Thanks to Julian.
And in January, Kendall was starting classes to become a vet tech. She was following her dreams, with Julian’s encouragement.
“How’s my beautiful wife?” Julian asked, walking into the kitchen.
She’d never get used to seeing him, his handsome face smiling at her, the sexy scruff, the enticing muscles in his forearms, even in a long-sleeve waffle-textured shirt.
“Hi
.” She smiled and walked into his arms. “Everyone will be here in an hour.”
“Is Alyssa bringing Blackie?” he asked of his sister’s emotional-support dog.
As Kendall had hoped, one of the dogs from the Maryland trip, a black Labrador mix, had the temperament to be matched for Alyssa’s needs. She’d named him accordingly, because it was an easy name to remember. All she had to do was look at her dog.
“She is. Waffles and Steve will have company. Where are they, anyway?”
“Out back.” In the fenced yard.
Really, could life get any sweeter? There had been a time when she’d been spiraling, and any kind of calm and happiness had seemed out of reach. But with the patience and support of her twin and the right treatment, she’d found a peace she’d never imagined possible.
She leaned back and tipped her head back so Julian could kiss her lips. “I love you, Julian Dane.”
“I love you back, Kendall Dane.”
* * *
Five Years Later
They needed a bigger house, Julian decided, as he slowly dipped the turkey into the fryer. Tradition was a wonderful thing, and Thanksgiving at his and Kendall’s house had become the custom for her family and his.
He glanced over to where his ten-year-old foster son, Jonah, was playing fetch with Steve and Waffles, successfully with Steve, not so much with the fur ball who preferred to roll around with the stick or ball. Kendall was inside with Randi, their thirteen-year-old foster daughter, setting the table for their guests.
He and Kendall had made a conscious decision to foster children who didn’t have a home. After talking to various doctors, they decided that going off her medication presented too big a risk of re-hospitalization. Statistics weren’t always right, but Kendall felt strongly about not taking that chance, and he respected whatever she wanted to do. They both knew they had enough love to give, and they could make up their family the way they wanted to.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he’d have a family of his own. Not growing up with his alcoholic mother, nor during his drug days, which were long past, although he still attended a monthly meeting.
And he certainly never thought he’d have a friendship with Kade, Derek, and Lucas, but he did. It was no longer a hesitant, wary tolerance.
Bygones really were bygones.
Kendall joined him outside, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Eew!” Jonah said, coming up behind him.
He rolled his eyes. He loved his wife, so sue him. He wrapped an arm around Kendall’s waist. “What do you say to house hunting? We’re outgrowing this place,” he said as Steve ran by, Waffles merely staring from across the lawn.
“Works for me. I just don’t want to move far from work.”
She had a job as a vet tech at a local veterinarian’s that gave her flexible morning hours and enabled her to be home after school. And since Julian still worked out of the house, someone was around in the mornings to get the kids out the door.
It all worked.
Because they trusted each other.
Loved each other.
And were still as deeply in love with each other as they’d been the day they admitted it out loud.