| 69 | the end but beginning

Epilogue

Four years later

"Daddyyy! The same boy won't stop stealing my lunch at school" our eight your old daughter Lily yells,

We named her after Vanessa's mom, when we arrived at the adoption center to finally meet her, one look at that golden brown hair and she knew she wanted to name her after her mom.

She's a ball of energy, all smiles and laughs like her mother,

We adopted her at six years old...and the last two years with her have been more than everything I thought would be like to be a parent,

"I don't know sweetheart...maybe just give him a good little punch in the man part" I shrug holding eight-month-old Connor,

It's crazy how much luck we had with adoption...it feels meant to be, though it was still a long process.

Vanessa was terrified of having children herself, the fear of passing along the heart failure gene was enough to make her tremble every night when she'd have a dream about it,

So we decided adopting would be best...and when we got the all-clear with Lily, I had a vasectomy to ensure that fear wouldn't turn into a reality for Vanessa.

"Aaron! Don't teach her that" Vanessa scolds as she takes Connor from my hands to feed him,

I just watch her with a smile...

My beautiful wife.

A wonderful mother to our children.

My best friend.

My everything.

"What?" I chuckle, she raises a challenging brow at me

"Okay...violence isn't the answer, just steal his lunch or something" I reply to Lily and then chuckle at Vanessa's pout

'Dumbass' she mouth to me as she heads for the kitchen,

I grin...big and wide,

Feeling so full of life and joy over these past years, not being able to wrap my head around the fact that happiness truly is achievable in this cruel and terrifying world,

I suddenly hear a scream from the kitchen and run over to see what's wrong,

Getting to the kitchen, with concern evident in my voice I ask, "are you okay? Is Connor okay? What's wrong?"

I'm met with Vanessa grinning wide at her phone as she puts it on the counter,

"Zara's pregnant again, And guess what....guess! Ava is too!"

I sigh and close my eyes for a moment as I temporarily message my brows, letting myself calm down from the panic, I felt a moment before,

"Jesus woman I thought you guys were hurt" I mutter

"I'm sorry" Vanessa laughs lightly as she cups my cheek to kiss it,

"I'll feed Connor..." I say grabbing him out of her hold,

Vanessa smiles "I'm sorry...I'm just excited for them, I didn't mean to scare you"

"I get that...but don't scream like that, you almost gave me a heart attack" I sign

"For a man who's heard me scream a lot these past couple of years I'd sure hope he'd know the difference between all of them," she smirks

I raise a brow at her

"Oh trust me I know at least one of them very well" I whisper in her ear, feeling the shivers that coat her skin

"Now I'm going to go feed Connor, you go get Lily and you dressed so we can get Zara and Ava flowers or something to congratulate them before I call my parents to babysit" I mutter in her ear, kissing it slightly

"Keep doing that...and I'll take you up on that offer of your parent's babysitting" she grins cheekily

"Mhm" I smirk and push her out of the kitchen before I pull her back and call my parents, her breathy laugh hits me in the center of the chest as she goes and grabs Lily,

Even after all this time, the simplicity of her smile or laugh completes me, it fills the deepest and darkest parts of me,

"You hungry little man" I smile at Connor and kiss his pudgy cheek

He pulls at my nose with his chubby fingers, pulling at my face, I turn and kiss his cute little fingers,

I feed Connor and then clean him up "come on little man let's see what's taking mommy so long"

Walking upstairs I stop in place at my beautiful girls, Lily in a pretty sunflower summer dress, a big bright smile plastered on her face as she twirls,

And then my wife...my stunning wife beaming at her daughter as she watches her with all the happiness, looking utterly beautiful in her red flowy summer dress, her hair that she cut last summer that flows over her shoulders in soft curls,

I remember her coming home one day and yelling that she did something and she didn't know if it looked cute,

I walked downstairs to see her waist-length hair gone, a freaked-out cute expression covering her face, and I immediately grinned telling her anything she did wouldn't make her less beautiful,

And I remind her every day so she never feels insecure about her beauty.

"You girls look beautiful" I grin walking into the room, Vanessa immediately grabs Connor to change him

"Daddy! Look how pretty this dress is, mommy, surprised me with it" lily grins

I'll miss these days...the ones when Lily is a little girl and mine to protect and keep away from all annoying pesky guys, or her possibly getting hurt and bullied by one of them.

It physically hurts me to think about her going on dates or getting married,

Dear God, I'll be an old man when that comes.

Hopefully, God will let time slow down a little, let us live in our happy bubble a little while longer, where our kids are just kids, unaware of the cruelty of the world, the fear, and the worry it brings.

