Page 89 of Off Limits Daddy

Whatever it was, I knew I’d always be thankful to Veronica and Aiden for giving me the family I’d always craved.

EPILOGUE II

Veronica – Three Years Later

It was amazing how much noise children could make. I looked out into the backyard where Aiden was running around with his friends that included Grayson, and Oliver and Lindsay’s kids, Georgie, Cassie, and Olivia, plus a few from school. To see him now, one would never guess he was the timid, scared, withdrawn child from three years ago. Not that he didn’t occasionally have nightmares about his ordeal. Or that he wasn’t sometimes still shy. For the most part, Aiden was a normal nine-year-old boy today, running and playing with his friends.

He was also a wonderful big brother to Amanda, his now two-year-old sister. She was feisty like me, with my red hair, but she had Duncan’s lovely blue eyes and his sweet heart. He doted on both his children like they were the center of his world. I knew I was there in the middle with them as well. There was never any doubt about Duncan’s love for us. Now, as it had in the beginning, it still awed me. And it humbled me because I’d nearly been too dumb to accept it.

But Amanda wasn’t the only new addition to this family of friends. Oliver and Lindsay also welcomed a little boy they named Liam last year. He was doing his best to keep up with the boys, but at just over a year old, he struggled with it. Oliver was on his heels, making sure he didn’t climb up on something and get hurt.

“Oliver thinks he’s the reincarnation of Liam,” Lindsay said as she sat next to me on the deck. “That’s both terrifying and sweet, I think.”

I nodded. I wondered if it was ever odd for them that Lindsay had been Oliver’s brother Liam’s girlfriend first.

“It looks like the kids are accepting Leanna,” she said, watching Brett and Miranda’s foster-to-adopt daughter playing with older kids. At five, she was three years younger than Lindsay’s triplets and four years younger than Aiden and Grayson. She was mostly quiet, like Aiden had been, but Miranda said she had some behavioral challenges. She never went into detail, which I respected. I felt like she didn’t want us to judge or use it to filter how we felt about the girl. Not that we would. They had her with the same counselor that we’d sent Aiden to, and we all knew that she would get the love and support she needed.

“How do people so small have so much energy?” Duncan said as he sat with us. Miranda and Brett joined us too.

“We started too late, buddy,” Brett said. “It would be easier if we were still thirty.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Duncan is still pretty fit.”

Duncan leaned toward me. “Is that innuendo?”

I winked at him.

“TMI.” Lindsay rolled her eyes.

Seeing my best friends happy and surrounded by love, and their thriving children running around and having the time of their lives, was a form of heaven. There was still ugliness in theworld. As expected, the Crew had managed to regroup, now led by someone else.

I continued to fight against crime. It often felt like whack-a-mole, but it was quite satisfying when we put someone who was hurting others away.

"Life just doesn't get much better than this." Duncan said the words I’d been thinking. “You don’t have anything to drink. Want wine? Beer?” he said to me.

“No, thank you.”

“I’m going to check on Leanna,” Brett said. “I’m going in for drinks. Sure you don’t want something, Veronica?”

I shook my head. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“I could use a drink. Oliver will probably need one shortly.” Lindsay rose from her chair. “I’ll help you.”

Duncan and I were left on the deck alone.

“To think that I almost lost the opportunity to have all this."

Duncan put his arm around me, tugging me close. "The good thing is that you are smart as hell and realized that I was a good catch."

I smiled because he was right. "Do you think it's possible to have any more happiness than what we have now?"

He pondered my question. “I suppose with all the money we have, we could travel more or have a fancy boat or a second home. But none of that stuff would add happiness. They might add fun, but not soul-deep happiness. I think we might have the max on happiness here."

"Hmm. That could be a problem, then."

He frowned. “Is something wrong? Are you unhappy?”

“There’s nothing wrong, Duncan. But you’re going to have to make room for more happiness because in about eight months, we're going to be welcoming another Ashworth to the family."

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