Page 63 of Scandalously Yours

Epilogue

ALESSIA - TWO YEARS LATER

The air was crisp, and there was a hint of a chill in it. Autumn in New York City was beautiful, but soon the discarded leaves would give way to blankets of white. It was no wonder that everyone thought to get together to spend what could be one of the last weekends together before winter arrived and stayed for however many months.

“Do you think these flowers will get cold and die,” Kaylee asked me as she held up a few in her small hands. I looked down at the grave already surrounded by various bouquets, then back at the seven-year-old.

“While it might cover them, sometimes delicate things can still handle the weight,” I told her, and it was true about a lot of things. This child was a perfect example. “You might want to put those on this spray if you want them to stand a better chance.”

The girl started trying to add them to the existing arrangement, and I smiled. After everything that had happened a few years back, Kaylee had proven her resiliency. I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to be that strong at that age, much less the one I was at now. A shadow crossed over us and when a pair of strong arms wrapped around me, I knew who it was, and with him, I knew I could take on anything in the world.

That belief had been tested many times in the two years since he literally took a bullet for me. It was something someone would joke about doing for someone else they loved, but he had actually meant it. During a few brief moments of panic, I wasn’t sure he would make it, but he had, and we came out stronger because of it. He’d coded, but by the time I arrived at the hospital myself, they had been able to revive him. It’d been touch and go for several hours, but he eventually pulled through. The same couldn’t be said about his perpetrator.

Once Hayley fled the scene, she must’ve realized the error of her ways and knew that unlike in the past, she wouldn’t get out of this kind of trouble so easily. When the police went to question her, they found her dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. She had killed herself with the same gun she had turned on Kristopher and me instead of answering for her crimes in court. Attempted murder hadn’t been the only thing to come out afterward, either. Even Kristopher had been surprised by the true lengths of her depravity.

The weeks and months that followed had been particularly hard on the children. I got to know them so much over that time and when their father proposed to me nearly six months later, they had been so happy. Karter was his father’s ring bearer, and Kaylee made the most gorgeous flower girl. As I turned in my husband’s arms and looked over to the side of him, I smiled at the sleeping beauty in her stroller. Our daughter had just recently turned seven months old, and she had her father’s light hair and my wide eyes. Like me and Kaylee, she also had him wrapped around her chubby little fingers, although he liked to disagree. Kristina truly was the best parts of both of us.

“Dad, are we ready to go?” Karter asked Kristopher. The boy was a mirror image of his father, so much so that I sometimes had trouble telling which childhood pictures were whose when we would look through them.

His son hadn’t been so forgiving of his mother, which was the reason he rarely spent more than a few minutes beside her grave any of the times that we came. In fact, he often spent more time at my grandfather’s, and his tombstone was in Providence, Rhode Island. Losing Hayley had been one thing, but having my grandfather die not too long afterward had been my breaking point. I don’t know if I would’ve ever been lifted out of that dark place without the love Kristopher and his children had provided to me until I later found out I was pregnant. Kristina’s pending arrival had been exactly what we all had needed.

“Take your sisters to the car. We’re right behind you,” Kris told his son.

Karter had been wanting to play football with Brandon Kingston, and I remembered what had happened the last time we all got together. Jonas wanted to prove he still had the same skills he once had, and while throwing the ball to them, he misjudged how close he was to the edge of the hilltop. As he had reared back to chuck it, he ended up losing his footing and tumbled partially down the hill. After a few loud curses which had me covering Kaylee’s ears with my hands, he had gotten up and tried to pretend as if nothing had happened. The Titans all teased him while the rest of us broke out into fits of laughter.

