Epilogue

EPILOGUE

MARY

TEN YEARS LATER

"Are you getting all of us tattooed on there?" Ness asks, sitting on the counter and kicking her legs. Riley, her younger sister, sits on the chair, her head buried in her latest book series.

"All four little bundles of joy," I say as their father leans over me, etching the tattoo. Riley. Ness. Jacob. Liam. Jacob and Liam, the twins, are too young to come and watch. They're with Brad and Dad. I'm so happy Dad's back in our lives, and he's a changed man. I'm so proud of him.

"Oh, so I'm a bundle of joy?" Ness says sarcastically.

I laugh. "You all are, in your own ways. You're just going through a teenage phase."

"Hey, it could be worse. Some of my friends won't even tell their parents I love you ."

"That's awful," my man says, focused on his work, the buzz of the needle oddly pleasant just like last time, all those years ago.

"Well, I love you both," Ness says.

"We love you too."

"Does it hurt, Mommy?" Riley asks.

"Not a lot, and it'll be worth it. Your names are around the storm cloud because that's where it all began for us."

Rust leans down and kisses the top of my head. My man. My husband. He's retired from fighting and opened a successful tattoo studio. I'm working with an agency that connects therapists with vulnerable people. We have four amazing kids and an uncle and granddad who love them. Who could doubt us now?

"I love you," Rust says.

"Ew, Dad," Ness says, but she's smiling. I know how much that means to Rust, showing the kids he loves their mother. In that regard, my man never fails.

THE END