Page 90 of Hale's Pawn
Epilogue
Oran
“Only a Hale would be halfan hour late,” Xerxes, Jagger’s son, says.
“She gets it from her mother, don’t look at me,” I say to him.
“I heard that!” Ainslee yells as she fixes something in the kitchen.
“I’m ready! I’m coming down the hall. Don’t over exaggerate!” Rory yells out. We wait for her in the living room and Ainslee gets her camera ready.
As my daughter comes down the hall, I think about when she was no more than five or six years old and she was scared of her own shadow.
I heard the little pitter-patter of feet enter my room. Ainslee isn’t here because she signed up for the twins, Andres, who we call Andy or Papi sometimes, and Bethany’s—Annie—‘s camping trip. Two days without my wife is enough and if she’s not back early morning, I’m going to have to punish her.
“Daddy...Daddy,” Rory whispers. “You sleeping?” I pretend to so she can go back to sleep, but Rory climbs into my bed and I know she’s looking at me.
I open one eye, turning my head to look at her. She’s staring at me and I open my other eye. “Kid...You have school in the morning. What’s wrong?”
“There’s a big monster in there.” she whispers. She shakes her head and I can see she’s about to cry. She looks like Ainslee when she does that. Her curly, light brown hair is all over the place and I know Ainslee is going to kill me in the morning for not properly braiding it down.
“I’ll protect you.” I turn my body this time to face her and she scoots close into my arms.
“You promise to always protect me, daddy?”
“With everything I have, princess. Now sleep. We have an early morning tomorrow.” I kiss the top of her head and she snuggles into my arms because for her, they’ll never close.
“They grow up so fast, don’t they, big guy?” Andy says.
I side-eye him. “Don’t you have homework,Papi?”
He sips his little canned drink. “I did it already. Can I go hang out with the boys tonight, dad? Please?”
“By boys, you mean you’re going to a fucking party. I’m not stupid. I was once sixteen. Take your twin, Annie.”
Andy grumbles, looking like a mixture of Ainslee and I. His eyes are less gray and browner, but it’s still there. He runs his hand through his shoulder length hair, looking like a typical jock. “Fine!” Andy is getting close to my height, two inches until 6’4 and towering over his sisters.
“If you take any of my classics, I’ll knock your little ass out. Stay away from my cars and your mama’s push gifts.All her cars are off limits. Also, no drinking and driving. Don’t play with me.”
“He only wants to go to the party because Karter is going to be there,” Rory says. Why am I not surprised that Andy would be interested in Mikonos’ daughter? But good luck to him because Mikonos is going to put him through hell before he lets him talk to her. I shake my head, finding it amusing. Yes, he’s my son, but it’s hilarious.
I look at my beautiful daughter with her hair straightened. Although I love her hair in its natural curls, I do love how her facial features are more pronounced. I see Ainslee’s nose, my brow and its ability to just cock up when it feels like it, but this one didn’t even make it past five feet. My poor baby.
“You look beautiful, princess,” I say to her after Ainslee is done gushing over her.
Rory walks up to me and hugs me tight. “Thank you, daddy.”
“Aww, group hug!” Andy announces. Annie and Ainslee join in and even Bee joins the hug. Xerxes comes in and joins the hug right behind Rory. I narrow my eyes. He’s too much like his dad.
Xerxes is a mixture of Karessa and Jagger. Sometimes, I see the sweetness of Karessa, but lately I’m seeing more of Jagger. Luckily, they have other kids they can try again with. This one is Jagger through and through. He even smirks like him.
We get out of the hug. “You ready to go, Jagger?” Xerxes says.
“Watch your slick-ass mouth, boy,” Jagger says from the couch. He glares at Xerxes like he knows how much more he’ll be tried.
Xerxes smirks. “I didn’t tell anyone to name her that but you know what, Aurora works too.” He winks at Jagger and my best friend actually laughs, shaking his head while he sits back with Karessa as they look at something on their phone.
“Let’s go, idiot,” Rory says as she says her goodbyes to us. “We need to set some rules for this dance. I had no choice but to go with you,” she says.
