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"I already told you, angel," I growl, nipping at her ear. "You're getting a banana. Now get your pretty ass in the SUV."
"Whatever you say,DoctorGrimes."
I swat her ass right there on the steps of the hospital, making her squeal with laughter. She breaks free of my arms and runs toward the waiting SUV, her dark hair flowing behind her, her laughter ringing out around us. God, she's perfect.
"Thank you," I say, casting my eyes up to the sky. I'm not sure if Siobhan can hear me…but I hope she does. I hope she knows her baby girl is going to be fine now, and so is her sister. I'll spend the rest of my life making sure of it.
"Let's go home, baby girl," I whisper to Scout, following Samara off the steps of the hospital and into forever.
Epilogue
Samara
FiveYearsLater
"Daddy!" Scout squeaks, racing across the living room toward Tate. "You're home!"
"Daddy!" Gemma screams, throwing her blocks and running after Scout as fast as her little legs will carry her. Like her adopted big sister, she's tiny. Unlike Scout, our three-year-old more than makes up for it in volume. Scout tends to be on the quiet side. Not Gemma. She's fearless. You hear her coming from a mile away.
"Quiet, Gemma," I remind her. "Your brother is sleeping."
"Sowwie, mommy!"
I just shake my head, smiling. She'll be yelling at the top of her lungs again in five minutes. Her baby brother, Quade, is only three months old. I think she still forgets that he's here most of the time. She got used to him being in my belly.
She hits Tate like a tiny missile, latching onto his right leg like a Koala.
Tate laughs and reaches down to scoop her up and out of harm's way. As soon as she's secured, he kneels, scooping Scout up too. They both throw their arms around his neck as if they haven't seen him in four years. He's only been gone for an hour. He was dropping his mom and dad off at their hotel. They're in town for the week, though Tate won't tell me why.
He's up to something.
Then again, he usually is.
The ridiculous man spoils me and our babies rotten. He is so good to us. Had anyone told me five years ago that this is how my life would turn out, I wouldn't have believed them. I don't think I was capable of believing them then. For most of my life, I didn't know what it meant to be loved by anyone but Siobhan.
Losing her was, hands down, the most devastating loss I've ever suffered. But it also brought me to the greatest blessings in my life. She put her baby in my care and changed my entire future. She brought me to Tate and Silver Spoon Falls. I lost a sister that day. But I gained a family.
I will always miss her. I will always grieve for her. A piece of my heart will always be missing. But for the first time in my life, the rest of it is full. I know what it's like to have a place in the world now, one where I truly fit. Not just with Tate, but with his family, and the MC, and our friends, and our babies. Silver Spoon Falls isn't just the place I landed. It's my home.
"Shouldn't you two be in bed?" Tate asks the girls.
"Mama said we could wait for you, daddy," Scout says.
"Uh-huh," Gemma agrees. "Her did, daddy."
"I did," I confirm. "Which means it's time for bed now, girls."
"No!" Gemma pouts.
"No pouting, sweet girl," Tate says, giving her a stern look.
She immediately stops pouting, giving him big, innocent eyes. I swear, all he has to do is look at her and she instantly behaves. Not so much for me. Tate says it's because I'm a big softie and she can smell weakness like a baby shark, but he's the one who always gives the girls anything they want! All they have to do is bat their lashes at him and he just says yes. His brothers do too!
They were the worst with Scout. They spoiled her rotten when she was a baby. Her little feet never touched the ground when we were at the clubhouse. Scout is hard to spoil though. She's such a sweet little girl. She is so full of love, and wise beyond her years. I couldn't blame them for wanting to hold her all the time when I did too. She was so snuggly! She still is. I love nothing more than when she crawls into my lap and wants me to hold her.
We officially adopted her when she was two. She calls me her mama and Tate her daddy, but she knows Siobhan gave birth to her. We haven't told her everything, but she knows that Siobhan is in heaven and that she's a hero. When she's old enough, we'll tell her everything she wants to know and get her into therapy to help her work through her feelings about what happened. It's going to be a lot for her to process. It would be for anyone.
For now though, we shower her with love every single day and make sure she knows how much Siobhan loved her. On the rare occasion she asks about her real dad, we tell her that he loved her too. It kills us both to have to tell her anything about him, but I don't want to lie to her or make her feel like she isn't allowed to ask about him or miss him or think about him. Regardless of how we feel about him and the horrible things he did, he kept Siobhan locked up instead of killing her because she was pregnant. I have to believe that's because he loved Scout to some extent.
