Epilogue

EPILOGUE

HUNTER

S pring started late, but we’ve managed to catch a day that’s a perfect temperature for the end of March.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this!” Winter says, clutching onto me. She practically vibrates with nerves, and Kitty lets out a quick yip and paws her leg to be picked up.

“Right,” she says, talking to Kitty. Still shaking, she says, “Hold this.”

She unceremoniously drops our six-month-old daughter into my arms.

“Well, hello, ‘This,’” I drawl.

August comes from my left to say, “Her name is Dawn. Why are you calling her ‘This?’” He scrunches up his face and scratches behind his ear.

“Joking,” I tell August, and all he says is, “Oh. Okay,” before pulling away from us to get closer to the view. Winter bends over to pick up Kitty, and she immediately plunges her fingers into his fur. She’s clearly having some moments of distress, but the wide smile on her face seems to win out as the prevailing emotion.

The annual Cherry Blossom Festival starts today, and Winter debated which day to go during the weeklong celebration.

She thought if we went at the end of the festival, there would theoretically be fewer people around. But then she feared that she’d miss the blooms at their peak since the festival’s scheduling isn’t an exact science.

When she decided we should go on day one, she did so with the caveat that we would go at the asscrack of dawn and only stay for a maximum of thirty minutes.

“Pull whatever rich boy strings you have to make sure we can get in and out without having to wade through a sea of people,” she told me as she wrung her hands at the kitchen island where we’d discussed the plans.

“For you, Sunbeam? Anything,” I’d responded

Dawn lets out an adorable raspberry that transmutes into an indelicate squawk.

“You wanna see the cherry blossoms too, baby girl?” I whisper to my daughter. I tickle the side of her neck, and she releases a laugh that hits me in the solar plexus every time.

Looking at Dawn is like looking at the galaxy. It’s overwhelming and awe-inspiring and thoroughly unbelievable. I can’t believe that she’s here in my arms. She inherited Winter’s face—her cheeks, lips, and eye shape—but she got my eye color. And while she’s fair-skinned, she has enough of a natural tan that people know she’s mixed.

Not that I let people anywhere close to her. Winter says that I eventually need to ease up.

The jury’s still out on that one.

“I just want to walk the circuit and then we can leave,” Winter says at my side. Sticking my arm out for her to link through, I say, “This is your show, Sunbeam. You lead the way.”

Once we’re on the wide bike path lining the Basin, the smell of the blossoms hits me, transporting me to a different time. In my memories, I’m back in the garden at Amelia Manor as a child, my mother dancing around me while she picked roses.

It’s a bright scent, and a perfect complement to this moment.

“Wow, H…” Winter tilts her head back, spinning slowly to take in all the trees. “It’s everything I ever imagined.”

Something in my soul shifts to see her in this moment.

Winter’s dreams, realized.

With a sigh, Dawn curls into me, nestling into my chest with her thumb in her mouth. I put my chin on the top of her head as I watch Winter reach up to touch one of the blossoms.

“Take one,” I tell her.

“Isn’t that illegal?” She sounds appalled.

I lift my eyebrow. “Really? You’re worried about the legalities of taking a flower that’s going to fall from the tree and die in a few days?”

She purses her lips, straightening her back into a prim pose.

“There are rules for a reason, Hunter.”

“And rules are made to be broken,” I reply. Scandalizing her, I reach for a low-hanging branch and snap a twelve-inch section from the tree.

She gasps. “Hunter James Brigham, you can’t do that!” she whisper-shouts.

“Well, baby,” I say, grinning. “It looks like I just did.”

She tries to look angry when I push the limb toward her, but with a look to her left and right, she hides the broken twig in the lower inside pocket of her jacket with a smile.

“I can’t with you,” she says, shaking her head.

“Anything for my babies,” I say, shrugging.

August lopes over to us. “I have seen everything I wanted to see. Can we leave now?” he asks.

Spinning one more time and inhaling deeply with her eyes closed, Winter says, “I’ve seen all I need too, Augs.”

Her smile shines bright like the sun.

Once we’re back in the Tahoe and headed back toward Amelia Manor, we fall into a tired silence. It’s only six a.m. but seeing Winter’s face was well worth it.

“Where to now?” Winter asks.

