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Epilogue
It was a day for celebrating successful acquisitions, and I had acquired a lot over the past year. The reason for our big company-wide party was our one year anniversary since we took over Heartstring.
But Cat and I both knew it was an anniversary for much more than that.
I walked into the nursery where I knew I could find her bent over the crib, getting in all the last moments she could with baby Charles before we left.
“Are you sure you don’t want to just bring him with us?” I offered for the twentieth time that evening.
“I do,” she admitted. “But I also know I don’t. I never want to leave him, but I’m in such desperate need for a break to go do something other than work.”
“I’m sorry it’s a work party and not just regular old fun.”
“I’m not,” she assured me.
The nanny knocked on the door, so I left to let her in. Cat was hesitant for us to actually leave Charles. She held him for a moment as he looked around the room with his big, bright brown eyes.
“Good night my sweet precious angel,” she cooed, kissing him tightly on the side of his soft, chubby face. “I’m going to miss you.”
It was no easy feat getting her out the door, but finally she let the nanny step in and do her job so we could leave for the party.
On the car ride over, I admired Cat in the backseat. She always looked beautiful, but this was the first time I had seen her really done up in a while.
“God, you’re gorgeous,” I told her, adoring the way her skin and silhouette glowed in the passing streetlights.
She smiled and reached out to squeeze my hand. She held on tight the rest of the way there.
We had the interior of the building all done up with twinkle lights just for the occasion. The Meadows siblings were there along with Jack Landson and his sister. They were toasting us all night long for the continued success we had brought their baby. Lucas regaled us with drunken tales about how when he started the company, he wasn’t so sure it would amount to anything.
“But now look at us,” he marveled.
“Dad would have been proud,” his little sister Jada added.
“He would have been shocked,” Joshua Meadows quipped.
Their other sister Camille rolled her eyes and looked around the room, admiring the lavish set-up. “We’ve always been good at throwing one hell of a party, but I think you two have outdone us here.”
“I think I should take some credit for that,” Mark appeared, gliding over to us with a smile as he clinked his champagne glass against each one of ours.
Cat shot him a twisted grin. “Only because you insisted on throwing such a big party in the first place. We were fine with a smaller affair.”
“A small party means small numbers, and this company hasn’t seen any of those,” he argued.
I squeezed Cat’s hand, giving her a silent signal not to argue. We both knew why she didn’t want the one-year anniversary party to be such a big deal, and it was entirely selfish on our parts. The real reason we were celebrating in our hearts was about something much bigger than the company or our careers. It used to be all that mattered to us, but things had changed.
As I looked into her smiling eyes, I knew it was time.
“Come on,” I said, pulling her to the front of the crowded room where a microphone and stand were waiting.
“What are you doing?”
“I haven’t made my speech yet,” I grinned.
“Speech!?” she panicked. “Oh god, no one told me we were making speeches. Was I supposed to write a speech? What are you going to say? What should I say!? Is Dad going to make one too? If you both do one, then I definitely have to.”
“Relax,” I winked. “You just stand here and listen.”
I wrapped my hand around the microphone, giving Mark the sign to tap a fork to his glass to get everyone’s attention. The hum of the mingling quests faded as they all stopped and turned to face me.
