“Yes, ma’am.” I grinned as I retrieved the desserts and set them in front of her.
She lifted one to her lips but paused and gave me a cheeky smirk. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your dessert later.”
I laughed and cuddled her close, kissing the top of her head. “Damn, I love you,” I murmured with a brief hug.
Anna dropped her head back and gazed up at me, love shining in her emerald eyes. “You brought magic into my life, Julian Storm, but my love for you will never disappear.”
Epilogue
Anna
“Mommy! I neeeed you!”
Our five-year-old screamed the four words that guaranteed I’d come running. I halted to a sudden stop when I found him sitting on his knees on a chair at the kitchen table with a huge grin on his precious face and a twinkle in his green eyes. He looked so much like his daddy, it made my heart melt even more every time I looked at him. But he was also a handful—just like my husband.
There wasn’t any blood or sign of injury. The only thing out of place was the banana in front of him that he must’ve grabbed from the bowl on the counter where I always kept fresh fruit. “Did you climb up to get that banana?”
“No, Mommy,” Harry denied, shaking his head earnestly.
“How did you get it?” I asked as I walked over to the chair next to him and sat down.
He fidgeted in his seat and pointed at the banana. “Daddy got it for me so I could show you a magic trick!”
“A magic trick, huh?” I peered down at the yellow peel and didn’t notice anything out of place. “I bet it’s a good one, too.”
“Uh-huh! It’s the bestest one I’ve ever learned,” Harry assured.
I smiled at how seriously he’d answered. “Do you want to show it to me now?”
“Yup!” He nodded, the smile wiping from his face as he concentrated on the banana. “See how it’s not open or anything? It’s just a regular banana.”
“It looks like a yummy one to me,” I agreed.
“I’m gonna use my super magic powers that Daddy gave me to cut the banana inside the peel!” Harry proclaimed in a loud voice.
“Ooh! I’m so excited to see your trick.”
He stared at the banana before yelling, “Abracadabra!” Then he lifted his hand and dropped it down in a karate chop motion, stopping directly above the middle of the banana. “That should do it.”
I made a big show of bending over to look at the peel. “I don’t see anything different.”
“That’s because it’s magic, Mommy.” Harry flashed me a look that clearly said I should’ve known this already, making me laugh.
“Oh, right! It wouldn’t be much of a trick if I could figure it out just from looking at the peel, I guess.”
“Exactly.” He nodded in satisfaction and picked up the banana. “You can’t see that it’s broken in half on the inside, but it is. Here, I’ll show you.”
He wrapped his small hand around the top and tried to get the peel to pull down, but struggled to open it. “Do you want some help?”
“Uh-huh,” he agreed, handing it over. “But only with this part ’cause I already did the best stuff.”
“I get it, buddy,” I laughed as I tugged the peel partway down to get it started before giving it back to him. “You’re the star of this show. I’m just an assistant.”
Harry grinned as he undid the rest of the peel, and the top half of the banana fell into the palm of his hand. “See, I cut it with magic!”
“Your daddy better watch out. It won’t be too long before you’ll be ready to take over his show with tricks like that.”
“Maybe I should rethink teaching the boy all my best tricks,” Julian teased as he walked into the kitchen. He had our two-year-old daughter, Krystyn, in his arms. Her head rested against his shoulder, her eyes were closed, and her thumb was in her mouth.
“It looks like someone wasn’t ready to wake from their nap,” I chided as I reached up to take her from him. It wasn’t a rare occurrence for Julian to accidentally wake up one of the kids because he couldn’t resist checking on them. Using the monitor wasn’t good enough for him, even though it had a camera. He wanted to see them with his own eyes and didn’t care if he interrupted their nap because they’d wake up wanting more cuddles than usual.
After he got her settled on my lap, he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “She was already tossing and turning when I peeked in on her.”
“Mm-hmm, sure she was.” I flashed him a grin to let him know I wasn’t upset.
“I showed Mommy the banana buster trick, Daddy,” Harry cried.
“Did she like it?” Julian asked, reaching out to ruffle our son’s hair.