EPILOGUE
Rea
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever be living in Scotland and chasing after three tiny humans, but here I am. I honestly have zero complaints.
After quitting my job, because it turned out that making toilet paper wasn’t actually what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, we did the food truck thing for a year. I can’t say I’ve ever had more fun. Kayden also got his house fixed up, and when it was ready, we sold both of ours at the same time. One night, after the houses were both sold, but we hadn’t moved yet, and over a dinner of tacos (our own, of course), Sadie got out a map and dared me to close my eyes and point to a spot to move to. There might have been a few glasses of wine involved, but I ended up pointing to Scotland, and Sadie had said that a more romantic choice couldn’t exist.
I know for a fact that both our families thought we were crazy, selling our houses and moving to Scotland. Although, they might have already thought we were crazy before that, what with us getting together out of the blue after eight years, moving into my place right away, me quitting my job, doing the taco thing, selling our houses…
After selling the food truck, we packed up the few things we had decided to take with us and made our move to Scotland. Sadie couldn’t stay in Amarillo without us. That was just a given. So she followed us over. It was quite fortunate that we’d bought a slightly massive house in the middle of nowhere with green rolling hills as far as the eye could see. It also happened to be built mostly of stone with a mother in law suite added on the side.
It turned out Sadie had been absolutely correct. Scotland is a very romantic place. When Kayden and I decided to expand our family, we thought we’d have one baby. Or maybe two kids eventually. We didn’t think we’d get three all in one shot.
It’s been three years—three years with three kids. Three is an unthinkable number. In fact, it’s a crazy number. It’s seriously one of those law-defying, shocking things that change a person’s life forever, in the best way.
Thank goodness for a big yard.
Three and a half-year-old Lea is currently chasing her two brothers, Reo and Theo, around the said big backyard. She’s screaming at the top of her lungs, and the boys are yelling as they run too. Her waist-long, dark hair flies out behind her, and I know it’s going to be one heck of a mess to comb out later, but that’s alright. The boys, on the other hand, have their hair cut short because they can’t stand me brushing out the tangles. All three kids look like Kayden. I suppose they look like me too, but they all got his dark hair and dark eyes. I swear that more beautiful children don’t exist anywhere else in the world. Better-behaved or quieter ones, maybe, but I wouldn’t ever trade mine in for them on any day of the week. Unless it’s Saturday, and I’m just trying to get an extra five minutes of sleep because it’s a precious commodity I didn’t appreciate until the day the doctor told us there were three heartbeats in there.
I swear I haven’t actually slept since that moment. I’m just running on willpower, a butt-ton of coffee, and a heck of a lot of love. Oh, and sometimes tacos. Everyone in our house loves tacos, and I swear that was Lea’s first word. Actually, I think it was ‘dog’ since she adores our dog, Taco, but maybe it’s the same thing.
“Shhhh,” I warn the kids, but I can’t bite back a smile. It’s a pretty crisp spring day, and the wind steals my words and my breath. “Auntie Sadie is trying to work,” I say, but Lea screams extra loud after my warning. I roll my eyes. “Or not.” Apparently, nap time was the only time Sadie could get any work done unless she wore earplugs. Thank goodness she didn’t mind. She loved our children more than anything.
“Daddy!” Theo suddenly yells. He changes tactics and goes straight for Kayden as soon as he sees him coming out the back door.
The other kids go laughing and screaming toward their father. It’s a dang good thing Kayden works from home because I don’t know what I’d do without him here. Probably go ultra-crazy. I’m just a little bit crazy at the moment, in case you were wondering.
Kayden scoops Theo up and slaps him on top of his shoulders. Theo shouts and giggles and grabs onto Kayden’s ears like handholds, but it doesn’t hinder Kayden from picking up the other two kids, one in each arm.