Page 16 of Love Like This

Epilogue Two

Hannah

Ten years after meeting…

I text my assistant, Freda, that I’ll be out soon and she sends me the thumbs up. She’s been a godsend. Ready, willing, and able to pinch in as needed. The customers love her, so do I, as well as my kids. They call her Aunt Free and she can’t get enough of it.

Right now, I’m currently in my office at the shop, breastfeeding our youngest child, Kyle. He’s three months and, unless he’s spending the day with his daddy or the grands, I always bring him to the store with me.

Our oldest, Peter Julian, named in honor of his grandpas – by birth and choice – is eight and is currently at a friend’s house. He is our bookworm and constantly has his nose in one. Every night at bedtime, he thinks he’s fooling us by staying up an extra hour to read, but as smart as the little stinker is, he hasn’t caught on to the fact that his batteries never die on him.

Rayna, our only daughter so far, is all about crafts, her preferred medium being glitter. Yeah, that stuff is everywhere and I’m starting to see it in my nightmares, but she adores it and Seymour and I refuse to squash her creativity. Though we have designated a particular room where she must use the blasted stuff. Seymour even installed a sink in a corner of it, allowing her to wash up before leaving it. That’s the rule. It’s the equivalent of a clean room, but messy. So messy. She’s six and we’re fervently praying that she outgrows this addiction soon.

She’s with her daddy right now, which means no glitter allowed, as she’s “helping” him. Rayna insisted that he needed her at work, which would be the photography studio he opened about three months after we got married. Picture This is booked months out, not only for in studio pictures. He also does graduations, weddings, anniversaries, etc.

For some of those, I’m even tasked with creating favors, bouquets, one of a kind keepsakes, and so on.

It doesn’t hurt that our businesses are side by side. Especially when he sneaks to my half, Kyle sleeping in his crib in my office with a partition separating him from his naughty parents, as we enjoy some afternoon delight. Morning and evening, too, if we’re really feeling frisky.

Which we usually are.

Time has not diminished our need, nor our love, for one another.

The grands have chosen to get their own place, though it’s still within walking distance as they, in their words, have a whole new generation that needs spoiled.

Seymour and I teased once that it could be them creating one themselves, which resulted in my grandma and Peter winking at each other and Peter declaring, “Nah, but practicing is a helluva lot of fun."

We never mentioned it again.

I gently place Kyle down, then put myself back together before returning to the front. At some point, Seymour enters, our two oldest with him, after picking up Peter, or PJ as he prefers, and asks Freda if she can handle the store for the rest of the day and tomorrow because he wants to whisk his family away for the weekend. He sends a wink my way, letting me know he’s taken steps to ensure we have some adult time, too. My “Gulp” has him grinning with sexy intent.

Since marrying Seymour, and especially once we started having kids, I’ve rediscovered my love for traveling. We frequently take trips, wanting our children to have the best of both worlds. Namely all that’s out there to explore while knowing they will always have a home.

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