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Epilogue
Hadley
Eight months later….
“All right, Jackson,” Elijah sighed as he dropped behind me on the blanket. His hairy legs caged around me as he adjusted the umbrella once more so that we were hidden from the hot sun. “What the hell, son? You only need one tit, stop trying to yank both out.” I laughed as he moved Jackson’s hand away from the boob he wasn’t nursing from.
“I don’t like the sand,” Eli mumbled as he sat down and scooted beside us. “It burns my feet.”
“Keep your swimming shoes on,” I told him.
“Blame your mom, Eli. She’s the one that wanted us to vacation on the beach.” I pinched Elijah’s arm after he said it.
Lucy let out a deep breath. “Saltwater tastes bad.”
“That’s why you aren’t supposed to drink it,” said Elijah.
She glared at him. “I can’t help that it went up my nose when a wave knocked me under!”
He chuckled. “Yeah, you were getting your ass kicked out there.”
“You didn’t even get in. You just watched. I’d like to see you out there.” She pointed toward the ocean.
“Let’s go then.” He stood up. “Come on, Eli. Let’s go show your sister how it’s done.” Eli took his hand after slipping on his shoes.
“Knee deep, you guys, and no farther!” I warned them, staring up at Elijah. “Hold Eli, please? And don’t goad Lucy too much. I’m already worried…” My gaze followed where she walked toward the water, glancing back our way to see if Elijah was coming.
“I know, baby. That’s why I’m heading down. She wants to go back to the water, but I can tell she’s afraid to stay down there alone. She won’t go out far.”
“Sissy is afraid?” Eli asked sounding surprised.
“Come on.” Elijah scooped him up. “Those waves are no joke. That’s why it’s better not to go down alone. She’s not afraid as much as she is smart…”
His words trailed off the further away they got, and I smiled after them.
When I looked down, Jackson smiled up at me. “What is it?” I cooed. He laughed as I placed my bikini top back over my boob. “Want to say ma-ma?”
“Da-dad!”
“Noo! Ma-ma…”
“Daaa-daaa.”
I laughed. “Okay, traitor, see if I give you any more milk. Does Dad give you milk?”
“Daa-daaa.”
I ruffled his dark hair. He was the spitting image of Elijah with his dark eyes and hair. “Now I know you’re doing it on purpose.”
Jackson and I played in the sand a little as I watched the three of them play in the water.
Scott called Lucy once or twice a year. Eli never got the chance to know his father so when he tried to talk to Eli, he wasn’t really interested. Scott would play the blame game and that would be it. We wouldn’t hear from him again for a while.
Lilly never gave me trouble with them. My guess was she only wanted to hurt my feelings and scare me that day. Like her son, she never made the time to be a part of their lives but still blamed me for it.
They knew where we lived and could come see them whenever. Even when we moved into Elijah’s house, they still knew because I told them. Last year, we moved again. Same town, just a new home. Elijah’s parlor, Lucy’s school, and the hospital were all reasons why we stayed in the town including the fact that our parents would cry a river if we moved away. We also told Scott and his parents where the new house was too.
How hard was it to pick up the phone and call someone? Or ask to come see them when you lived in the same county?