There were so many good times to think about which I did often. Life was short... precious... and meant to be enjoyed with those you loved. While I was an interloper into the world of the Titans, every one of them embraced me, including Anton and Elsa who I had been surprised even wanted to see me again. They welcomed me back into their lives with open arms, and I was able to see firsthand how much they loved the child of theirs that I had brought into the world. There were some moments of bittersweetness, but I had my own child with Kristopher, and the two of his that I had grown very attached to. I would never try to take their mother’s place because she’d been important to them, but I did try to give them the love they never really got from her all while keeping her memory alive in their hearts. It was obviously an easier task with Kaylee than her older brother.

After Hayley’s death, they were able to get to the bottom of her mysterious illness. The doctor from California that had been flown in by Kristopher uncovered something so chilling and diabolical that I could hardly believe it at first. It seemed as if Mother Dearest had been slowly poisoning Kaylee with salt of all things in hopes of a medical crisis bringing her and Kris back together again. Even though he had told me it wasn’t my fault at all, I still harbored a sliver of guilt to this day. I loved his daughter and while I hadn’t helped create her, I cherished her nonetheless.

I watched the children leave for the car as Kristopher nuzzled my neck. “I love you, Ale,” he murmured against my skin, causing me to shiver.

“I love you, too,” I responded, then moaned as his hand moved gently over my belly. In five short months, we’d be welcoming another addition to the Simon family, and I knew he was secretly praying for a boy. I didn’t care what we ended up having as long as the baby was healthy. “We should go,” I finally told him, and he released me from his arms.

When we got to the car, Karter had already gotten his youngest sister secured into her car seat, folded the stroller, and had put it into the trunk. Kaylee was currently buckling up herself. “I’m hungry,” the boy stated aloud.

“Your uncles should have everything set up at the park by the time we get there,” Kris responded.

“Yeah, I know. And Uncle Caspian will have eaten most of it by then too, since he is preparing for one of those race things.”

I giggled because Karter wasn’t wrong. If I wasn’t pregnant, I would’ve joined the marathon myself. The race was raising money for Alzheimer’s research which everyone knew was near and dear to my own heart. “I’d worry more about Mason,” I told him with a wink, then got into the car.

A half hour later, we arrived at the park. There was a section of grass we often reserved for events like this throughout the summer and fall. When I had first met Kristopher, I had no friends in my life. I was all alone in this fast paced world, but I couldn’t say that any longer. As we reached everyone else, the women who’d conquered their Titans all stood up to greet me. I embraced Elsa, Paisley, Rhyann, and Kenzie, before the men followed suit.

I hugged them all, then found a spot on one of the blankets to sit. Being pregnant and on one’s feet all day wasn’t ideal. Kristopher had even asked me to take this pregnancy off from work. When we had hit the start of the second trimester, I had given in. After all, there was very little I wouldn’t give that man. Who would’ve thought a simple fling in a faraway place would lead me into the arms of the greatest love I have ever known, all while making dreams I didn’t even know I possessed come true?

It took me a minute to get comfortable, and once I did, Rhyann and Paisley joined me. I knew both women were experiencing baby fever. The number of times they offered to babysit Kristina only reinforced that. I wasn’t quite sure whether Caspian and Paisley were waiting to have one, but I knew Rhyann was still doing some international dance shows. I was actually quite surprised, although pleased, that she was going to be at the picnic today.

“I just want to eat her up,” Rhyann said as she tickled Kristina’s sock covered foot.

My daughter cooed happily and let out a few gasps of laughter when Paisley blew a raspberry on her belly. “She’s just the most adorable little being ever.”

And I had to agree. Kenzie and Elsa joined us momentarily, but the food was finally delivered, and the adults got up to spread it all out at the picnic tables. The children couldn’t get their hot dogs or slices of pizza fast enough, all cutting in front of the men who looked most displeased about that. I just smiled. Eventually, the others had gotten up, but not me. I watched Kristopher heading my way with two plates, and I could already tell which one was mine.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as he handed me the plates so that he could sit down. Once seated, he grabbed the hotdog off of his.

“I’m starving,” I responded, then tore a piece of crust off of the pizza.

“You’ve always been weird like that,” he finally said before shaking his head.

---