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“Do you want children?”
My eyes snap open and I roll to look at the woman I love. “Audrey, I want you. If we can have kids, great. If not, then that’s great too.”
“How would you feel about trying surrogacy and, if that fails, we can look at adoption?”
“I’m happy if you’re happy. If we have kids that look just like you and me with your fire and my incredibly good looks then I’ll be delighted. If we have children who are nothing like us, who come into our lives by choice later in their lives, then I’ll be equally thrilled. And if it only ever ends up being you, me, and Tia then I’ll be the happiest man alive, because you’re all I need.”
Her eyes go wide and glossy. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“All I ever wanted was to be worthy of you, Audrey, and I know I never will be but I don’t care. I love every inch of you, and I’m never walking away again.”
“Hudson, you’ve always been worthy of me. You’re smart, and kind, loyal, loving, and the kind of man any woman would be lucky to call their own. But they can all go to hell because you’re mine and you’re stuck with me.”
“Nobody I’d rather be stuck with.”
I kiss her then and all talk is over for the night. I fall asleep hours later, both of us exhausted, feeling the kind of contentment I never dreamed of.
I’m finally home because she’s my home. She always has been.
Epilogue: Audrey
Hudson is grippingmy hand so hard, I feel like my fingers might fall off, and it’s cute as hell. I glance across at him where Nell, our three-year-old daughter, is cuddled up to his chest. She came to us last year and is the apple of her father’s eye. After two years of failed surrogacy, we decided not to put ourselves through anymore and went the adoption route. It hasn’t been easy, but Nell is worth every single tear. She’s loving and fiery and Hudson says she’s just like me. Her parents were killed in a home invasion, and she was put into the system just as we began looking.
It was love at first sight for all of us, including Tia, who adores her baby sister or maybe niece. Either way, it doesn’t matter to us. We’re a family and that’s all that counts in this world, not how it happened or the titles we have.
“You doing okay?”
Hudson shakes his head. “This was a mistake. What if she falls?”
“Hudson, she’s been practicing and rehearsing for months. She’s got this.”
He glares at me as if this is all my fault and I guess in some ways it is. I encouraged Hudson to let Tia spread her wings and fly, and boy did she. Now fifteen, she’s doing her first Silk Aerial showcase. She took to it so quickly that it was impossible to hold her back. She’s fearless and beautiful and I couldn’t be prouder.
“Hey, how’s he doing?”
Lincoln and Lottie take the seat beside me with their daughter, Eliza, who is five, and their two-year-old son, John, in honor of my father.
“I think he might puke.”
Hudson glares at Lincoln. “I’m not gonna puke. I’m just a little nervous. What if she falls or gets tangled up?”
Lincoln looks up at the stage and winces. “Yeah, I’m with you on this, Hudson. There’s no way, Eliza is doing that.”
Hudson points at me. “See, even he agrees.”
“Will you stop, Tia’s got this, and Eliza will do whatever she wants because she has a strong independent woman as a mother.”
I turn and wink at Lottie who laughs.
“Momma, look.” I follow Nell’s pointing finger to see Beck, Xander, and Amelia. Both men are escorting her because for some reason they think her being heavily pregnant means she needs wrapping in cotton wool. I’ve never seen such protective men and she has to juggle two of them. Ryker and Eden are behind with baby Josh asleep against his father’s chest, and their daughter Lydia holding onto her mother’s hand. Norrie is behind with Isaac and their other son, Thomas, who is three.
A lot has changed for us these last five years and many more changes are coming but we face all of them head-on because we know we not only have our partners, the loves of our lives, but also each other.
“How is he?” Ryker smirks at Hudson.
“Will people stop asking that? You wait until it’s your daughter hanging upside down in mid-air from a piece of silk she’d tangled her legs in.”
Ryker covers his daughters’ ears. “Uh no, not happening.”
