Page 52 of Room One Hundred and Nineteen: Watching Her

EPILOGUE I

JOSH

A couple of years later

My head rested against the headboard while Elena’s soft, delicate body covered my front.

Tucked up against me with her leg tossed over my thigh, our woman slept soundly, peacefully. Something that had taken a little bit of time, but not as long as we had once thought.

The fact only made me smile.

It had been eye opening when she first moved in. We had noticed just how little she actually slept. Not only was she up and running around, working crazy hours, but she planned upcoming meals for the week, double-checking the ride situation for the kids. And not only that, but she had decided to go back to school, too.

Our girl was amazing.

Tough and strong, smart and sweet.

Thankfully, she learned quickly that we weren’t only pretty faces. She understood she could delegate shit to us and we could handle it. Two months after they moved in, we told her our plan to start our own practice and that we wanted her to work withus there. Notforus.Withus. She had shocked the hell out of us by jumping at the opportunity. Six months after that, we opened the door to our family practice and hadn’t looked back.

Elena knew we were not going anywhere. She had us in her corner. We didn’t care how long it took for us to prove that to her.

We got married about a week after we moved them in.

It had been a small ceremony, with just our closest friends and family. Not because everyone shunned us or anything nefarious like that, but because that was what Elena wanted. And we would give her anything to make her smile.

My lips twitched just thinking about that day. How beautiful she had looked walking down the aisle toward us in her beautiful cream-colored satin dress that hugged her curves. The soft melodious tone of her voice as she spoke her vows to us, and then our sweet, tough girl cried when she listened to ours.

About six months after our wedding, we noticed the kids were acting kind of weird, and when we approached them, worried that someone at school was bugging them, they shocked the hell out of us.

We sat down in the living room, and they had asked us if we could adopt them. Their dad had given up his parental rights, and with Elena’s blessing, we did just that.

Life was good. Don’t get me wrong, no way was it perfect. Life was messy and complicated a lot of the times. Shit happened, and when it did, it could rock your world in a good or bad way.

Sometimes both.

But everything happened for a reason.

That was the only way I could explain the beauty of where my life was now. I stroked the ends of her hair and smiled at Miles and Rick when they stepped into the room. They had just gone to drop off Mike and Betsy at their aunt Rosie’s house for the longweekend. They were going camping and paddle boarding with Rosie’s crew of her own men and rugrats.

“Baby,” I whispered against her forehead, and she moaned slightly.

“Hmm,” she sighed, cuddling into me, and I shut my eyes to block out just how hard she made me, but that was nothing new.

“Baby, time to wake up,” I whispered, gently pressing my lips against her skin.

“Why?” she whined. I didn’t try to hide my smile.

“Gorgeous, it’s time to wake up.”

“Why? It’s still early.” She wasn’t wrong, but she had to know what today was.

“I know, baby, but the kids are with your sister, and you have an appointment.”

“Appointment?” Her dark brown eyes popped open with surprise as she took me in and then looked over her shoulder. “Appointment?” she repeated. This time, she sounded a little breathless.

“You know it’s time for a check-up.” Rick walked closer, his stethoscope around his neck, white doctor coat on.

“Check-up.” She blushed, and he nodded, his dark gaze intense on her.

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