AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smiled and mouthed, "Thank you," before she disappeared off to her new seat.
I turned back to Axel and smiled softly. "I've been doing some thinking and I don't need to wait until we land." I grabbed his hand and squeezed tightly. "I love you and I want to be with you. I want to be a family. The three of us."
"I love you too," he said. "And funny you should mention it, I want the same thing. I want to wake up to you every morning and kiss you good night every night. Even when I'm not there in person. In fact, I'll video call you so often you get sick of seeing my face."
"I would never be sick of your face," I told him. "Never."
And then our lips met and all I knew was him and my heart swelled and sang with the beautiful music we would make, now and forever.
EPILOGUE
Hayley
I jolted awake from a dream. The moment I woke, I forgot what I was dreaming, but I knew it wasn’t a nightmare.
It was still dark, but I was alone in bed. I felt Axel's side, but it was cold.
I sat up and saw a faint light illuminate the corridor.
I swung my feet over and got out of bed, shivering in the predawn cold. Spring was late coming this year and there was still a chill in the air. Before long, it would be summer again and Axel would leave on tour. I wasn't looking forward to it, but I would cope, just like I coped with the scrutiny when the footage from the flight to Sydney went viral. By the time we landed, most of the Rock Dragons' fans knew my name and who I was. Of course that led to an outpouring of either love and support or frustration that their favorite band member was with someone in real life. Mostly, people were lovely.
Those that weren't— I quickly learned to ignore them. I was too busy with work and planning for the baby to take too much time out of my day to worry about the hurt feelings of strangers.
After a couple of days, the whole thing died down and we went back to normal. The new, beautiful normal.
I walked on bare feet to the baby's room, which was lit by a small teddy bear shaped nightlight. A gift from Mel and Jude.
I stopped in the doorway and looked inside.
Axel lay on the couch to the side of the baby's room, little Alexandra, named after his mother, fast asleep on his chest. He was so big and she was so tiny. One of his hands covered almost half her body. But even in sleep, he held her gently like he'd done every day since she was born. He was so soft with her, so tender, I fell in love with him more and more every day, just as I fell in love with her.
I stepped inside and picked up a blanket to drape over them both.
Axel twitched, but he didn't wake.
Lexi smacked her lips in her sleep, and snuggled down deeper to her father.
I smiled at them softly. It was almost dawn and I had work to do, but for now I would let them sleep.
My beautiful family.
Now and forever.
EPILOGUE
Tilly
"Dang it.” I leaned toward my reflection in the mirror on my dresser. “That does not look right.”
Slowly, I turned my face to one side, then the other. I unscrewed the lid of the mascara again and touched up my right eyelashes. Then the left.
"That's better." I closed the mascara and tossed it back into my makeup bag. “Do I look okay?” I turned around to face my two best friends, put a hand on my hip and popped it out to the side. I had to add a little pizazz to the moment.
"You look perfect," Cam assured me. "I need to get you to teach me some day. What I know about makeup could fit on the back of a postage stamp."
She preferred the natural look of a hint of blush and mascara and a swipe of lipstick. That was totally cool. Not everyone embraced the glamorous life. Some of us, like me, lived to be extra. I gave no apologies for being myself and living my best life. My friends were the same and I was here for it.
"Do people still use those things?" Eva asked. “Postage stamps I mean.” She knitted perfectly manicured blond brows and twisted her lips in a ‘who even knows?’ expression.