“Well, we’re going to Amelia Manor first,” I say.

“First?” she asks.

I glance at August who starts to fidget excitedly. I’ve had him help me keep this secret for three weeks now, and I promised him that he could spill the news.

“August, you want to explain?” I say, leaning back in the seat. Dawn’s car seat is between where Winter and I sit in the backseat. August sits in the passenger seat while Patrick, August’s new regular guard, drives.

August lets out a happy sound and begins to type frantically. Dawn reaches up and grabs my finger, holding onto it while she sucks the thumb on her other hand and looks toward Winter’s window.

“You will drop me off at Amelia Manor where I will stay with Aunt Ella and Uncle Leo,” August says. “Then you will go to the airport where you will board a plane to Charles DeGaulle Airport. That is in Paris, France.”

Winter’s brows go up. “We’re going to Paris?” she squeaks.

“Yep,” I say, looking at her with my peripheral vision as I fix my gaze on Dawn.

“But…we have kids. We can’t just gallivant off to Europe like that!” she says, turning to face me more fully. Her gaze ping-pongs between me and our son.

“Well, August is staying here. August, do you want to go to Paris?” I ask.

“I have no desire to go to Paris. Plus, there is a big convention this weekend that I want to visit,” he says. I take note that his cheeks get a little pink when he says that. I’ve caught him chatting with a friend online a few times, and he mentioned that he would meet with his friend group at the con.

“Put a pin in that, August,” and he scratches his head, so I clarify. “We will talk more about that in a minute. I need to convince your stepmom that she’s going to France.”

“Hunter, please, be for real,” Winter says, pouting.

“First of all, Sunbeam, we’re rich,” I say.

As is her usual response, she says, “You’re rich,” and stares out the window.

“ We are rich. Which means that we get to travel however is most comfortable for us. And, if you can believe it, I’ve secured all the details. Dawn will be cared for the entire time.”

“You want to leave Dawn behind? I’m breastfeeding,” she says, folding her arms beneath said breasts.

I have to force myself to focus. Her tits were large pre-pregnancy and bigger while pregnant, but milk-heavy Winter is a completely different experience. I’m just so glad she lets me have a taste.

“Well, luckily, we’re not leaving her behind,” I say.

“So we’re going to cart our six-month-old around the planet? Hm,” she says.

“Nope, we have the best travel nanny in the world.”

“Who?” she presses.

“Why Grandma, of course.”

“Amelia is coming?” Winter brings her thumb to her mouth to bite the cuticle but stops before it makes it there.

I nod. “She’ll stay in the guest suite beneath our flat and will take Dawn whenever we want alone time.” I cut my gaze to August and back to Winter. Alone time has been a rare experience for us now that we have a new baby. The reality is that I desperately need to spend an entire day inside my wife.

And I want to do that with the doors to my balcony open and the sounds of angry Parisians below.

“Additionally, she’ll have her aunt Veronica and her cousin Summer to entertain her as well.”

“They’re all coming over to Paris?” she asks, a little startled but finally showing deep excitement. Veronica and Winter have since mended their relationship to something even better than before, to hear her tell it. But when Veronica decided to move to Europe with Summer permanently, Winter was devastated. They left a few months after Dawn was born, and even though I know that Winter has put on a brave face, she misses her sister and niece terribly.

“Yep! My third point is that we need to celebrate your re-entry into your doctoral program. It’s been a long, long road to get to this point, and we need to honor it with your dream vacation. Also, it’s important to get adequate rest before beginning a new semester.”

She purses her lips, thinking. It took a lot for her to feel ready to go back to finish her degree. She was convinced that she’d lost the chance to go back to school, but that was her anxiety talking.

While she is required to start at the beginning of her practicum hours, she’s still able to get the accommodations needed and will be finished in a few years after completing her research.

As we round the bend to enter the gates of Amelia Manor, she says, “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?” She looks between me and August.

“As a heart attack,” I reply.

She releases a big breath. “Well, I need to pack,” she says, and I give her a heavy look. “Let me guess, you’ve already packed for me.”

I smile in response.

“Hunter Brigham, you are too much,” she says, brightening.

“Last call. Are you in or out?”

Dawn’s eyes slide shut as the SUV rocks over the country road.

“Oh, I’m in. I’m in forever.”

THE END

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