Extended Epilogue

EXTENDED EPILOGUE

VALERIE

Five Years Later

R eed’s arm snakes around my shoulder, and he pulls me with a kiss on the top of my head. He holds me tightly against his magnificent frame, staring at the calm blue ocean ahead of us.

If someone told me this is where life would lead, I’d think they were crazy. The daughter of a small-town cop, living a life of carefree luxury beneath the warm, tropical sun. I still wake up some mornings expecting it to be a dream. To see my old room in Aurora, hearing my dad cooking bacon and eggs, and preparing for another long day of selling clothes in the mall.

But every morning, I wake up in Reed’s strong arms. He holds me close to his chest, and the gentle rhythm of his breathing is a soothing reminder of our perfect life together.

“Can I get you two anything to drink?” Dad asks, shimmying and shuffling from his lawn chair buried in the sand.

Reed’s nervous eyes snap to him like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Uhm, sure. I’ll have a beer.”

My biggest fear of following Reed into the unknown was that I’d never see my dad again. He let us run, even though he knew the consequences of being caught would be dire. Beyond even that, I feared that my dad would hate Reed for taking me away.

But it was barely a month before Dad reached out. He didn’t care about what Reed had done. In the end, it was Reed who saved me from the men who wanted to harm me, and Dad took that as a good enough reason to forgive and forget.

“And what about you, hon?” Dad asks, brushing the top of my head as he passes by.

“A bottle of water,” I say.

“Water?” Dad crooks a brow. “When we’re in paradise, overlooking a beautiful ocean, in the middle of the afternoon? Come on, at least have a cocktail with your old man.”

“I can’t,” I say. “Dad, we didn’t bring you here just to have a nice holiday.”

Dad’s eyes narrow, and his expression turns serious. “What do you need, baby? I’ll make it happen.”

I burst out laughing at his grim response. “No, it’s nothing like that. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed it yet.”

I turn to Reed and cup his cheek in my hand. A warm smile graces his lips, and his eyes twinkle with absolute pride. With a nod of his head, I continue.

“Reed and I are having a child. A baby boy. He’s due in September,” I say.

“Oh, I see,” Dad says. It takes a moment for my words to set in, but when they finally do, he lets out a delighted squeal. “I’m gonna be a granddaddy.”

Dad rushes off to fetch our drinks, humming a tune as he walks.

“That went better than I expected,” Reed says, releasing an exasperated sigh. For a man who once held so many secrets, he sure hates keeping them now.

The hand around my shoulder starts twirling strands of my golden hair.

“I knew it would,” I say.

“We’re going to be a family,” Reed whispers into my ear, his voice crackling with emotions I don’t think I’ve ever seen in him.

Pure happiness swells in my heart as the warm summer breeze washes over us from across the sea.

“You, me, and our little baby.” I nuzzle myself into Reed’s side, wrapping an arm around his waist. “The perfect family.”

The End

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