"You look amazing Lil" I bend down and kiss her cheek

"Thanks" she shyly smiles

"Isn't mommy pretty too" she beams looking at her mom

I let my gaze set on my wife's, taking in her easy grin as she watches us, Connor playing with her hair,

"She's The most beautiful person I've ever met...of course next to you my little sunshine" I boop her nose

Lily scrunches it and runs to grab her little heeled wedges she begged Vanessa for one day while they were shopping,

Vanessa walks towards me easily catching my attention, grasping it so it's impossible to look away as she practically model walks her way to me.

"Keep your work suit on, I love it" she chuckles and kisses me softly

"Whatever you want" I reply easily

"I'll go change Connor and we can leave in a minute...oh and can we also stop by that gourmet little shop that has those charcuterie boards, I know Enzo and Matt secretly love those" she chuckles

"Alright, and I'll go preorder two bouquets so by the time we get to the floral shop they'll be ready" I give her one final peck and go and make sure lily's ready to go.

"I'm so happy for you guys" I grin hugging Zara and Ava

"Thanks," they say in unison with big smiles

We all squeal for a couple of minutes over their pregnancies until I hear a chuckle behind me,

Turning around I see my husband leaning against the doorframe, Ava's kid dangling from his leg trying to climb up,

His gaze never strays from mine as a gentle smile sets on his face,

He finally looks over at Ava and points to her child "help" is the only word he says in a deep tone that has me grinning

Ava laughs and walks over picking her up, and then walks back towards us,

Aaron winks at me and waits for me to smile before he walks back to the living room where all the kids and Ava and Zara's husbands are.

"Are you guy's excited about the trip?" Zara grins booping Ava's daughter on the nose and then turning to me

"Absolutely!, we're almost all done packing, I can't believe it's been a year since our last trip" I shake my head grinning

Every summer for the past three years we've all gotten together and taken a trip for a week, we usually take turns watching the kids so we all have a chance for a date night,

"Did you guys get cleared by the doctors to fly with the pregnancies?" I ask as we make our way down to the guys

"Yes, my doctor cleared me last week" Ava nods

"I went a couple of days ago and I'm good" Zara smiles

"Hey daddy pig" Ava smirks kissing her husband's cheek as she watches him pry his son's fingers off the cake

He narrows his eyes picking up his son and grabbing some paper towels "don't start with me pinky pie..."

She laughs and wets the paper towel helping him clean their son up,

Enzo immediately finds his wife's side and kisses her neck, smiling against it as he whispers something that makes her blush,

"But daddy...why can't we just leave Connor with grandma and grandpa, he's gonna cry the whole trip, I thought you said it was vacation" Lily scowls at Aaron

Aaron smiles and kneels in front of her "he's still a baby princess...they cry"

"But why can't we leave him...mommy won't even notice if we're quick," she says attempting to be quiet

I raise a brow at my husband as I stand behind Lily, he smirks at me, just before looking back at Lily "and how would she not notice a whole human not with us for a week?" Amusement coats his voice

"You can just kiss her or hug her! That always works, when she's sad, you smile at her and hug her and she forgets that she's not happy, and when she's mad at you, you kiss her and whisper stuff that has her smiling and then hugging you" Lily babbles as if it's the perfect plan

"It'll work trust me!" She nods enthusiastically

"He won't be able to kiss himself out of this one," I say watching Lily turns around with wide eyes

"It was daddies idea" she points to him and runs away

I smirk shaking my head, watching her run to Zara and Ava's kids

"Nice to know our daughter notices the powers of your smiles and hugs" I chuckle watching him walk close

"Don't forget my kisses" he smiles mischievously as he lays a sweet kiss on my lips

"Mhm" I hum already missing the contact when he pulls away

_______________

There's a certain amount of peace I never thought I'd feel...an overwhelming wave of joy coming over me at this moment,

The fresh breeze blows throughout my hair, the waves are heard from a distance, all our kids laughing on the private beach rented out just for us on this vacation,

The guys are all laughing with drinks as they stand around watching the kids,

While we girls are basking in the summer heat, getting our tan on and letting ourselves relax, and enjoying this moment of freedom from the reality back at home,

It isn't even the fact that there's something bad at home...it's better than ever, Henry is my partner in the homeless organization, taking on half the responsibility so I have more time to be a mom,

Life has never been better,

But everyone deserves a good vacation from time to time, to just unwind and relax, and Ava and Zara need this since their pregnant now, they could use some peace before sleepless nights, and stressful days,

I feel a tickle on my forehead and open my eyes to see Aaron smiling down at me gently,

"Hi, sunshine" he whispers as he presses another kiss to my forehead,

"Hi" I grin looking up at him dreamily

"Tonight's our turn for date night" he whispers as if I don't know, as if I haven't been waiting to spend some nice alone time with my husband this whole trip.

