Epilogue

Polly

E ight years ago, had someone told me I would be playing midnight cricket on my private Long Island beach with my arch nemesis, her crew, and my adoring husband, I would have called them a simpleton, slapped them twice and kicked them in the ass. But there I was, bat in hand, refusing to acknowledge my dismissal and running away from a cursing Englishman.

“You’ll never catch me, and I’ll never—ooffff.” My innings came to an end with Teddy riding my back as I plunged face first into the sand.

“Darling, I may not take many things seriously, but cricket is one I do.” Still bat-less, he springboard off me with unnecessary force, jumped to his feet. “Are you enjoying your, birthday, Pol?” he asked, while flipping me onto my back like a turtle.

“I was until you knocked half of my teeth out.” I tossed the bat to Finn, then took Teddy’s offered hand, pulling him down beside me. “It’s all bit a much, to be honest. All this … niceness still feels unnatural.” I spat the remaining sand from my mouth and leaned into Ted. “What about you? Have you had a good night?”

“Polly, my darling, my sweet baby girl Harriet is—.”

“Not a baby, she’s eight.”

“I don’t give a fuck if she’s eighty,” Teddy snipped, “She’s my perfect, squishy, poopy little baby. Now, as I was saying, Harriet is safe and hopefully asleep in my beautiful home; I have drunk my body weight in champers and had a quickie in your ensuite with my stunning husband.”

“Eww.”

“And watched men in unbuttoned shirts with rolled-up sleeves play my favourite non-bedroom sport on a beach as the sun went down. It’s been a banger.”

I smiled, feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside—again, something I was still acclimating to. “It has, hasn’t it? And I know everyone is here because of Luca, but it means a lot.”

“You deserve nothing less, my dear. And we’re not just here for Luca. Sure, Evie may want to stab you in the eyes from time to time, but she means only to maim, not kill.”

“You sure about that?” I huffed. “Iris and Ben told me she was kicking and muttering my name in her sleep on the flight. They reckoned they couldn’t understand most of what she was saying, but I think they’re just being nice.”

“That’s because they are the nicest twenty-year-olds you will ever meet, and yes, I am sure. You’re going to hate this, but … we love you, Pol. All of us do. Each of us needed someone, something different, and somehow, here in New York, we all found it in each other.”

I pretended to gag and pushed Teddy on the shoulder. “Gawd, Ted. That sounded like a voiceover on an afterschool special. Could you be any cornier?”

“I can, and I will.”

Before Teddy could out-corn himself, young Ben—Finn and Scarlet’s son—dropped to the sand and squished in beside me. It was unnecessarily and uncomfortably close.

“Polly, did you need some help?”

“Benjamin, my boy,” Teddy tutted. “Are you asking if Polly needs any help to sit perfectly still on the sand?”

Embarrassed, Ben rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. The party lights covered every inch of our yard, illuminating the night just enough to see his ruddy cheeks. “Ahh … yeah.”

I wrapped my arm around Ben’s shoulder and pulled him in for a squeeze. It was only a short cuddle as the poor boy appeared to stop breathing the moment our bodies pressed together. “Leave him alone, Ted.”

“I could, but I won’t.” Ted then repeated my actions, gripping onto Ben’s neck more than his shoulder and almost ripping his head off “Benny, every time you indiscreetly sniff Polly’s hair or stare at her ass for ten minutes straight, I’m taken back to our little Byron beach house, where tween Iris would randomly appear whenever Luca showered or worked out, or, well, breathed. It makes me feel all ….”

“Old?” I asked.

“Fuck no. Look at me. I’m basically Benjamin Button-ing my way through my thirties. I was going to say nostalgic.”

Despite being the color of shame, Teddy’s protege rose to his feet, dusted the sand from his bum, and then leaned back down between us. “Pretty sure that’s a fancy way of saying you’re old, Uncle Ted.” He turned me, gave me a cheeky wink, and sauntered off. “Just give us a yell if you do need a hand, Mrs. D’Cruz. I’m here for anything you need. And I mean, anything.”

