EPILOGUE 3

EPILOGUE 3

KADE - 4 years later

Roman is on my right, Junior on my left as the lights in the theatre dim – red velvet curtains rise, revealing all the little dancers readying for their routine as “From Now On” from The Greatest Showman begins, and my eyes are already watering.

Daisy, Eden and Anastasia are among the dancers, and Stacey is kneeling to the side, guiding them through their steps. Base is recording, Luciella is crying already and our parents are behind us watching too.

I remember the first time I watched the movie with Stacey. I think her obsession with it matched mine, and I knew at that point I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. And I am. We’re in our mid-thirties now, with two kids, living in a house I promised to build, and Junior even comes to stay from time to time.

My sketches are all over the walls. The dogs we had, Milo and Hopper, have a portrait above our fireplace. There’s a family portrait I did right next to it.

I even take Stacey on dates, and she still blushes when I say cute things to her. She also likes to drag me to bed when the kids are asleep and remind me what her mouth can do before I fuck her into the mattress.

The chorus hits, and I clap with everyone else to the beat. Daisy is so small on the stage, but she has the confidence of her mother, and she doesn’t miss a step. My daughter is definitely a daddy’s girl – even a grandpa’s girl.

Stacey and I always place bets on which kid will come into our room first during the night. Most of the time it’s Daisy, but recently, Roman has been sleeping on her floor when she gets afraid of the dark, and I don’t have it in me to tell him not to because it reminds me of when Jason and I did that for Luciella.

Stacey is going nuts down there, and I watch her as she hypes her dancers up, following their steps, and as the little ones run off to the side, and the older dancers join in halfway through the song, so does Stacey. Four hoops lower from the ceiling, and she leads the rest of the routine, and I can’t take my damn eyes off my wife.

She’s breath-taking in every form.

Everyone gets to their feet, still clapping to the song as all the age groups join the stage, jumping up and down and singing along.

Stacey is crying, lifting Daisy into her arms and the twins wave at Base and Luciella. My best friend puts his arm around my sister and kisses her head as he keeps recording the stage.

The show ends, and Roman sighs in relief. “That was soooooo boring, Dad.”

I laugh. “Don’t say that in front of your sister.”

He pinkie promises me, and we make our way out of the seating area, and my Daisy comes sprinting out of the side door, Stacey trying to catch up, and hurls herself right into my arms.

“Did you see me, Daddy?” she screams, her face red from jumping around.

“I did! You were so good, baby girl.”

Everyone crowds around us. Dad and Mum say they’re going to head home, Junior wants to come stay at my house, and Luciella holds her back and waddles towards us. She looks like she’s close to popping, but she’s only six months along.

“My little princesses! You were both great!” Base picks up his twins. “Are we going for pizza?”

“Shut up,” I whisper-hiss at him so my daughter doesn’t hear. “I already promised food and a movie with the kids at home.”

He flattens his lips. “You’re not going to subject your spawn to another viewing of the movie of the show you just watched here, right?”

“Hey!” Roman scolds. “I like that movie!”

Base shakes his head. “You would say that. You’re just your father in a younger form.”

My son scowls at him. He loves him really, but he’s very protective of his little unit. Even if Base is technically a mafia leader.

Stacey grins and takes my hand, leading me towards the door. “We’ll see you all at our place for Christmas?”

They all agree, and I smile at my girl as she looks over at me.

It all feels normal. We are normal.

We’ve never been normal before.

But now, since there’s no Bernadette and no Chris forcing us to the edge of darkness, and we don’t feel like we’re in forbidden territory being together, Stacey and I can just… be.

Everyone knows she’s mine. And everyone knows I’m hers. Everything has fallen into place for us, and now we have it all.

I don’t regret letting myself get arrested all those years ago, because otherwise I wouldn’t have this. I wouldn’t have Stacey smiling at me as we walk our son, daughter and nephew to the car to head home and watch The Greatest Showman with bowls of junk food.

The fulfilling feeling of mattering to someone so much that they’re still by my side even now, after everything – it’s surreal. But Stacey’s always been there. Through everything. She’s been there.

Our broken puzzle pieces are finally firmly in place, and they’ll never be torn apart again. Because we get to have this. We get to have everything we’ve ever wanted.

Kade Mitchell and Stacey Rhodes – the fifteen-year-olds who met by the pool twenty years ago – finally get to have their forever.

THE END