"Mhm" I hum happily

"About time...I've been wanting to rip your clothes off this whole time but don't wanna give the kids an eye full" I snort

He smirks "well good thing I have a hotel booked after our date so we can spend some long uninterrupted hours, together...all alone"

"Can't wait, I also just bought the cutest little outfit that I've been wanting to wear...but isn't very child friendly with me constantly running around with the kids" I sigh

He hums and kisses my lips sweetly "well I can't wait for tonight"

"Did you come to interrupt me relaxing just to tease me?" I huff out a laugh

He grins cheekily "no...I'm here to kidnap you for a couple of minutes to a cave I found nearby this morning on my early run"

I let him pull me up and immediately wrap my arms around his with a grin "mhm, you're so warm from the sun"

He chuckles "so are you"

"Come on let's go before the kids come asking us for a cookie or to show us a cool trick that ends up with them just jumping weirdly" he gently pulls my hand away from our group and we walk side by side by the water to a curve on the private beach,

The farther we walk I notice it's rockier "is this safe?" I ask

"I'd never put you in danger, sweetheart...I'd rather carve out my heart with my bare hands than ever want a scratch to graze your skin" he kisses me short and sweet

"But your hearts now mine...you saying you're gonna rip my chest open?" I tease

"Smart ass..." he chuckles shaking his head

"So where's the cave?" I ask

We've been walking for about ten minutes and there's no cave-like opening anywhere,

"Oh...there is no cave" he shrugs

I gasp "Aaron! What the heck, then why'd you drag me out here, we've walked like twenty minutes for no reason"

He pulls me close and kisses me, as if undressing me entirely just with his lips on mine, claiming me in and out with the way he holds me close, ensuring safety around me.

"Just wanted some alone time...for even a minute so I could kiss you properly" he mutters against my lips

"You're so cute" I sigh dreamily as I cup his cheeks and beam up at him,

He tickles me sending waves of laughter throughout the beach, I wiggle out of his arms and run, and our laughs carry along with the sound of waves, as we run around carelessly,

Basking in warmth, and bliss, utter giddiness of being in each other's presence,

I don't get far until I'm thrown over Aaron's shoulder "I'm not cute" he teases

My laughter quietly dies down as we get our breathing under control "you know...you've been in stage one, which is denial for quite some time Mr. Huxley" I tsk

"Oh hush" he laughs setting me down,

But I climb the man like a tree so I'm piggyback riding him, I cling to him like the ground would swallow us up whole in a moment,

"I'm tired, I don't wanna walk" I sigh into his neck

"Is this just an excuse for me to carry you?" He laughs knowing the answer but carrying me anyway,

"Oh, most definitely" I grin

He shakes his head, and I don't even need to see his face to know he has a sexy little smirk on his face,

I close my eyes, smiling at the feel of him holding me, the wind blowing throughout my hair, waves nearby, Aaron's delicious scent,

Even after almost six years I still get butterflies in my stomach when he looks at me, I still feel whole when kisses me, and I still take a mental picture each time he smiles...which over the years has increased more and more,

He smiles every day, gifting me with that beautiful sight.

"So Mr. Huxley...you ready for the most incredible date you've ever been on in your entire life?" I grin next to his ear,

"You also ready to smile nonstop because I'm super fun to be around and am very funny" I tease

His deep chuckle has my heartbeat picking up speed and a grin permanently placed on my face,

He replies with what he usually does, a word so simple yet holding the importance of what our relationship is, cementing that our feelings are mutual in our knowledge that we're forever.

"Always"

That's the end :(

I'm sad wtf...I'm like teary-eyed and shit...ew what's wrong with me.

When I started this story, I had this idea of a boss x employee book about the guy falling in love with a girl with heart failure...and she or he was ALWAYS supposed to die in the end...but then my sentimental ass got attached to the characters and I couldn't kill one of them.

They went through so much and fought so hard towards a better end that I couldn't have one of them end up without the other...it was either their asses had a happy ending or they both died and are in heaven together.

I hope you enjoyed this story, I loved writing it, at times it was stressful to get things up on time, but in the end, this book was an outlet for me when life got the better of me and when my anxiety was taking over. and the journey of writing about the love story of Aaron and Vanessa will always be in my heart!

I love them and hope to someday publish this book and A piece of cake as paperbacks (though I'm scared no one will buy them lmao).

Thank you for all your support on this book, and the sweet DMS you've sent on here (it truly means the world, I ADORE reading comments and your DMS, they made writing this story that much better♡)

I will see you all in the next book I decide to write ;)

For now, I'm going to finish writing my short story Ten days and rewriting A piece of cake (after I take a little break for my mental health♡)

Bye bye lovelies thank you for making this story that much more special>>>

Word count: 3071