“Benjamin. Need I remind you, the woman is sitting in sand, and doesn’t want anything a twenty-year-old ranga can give her?” A snort of laughter burst from me to hear the Aussie slang for a redhead. Something you could hardly have called Ben. His chin-length auburn locks were much darker than Scarlett’s flaming red. “Especially not when her large husband is right there,” Teddy continued, pointing to Luca, who was twirling a bat in one hand like a drumstick while chatting with Finn and Scar. “Christ, and so are your parents. Have I taught you nothing, kid? You need to time your flirtation. It’s all about the timing. I cannot stress that enough.”

Ben shrugged, gave me another wink, and headed back to the house. Teddy’s eyes remained glued to his lean and disappearing frame, an expression of pure love lighting his face, “Hitting on a forty-year-old woman while her monster of a husband wields a weapon a few feet away? He may have let me down with his uncouthness, but I am so damn proud of that kid.”

“I kind of am, too. Lucky for him, I’m forty and married, though. Ranga or not, young me would have eaten him alive.”

Our night ended with a highly illegal fireworks display, which I’m sure cost Luca a small fortune.

The ferrying of drunk, weary-bodied adults and dead-weighted sleeping children from the sand to waiting cars was underway. Amidst it all, me, a very happy birthday girl playfully slapped my husband’s hockey butt as he carried my tipsy-self upstairs.

“I can’t believe how big everyone’s kids are now. Ben and Iris are in college. Shelby’s huge, and Nate’s baby twins are almost teens.”

“They’re Evie’s twins, too. You know?” Luca laughed as he kicked open our bedroom door and recklessly tossed me into the center of the bed. The action causing my breasts to spill from my sweetheart neckline. “And what do you know, there are mine.”

Luca pulled his top over his head, unzipped his pants and letting them drop to the floor before diving onto the bed and crawling over my body. “You looked so freaking hot tonight, Princess. I know I should be jealous when guys, or Ben, check you out, but knowing I’m the one who gets to bring you home to bed makes me stone hard.” Once at breast level, he dropped his head, closed his mouth over a pebbled nipple, and lightly bit down, only releasing when my squirming and moaning reached their peak.

“Can I ask you one question before I give you your birthday treat?” he asked, panting into my neck.

“Does that treat have anything to do with the thing tenting your boxers?”

“Yep.”

“Well, okay then.” I puckered up, waiting for his lips to cover mine, but sighed in disappointment as he shifted back onto his ankles. The pure desire that illuminated his face dimmed to a cheeky spark in his eyes.

“Polly, you have given me everything I ever wanted, and I have tried to do the same for you. I know you’re happy. I see it in your eyes, but I have to ask … are you okay after having all the kids here? I know our decision was made long ago, but now you’re forty … any regrets?”

Mirroring his position, I pushed off my elbows and sat on my knees, worrying my lip between my teeth. “I answer your question with a question. Do you have any?”

Luca smiled, tucked my hair behind my ears, and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I said it back then and will happily cheer it from the roof tops now. I fucking love our life, Polly. You are all I want and need. I don’t regret a single second of a single day we’ve had together.”

“Me too. Not one.”

“Are you sure, Pol? Because it’s not too late. We still have options. You can always decide—”

“Cowboy.” Both of my hands pressed into the solid wall of muscle that was Luca’s chest, my fingers twirling through the light dusting of dark hair as his back hit the mattress and I straddled his hips. “The only decisions I want to make are what positions you give me my birthday treat in, and how many times you give it.”

In one swift move, Luca gripped my waist, flipped me onto my stomach and pulled my ass up into the air. “You really are trouble, aren’t you?” He laughed between kisses that ran the length of my spine, his fingers working me to a frenzy between my legs.

“I am. And you love it.”

“That I do.”