with a little cred."

"Don't worry, Reed. No one's cooler than you," I assured him.

He stomped back up the stairs, leaving us in a fit of quiet laughter. Solomon ruffed at Daisy for his bouncing pillow, but he put up with it like the Velcro he was.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you, Miles?" She threaded her fingers through mine. "Not many men would have stayed after sitting on the bridge three years ago. But you, you never faltered. You took on a teenage boy and his grumpy sister and loved us so well without ever asking for a single thing in return."

I shook my head. "I didn't have to ask, Daisy. You've given me everything. And anyone who would've walked away after the bridge wouldn't have been worthy of you and Reed."

"I love you so much, Spreadsheet." She smiled up at me like she always did when she called me that. "Tell me you love me so I don't cry right now."

I took her face in my hands and rubbed the jut of her lower lip. My own personal storm cloud. The kind welcomed after a blistering day in the sun. That brought life and relief. My Daisy.

"I love you, Daisy Ethel Aldrich. There is not a chance on this green earth I'll ever stop."

We're not leaving Denver yet!

The Mile High Billionaires series is coming and Clara, Shira, and Bea are going to find their own happy endings.