I feel a small tear roll down her cheek, and I kiss it away, knowing exactly the emotions running through her right now.
A whisper sounds, “I love you,” and, though I don’t know which one of us said it, we all agree.
Epilogue
AARON
It’s been five years since we first laid eyes on Lucky, and not a day goes by that we don’t think about that.
I look over at her and Justin playing in the pool with the twins. Our two little boys look exactly like their mother, but God help us, do they act like Justin and me. We are in for it in a few years. Stella is so pregnant, and I worry about her swimming, but she keeps saying that the water eases the pressure on her back. Her little body works hard to give us babies, so we try to make her as comfortable as possible.
We still own the casino, but work from home a lot. Thankfully, we only have to go in one or two days a week for some basic housekeeping. Otherwise we are here with our family.
After Stella agreed to be ours, we got married about a minute later. She was, in fact, pregnant before the thirty days were up, and Justin and I were all too pleased about it. I knew she was our lucky charm from the first moment I laid eyes on her.
We put her dad Frank in a rehab program while we had Lucky under contract, and after he got out things were okay for a little while. She ended up giving the farm to Tim, the foreman, and gave him enough money so he never had to worry about lean years again. She said she had plenty of money, and being married to two rich casino owners had its perks. I laughed, but hey, I’d keep her any way I could.
I think once Frank realized she’d sold the farm, he got depressed thinking about how he’d lost everything, and went back to drinking again. It took Stella a long time to see it, but in the end she realized he was too selfish to do anything for anyone but himself. We see him on occasion, but mostly he stays out of the picture.
It may be cold, but I always thought if he was willing to put his daughter’s life on the line for an addiction, he wasn’t worth having around anyway. I thought maybe when we had grandkids it would change his mind, but sadly that didn’t do it either. Justin reaches out to him a lot, so maybe one day he’ll come around. As I look at Lucky and our babies, I really hope he does. He’s missing out on a fucking great life.
Don is beyond ecstatic we finally gave him the grandkids he’s been begging for, and he’s on his way over to grill out with us today. He’s probably got presents for them too, even though we keep telling him to stop buying them stuff. He says, “What’s the use of all this money if I can’t waste it on my babies?” The old man really is turning into a big marshmallow in his old age.
Stella, Justin and I are living the perfect life surrounded by people we love. I couldn’t have written a better story if I tried. Well, maybe I would have left out that Natasha bullshit, but that’s life, right? There’s always a little something you’ve got to get through when it turns out this good.
I smile to myself, thinking about Mandy and the mess we got her in back then.
“What’s so funny?” Stella asks, swimming over to the edge where I’m sitting.
“Nothing, baby. Just thinking about Mandy.”
She rolls her eyes and then laughs. “You two are the worst.”
I ignore her statement, get in the pool with her and swim us over to Justin and the boys. I smile and kiss her while rubbing her belly and thinking about how I’d have done the same thing to keep her, and still would.
Love is crazy, and so are the two of us when it comes to Stella.
THE END