AllFreeNovel
Share Us
EPILOGUE
EDEN
Five Years Later…
“Can we play, mom?” Martin begs. I smile down at him.
“Of course, honey.”
He grins, running over to the kitchen table and I smile as I follow after him.
“Oh, Spot It?” Ryker asks as he comes into the kitchen with our daughter, Isla, tucked in his arms. “Your mom is a master at that game.”
“I’m going to beat her today,” Martin says. I nod as I open the tin and pull out the cards.
“He might! I’ve been teaching him about patterns,” I tell Ryker.
“Alright, deal me in too,” he says, pulling out a chair for me and taking the one next to it.
Martin is bouncing in his chair, watching me excitedly as I deal out the cards. Isla gurgles up at her dad and I pause to watch them together.
Ryker had been so nervous when we first found out that I was pregnant with Martin. He had claimed me as his mate, but I know that deep down, he was still nervous about the curse.
He was super overprotective of me with both of the pregnancies, but that might just be a shifter thing because Griffin was the same way with Phoenix. He was somehow even more overprotective when Martin was born.
It took him a few years to see that he wasn’t cursed, that the curse was just something to be blamed for bad things, and that we were all going to be okay. He’s been a lot more relaxed with Isla and I love to see him with both of our kids.
We got married a month after Ryker bit me and we’re coming up on our anniversary soon. I can’t wait to see what he has planned for us this year. I think back to the romantic picnic that he had taken me on last year. When we got home, he had drawn us a bath and we had flooded the bathroom. I had thought that maybe we would have to use our home improvement skills to fix it up, but we were able to mop up the water instead.
We still own the house next door. We’ve been renting it out, or when it’s not rented, we’ve used it to sneak off a few times when the kids were napping and we wanted to be loud.
Griffin and Ryker are still best friends and still the Alphas of the Twisted Oak Pack. They fixed the budgeting and books years ago and things have been running smoothly ever since. I’m proud of both of them. They work so hard and are always trying to help everyone in town.
“Ready?” I ask as we flip over the card and start to play.
I go slower, smiling as Martin gets more and more excited. We both have one card left and I glance over smiling when I see Ryker grinning at me knowingly. Isla is busy trying to grab the cards from his hand and he laughs, pulling them away from her and offering her one of her toys instead.
“Dog!” Martin cries, throwing down his last card.
“Oh, I was so close,” I tell him and he smiles at me proudly.
I've worked hard to be a better parent to my kids than mine were ever to me. I haven't spoken to them since I left and sometimes that makes me sad, but deep down, I know that we're both happier not being in each other's lives. They shouldn't have a relationship with my kids. That way they can't hurt or disappoint them.
“Can we play again?” Martin asks and I nod, shuffling the cards.
“Want to go to a park today? It’s supposed to be nice out,” Ryker says as Isla starts to fuss in his lap.
“Sure. Can Asher, Maple, and Liam meet us there?” Martin asks.
“Maybe. I’ll text Griffin and see what they’re up to.”
Ryker pulls out his phone as I deal the cards. Phoenix and I are still best friends and we see each other almost every day. We took over the bookstore a few months back and have been running it together ever since.
“They said yes,” Ryker says and I flip over the card.
“I’ll have to beat you fast then,” I challenge and Martin grins
“It’s on!” He says as we grab our cards and start to play.
