Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
GHOST
Four Years Later
The stars are out, but I’m not looking at them. Not really.
All I can see, all I care to see, is my family. My beautiful wife, the love of my life, cradling our daughter to her swollen belly. Number two is on the way. Well, two and three, twins, but who’s counting?
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. The more the merrier when it comes to this family.
“Hey, Daddy.” Gemma’s talking, speaking with lighthearted playfulness around our daughter. But using the word that still shifts my gears from loving family man to a lust-driven demon just from hearing it. “Where’d you wander off to?”
“Just thinking.” I reach for a glass of whiskey on the table next to me. Aberdeen mimics my actions, though her drink of choice is apple juice.
I once told her, “It’s the same color, which has to mean it’s the same drink, right?” Too smart for her age, my daughter didn’t buy that line of reasoning. Wanting a sip of ‘Daddy’s drink.’
“That’s not how conversations go, you know?” Momma-bear raises a brow, and I chuckle.
“Yeah, but soft and gushy isn’t my style.” I sip. Aberdeen sips. Her ever-watchful gaze never breaks off me. Staring intently. Studying my actions and movements. Trying to learn and understand the internal workings of a giant like me.
Fuck, I love this family.
“Well, maybe it ought to be,” Gemma says with a hmph. “Let us in.”
“Let us in,” Aberdeen parrots.
“Fine.” But accepting and doing are two very different mountains to climb. I take another swig, this time to steel my mind for what comes next. “I never thought I’d have this. You. Aberdeen. A home that isn’t built on a foundation of bloo—”
I cut myself off to keep my past far away from my daughter’s mind.
“It’s hard to believe, harder to accept. And I love every second of it.”
Gemma beams. A vibrant bundle of joy and delight I opened my heart to her. She reaches a hand out and rests it on my arm, Aberdeen doing the same, only on my wrist.
“There, was that so hard?” Her voice flickers close to tears.
“Yes,” I joke, trying to shake the feeling taking hold of me. “Very much so. But for you, my love, it’s worth it.”
The End