Hero (Hero 1)

I don’t know what it’ll be yet.

I just know there will never be a day that passes my kids by when they don’t know that there is no one in this world they can count on more than me.

I don’t mean to make you feel guilty, Mom. I just needed to finally tell you how I feel so I can move on. The past is the past and I’m letting go of it and all the anger that comes with it. I’m trying out this thing called peace, and I’m hoping that wherever you are you can find that peace too knowing that I’m letting the ugliness of the past go, and knowing that no matter what I loved you.

And I know you loved me.

Good-bye, Mom.

Yours,

Lexie

EPILOGUE

“You know, I think we need to lift the ban on showering together,” Caine grumbled as he sauntered down the stairs and into the kitchen.

I snorted and held out his mug of coffee before returning my attention to the notes I had spread all over the kitchen counter. “There was a reason we banned it. It was called being late for work,” I murmured absentmindedly.

The mug was removed from my hand and I narrowed my eyes on the list of boutiques Nadia had mentioned, wondering how on earth I was going to get around them all in a day.

“I didn’t mind.”

“You didn’t mind what?” I pulled out the map of Boston I’d printed off. I’d used the computer to place the boutiques on the map so I could work out the most efficient route for visiting them all.

“Being late.”

“You’re the boss,” I reminded him. “You can do what you like. I have a boss who wasn’t happy at my excuse for lateness.”

“That’s because Bree needs to get laid.”

“Caine.” I looked up at him in admonishment.

He gestured to my face. “Ah, there she is.”

Confused, I wrinkled my nose.

“I was wondering if you were ever going to look up from that thing.” He tapped the huge folder in front of me. “A ‘good morning’ would be nice.”

I winced. “Sorry. I’m just feeling the pressure with this one.” I cocked my head to the side and gave him a soft, flirtatious smile. “And was my good morning this morning in bed not satisfying enough?” I referred to the fact that I’d woken him up with my mouth.

Caine leaned across the counter so our noses were practically touching. “This morning was very nice, but I’d quite like it when I come down to get my coffee in the morning if my wife would look at me. Maybe even throw in a kiss or two.”

I smiled and lifted my left hand to cup his face, the three diamonds on my engagement ring sparkling in the light next to my wedding band. “I don’t mean to neglect you.” I brushed my lips over his apologetically. “And I promise when Nadia returns from the land of Bridezilla you will get me back.”

Caine pressed his mouth to mine, his kiss harder, searching. I moaned and melted into him, wishing with all my heart that Nadia’s wedding was over already.

Nadia had gone up in the world and was now a cohost on Boston’s most-watched breakfast show. In fact, a lot had changed in the thirty months since my whole world turned upside down and Caine finally admitted he loved me.

Not long after I started looking for a new job, I was approached by Henry’s friend Bree Stanton, a socialite turned professional career woman who had worked her ass off to create the most elite events management company in Boston. She offered me a job as an events planner and I’d fallen in love with the position almost instantly. We managed many of the biggest events on the social calendar, including weddings. And Nadia Ray’s wedding was a huge event, not only because of her celebrity status but because she’d managed to tame the untameable and wring a proposal out of Henry. A Lexington getting married was a big deal. A Lexington getting married to Boston’s favorite TV show host was an even bigger deal.

I can’t say I was surprised that Henry proposed to Nadia. I’d seen a difference in the way he interacted with her from the beginning. Despite her local fame, Nadia was down-to-earth, fun, and a real friend. I was over-the-moon for Henry and I was delighted for me because it meant I got to keep Nadia in my life too.

It also meant Nadia came to me to organize the wedding. Bree was ecstatic, and I had the promise of a very nice bonus if I pulled the wedding off without a hitch. So I had my friends’ happiness and a lovely bonus motivating me to get this day exactly the way Nadia wanted. Ever since Henry had proposed to her, she’d transformed into this crazy woman I barely recognized. I could forgive her for the crazy. My experience in wedding planning in the last two and a half years had shown that most brides (not all, though) transformed into hyper versions of themselves. I had every confidence Nadia would return to normal upon her departure for her honeymoon.

Thankfully I didn’t have the opportunity to become one of those brides, because Caine and I didn’t have a huge wedding. We invited our closest friends and family—Effie, Henry, Nadia, Rachel, and Jeff—to witness our very small, very private wedding at Caine’s (now our) summerhouse in Nantucket. I didn’t invite my grandfather, even though I wanted him there, because it was unfair to Caine. So I was shocked to discover Grandpa there on the morning of the wedding, ready to walk me down the aisle. Caine had surprised me by inviting him for me, and that just made me love my husband a million times more than I already did.

Three months after my attack Caine asked me to move in with him. Actually it was only a few weeks after. It took three months for me to agree. It was more about finally giving up my beautiful cozy apartment than not wanting to live with Caine. We were living together anyway. If I didn’t spend the night at his, he was at mine. Finally he got fed up of the back-and-forth and lack of permanency. A month after that he proposed, and two months after that we were married.