“Yeah, we can still be a family even if you’re not married,” Finn says.
Farrah hugs both Finn and me to her chest. “Exactly.”
Epilogue
FARRAH
Soft lips press against my neck, sending shivers through me. “It’s time to shut it down, Princess.”
“I’m almost done, I swear.” I continue typing, but it’s much slower with the sexy distraction behind me. Once I turn in this paper, I’ll be finished with the first semester of my master’s program. It’s been much harder to balance my classes, work, and being with my family than I expected, but it’s been worth every minute of stress.
“You said that an hour ago.”
“Oh, oops.” I finally stop what I’m doing to look at Knox. The indulgent smile on his face makes me want to kiss him.
So I do.
He chuckles, kissing me back just as enthusiastically. We’ve been together for six months, and I have yet to get enough of him. I think I’m more obsessed with him now than I was in the summer.
Knox pulls me from my desk to go downstairs. He transformed the guest bedroom into a hybrid office for me once I started my master’s program.
After Leona’s attack, I basically never went back home. Weneeded time together to process and heal from what happened, and by the end of the week, I couldn’t imagine going back to my house to live alone. Knox told me he’d love to have me move in, but ultimately left the decision up to me. It was a no-brainer. I packed up the few belongings I owned and moved them into Knox and Finn’s house the next day.
I asked the girls if I was making a stupid decision, especially after how hard I worked to buy my house. They pointed out that there was no reason I needed to sell it, so Knox and I finished the last few renovations and have been renting it out ever since.
I haven’t regretted my decision once. Getting to be with the two people I love most in the world every day has been incredible.
“Mom! Look what we did!” Finn jumps up and down, pointing at the piles of boxes in the living room. He’s been calling me Mom since we got out of the hospital, and it still makes me gooey on the inside.
Knox and I thought we should start seeing a family therapist to help us navigate our shared trauma. Finn struggled with nightmares for weeks, and Knox and I hadn’t been faring a whole lot better. Most nights, we kept Finn in our bed because it helped us all sleep through the night. The therapy has given us the tools to find a new normal, and now Finn is able to sleep in his own bed with only an occasional nightmare.
My and Knox’s anxieties have also calmed down to the point we’re able to spend significant time alone at the house without either of us worrying. We have to check in with each other frequently when we’re gone, but we make sure it’s not disruptive to our respective tasks.
“What is all of this?” I ask Finn when we get to the bottom of the stairs. Whiskey’s poking his nose into the few open boxes.
“We’re decorating for Christmas.”
I raise my eyebrows at Knox. I know for a fact that the only thing they normally put up at Christmas is a tree and stockings over the fireplace. The number of boxes in this living room is way more than that.
“I thought it might be nice to go all out this year. It’s our first Christmas together.” He looks around the room, adorably embarrassed by his idea.
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I lift onto my toes to press a kiss to his cheek. “I think that sounds wonderful. Where should we start?”
Finn jumps into the wide array of boxes, cataloging everything Knox bought. We decide to put the tree up first before we tackle the rest of the house. As I’m digging through everything, I realize with a start that he went with a Candy Land theme for the decorations. There are multicolored gumdrops and pink candy canes, several ceramic gingerbread houses, and to top it all off, I find a box for a blow-up gingerbread family to put out in the yard.
I blink back the tears in my eyes. He bought all of this specifically with me in mind. Every time I think I can’t love him any more than I already do, he pulls a stunt like this.
Walking over to where he’s fussing with the lights for the tree, I pull him down for a long kiss of gratitude. He wraps an arm around my waist to pull me into his chest and deepen the kiss.
“How hard was it for you to buy pink gumdrop decorations?” I ask when we finally pull apart.
“Excruciating.” He grins. “But incredibly worth it.”
I smirk up at him. “It definitely will be later.”
He groans, dropping his face into my neck. “That was mean.”
“I’m just trying to say thank you.”
