Page 83 of Hidden Vows
I vow to cherish you for everything you are, and everything you have yet to become.
I vow to keep choosing you and this life we’re building together.
I vow to grow with you and never apart from you.
I vow to love you every day as if it were my last.
I could go on and on, but you’re looking at me like it’s time to be done writing in this journal and I don’t want to disappoint you on our second first day as husband and wife.
I love you, Abbey Murphy, with all that I am and so much more.
epilogue
JUDE
Four Years Later
“Mo ghrá, you almost ready?”
“Yeah, I need to grab my shoes and I’m good to go. Where’s Ronan?” Abbey calls over her shoulder
“With my dad in the living room.” I lean against the doorway, watching her put her hair up in the mirror.
Her eyes meet mine through the reflection, and the heat that sparks lights me up.
Almost four years married and we still can’t get enough of each other. I knew this woman was the love of my life long before I married her the first time, but it’s the little moments like these that help prove me right.
“We don’t have time for that. We need to leave in the next ten minutes if we want to be on time.”
I may not have known Scott well, but he was an important person in our friends’ lives—Quinn and Caleb’s dad, Ava and Declan’s surrogate father, Abbey and Gage’s friend. Being invited to help celebrate the man on one of the hardest days of their lives was a privilege neither my wife nor I took for granted.
“You could do it in ten minutes.” She spins to look at me head on, her hands moving to grip the edge of the counter behind her.
“I could, but that doesn’t give me time to savor you the way I’d want to.” I prowl toward her, placing my hands on the counter beside hers, but not touching her.
“You can savor me later,” she whispers.
“Or, I can wait until later and really make it worth your while,” I murmur right in her ear, my breath tickling her skin.
“Jude,” she groans, trying to press her body into mine, but before she can touch me, I step back, a teasing smile on my lips.
“My dad is taking Ronan tonight. We’ll have the whole house to ourselves, and I really want to hear you scream.”
“That’s just mean,” she whimpers, and I can see her thighs clenching, trying to relieve some of the pressure building in her core.
“But you know it’ll be worth it.” I spin on my heel and walk out of our bedroom, only stopping when I make it to the living room.
Three years later, I still don’t take for granted the image before me as I cross the threshold.
There on the floor with his grandson is my father, looking healthier than ever.
I hate that it took almost losing him for me to truly recognize what I had, but I thank my lucky stars I got more time with him.
I wish every day Abbey had the same kind of relationship with her dad, but I’m thankful they have something. It might not be what she always imagined it would be, but it’s better than it’s ever been, and that’s a pretty good place to be.
After her grand opening, she let Edward cool off for a few days before she went to see him, just the two of them.
She told me there was a lot of yelling and a lot of tears, butthey came to an agreement, one that meant he was a part of our lives, but only as a father and grandfather, not as a business partner or investor.
