Starting Over

Epilogue

Two years have passed since I have seen Charlie or Thomas, and I have not seen or heard from either ever again. I just celebrated my fortieth birthday, Aria celebrated her twentieth birthday, too. Jordan is also twenty, and Finn is forty-two. Preston, my sweet grandson is almost two, and he looks almost identical to Aria with a few physical traits from Jordan. Preston is another beautiful light in my life just like Aria, Jordan and Finn are.

I am still working at the restaurant, but I convinced the owner to hire another head chef, so we can split the week in half, so I can have two days off plus Sunday. On my three days off, I watch Preston for the kids if they are at work, or want a date night. On my days off, regardless if I have Preston or not, he and I, or just me, will visit Finn while he is at his photography studio.

Oh, I forgot to mention a couple of important life events that have happened to Finn and me. Finn and I have a one-year-old son together that we named Flynn James McCoy, and he is identical to Finn as if my genetics have totally been kicked out of his body which is fine despite me carrying and birthing him. I love my son no matter what though. Aria loves having a baby brother despite their age difference, and her son being older than his uncle.

Finn and I moved into a five bedroom, three bathroom home together when I was six months pregnant with Flynn. Aria, Jordan and Preston stayed at the apartment, and took over the lease. Preston has his own bedroom at mine and Finn's home, as does Flynn, and Flynn and I share a room. The two remaining bedrooms are occupied, too, by two other people. One room is being used by our adoptive daughter, Lynn Marie, and the other is being used by our foster son, Axel Jonathan.

Lynn is sixteen, and we adopted her six months ago after we fostered her for eight months. She was fifteen when she came to us, and she was removed from her biological parents because they neglected her in every sense of the word. Axel is fourteen, and we have been fostering him for three months now, and he was removed from his biological father because he was abusive to Axel, and had been since Axel was a small child. We want to adopt Axel, but we have to wait and find out if Axel's father will have his parental rights terminated or not. Aria, Lynn, and Axel get along well, and Aria is an amazing older sister to all three, but this does not surprise me or Finn.

"Papa, do you know when dad will be home?" Axel asks as he enters the kitchen where I have just placed the lasagna into the oven to cook.

Yes, Axel is aware that we are not his biological parents, but he is the one who insisted on calling us 'papa' and 'dad'. He knows he may not be adopted by us, or even stay with us for long.

"Um, he should be home in a half an hour," I reply after looking at the time on the stove. "Is everything okay, bub?"

"Yeah, I just need a little help with my maths homework," he replies with a nervous frown as he fidgets on his feet. 

"That is understandable, I would help, but Finn is by far better at maths than me," I grin, and Axel's shoulders visibly relax, and I hate that he thought I would be upset with his request. "Axel, I am not ever upset when you want or need help from one person in particular."

He smiles brightly at me, and I turn fully toward him with open arms; "Would you like a hug? If not, that is okay, too."

Axel launches himself into my body, he wraps his arms tightly around my middle, and I gently wrap my arms around his waist, too. I let him control the length of our hug, and he lets this last for a couple of minutes, and I give him a bright smile as he takes a step back which he returns.

"Thanks for understanding, and for the hug, papa," he murmurs with a shy smile.

"Anytime on both, love," I murmur as the front door unlocks, and Finn makes his presence known as he walks into our home.

"Daddy!" Flynn, Lynn, and Axel holler as they rush to greet him - Lynn was watching Flynn in the living room for me while I prepared dinner.

"Hello my loves, and I missed all of you," Finn warmly greets them before he joins me in the kitchen while carrying Flynn, and our two teens follow behind them. "Hello my lovely boyfriend. I missed you, too. How has your day been?"

"Mmhh, hello, and I missed you, too," I mumble against his lips as we kiss. "My day has been good. How was yours?"

"My day was good, too," he mumbles against my lips. "I am glad both of us have tomorrow off."

"Me, too, love," I agree before dropping my voice to a whisper. "Axel is in need of your help with his maths homework, and dinner will be done in about thirty minutes."

Finn nods in understanding, kisses me one last time before giving Flynn a kiss on his chubby cheek and handing him to me before turning to Axel; "Hey bud, do you need any help with any of your homework?"

Axel instantly brightens at Finn's offer with an eager nod; "Yeah, my maths."

Finn tells him to grab what he needs, and Axel rushes off to do this, and when he comes back, he and Finn work together at the kitchen counter while Lynn and I hangout with Flynn in the living room.

As the five of us sit around the table to eat dinner an hour later, I look around the table, feeling extremely blessed to have all of these amazing people plus Aria, Jordan, and Preston in my life. Tears fill my eyes when I think about the love I receive and have for these amazing people when I never thought or believed I deserved any, or the happiness they bring me when I was with Elliot, or for a while after divorcing him.

"Papa, are you alright? Why are you crying?" Lynn worriedly asks as several tears slip down my cheeks, and I quickly brush these away.

"I am alright, love, I promise," I smile with a slight sniffle. "I was just realizing how lucky I am to have all of you plus Aria, Jordan, and Preston in my life. I also realized how much I am loved by all of you, and how much I love all of you."

Lynn and Axel smile at me in confusion because they do not know the full story of my marriage to Elliott. They know of him, and have met him a few times for occasions that he has bothered to attend for Aria or Preston. They know he is Aria's father, and that he is not a decent person, but that is all. Flynn does not know what we are talking about, but Finn fully does.

Finn gives me an understanding smile as he confidently says; "We are truly the lucky people because we have you in our lives, and that you love us like you do."