EPILOGUE: HELEN
I got to meet Aiden a few weeks later once he came home from camp. He greeted me with huge dimples and open arms. I had never felt so loved in my life than I did with Brenton and his children. It felt like home.
Over the next few months, we decorated the nursery in pink. I confirmed my suspicions with my doctor. We were having a baby girl.
Brenton and I decided to have a small wedding in the backyard, under the trees where we first fell in love. I invited Lisa as my maid of honor and he invited Charlie as his best man. Aiden was the ring bearer and Candace the flower girl. It could not have been more perfect. Afterward, Charlie and Lisa hung out with the kids and Brenton and I spent the night in my house, just up the hill.
The purchase had gone through with minimal hassle once we found a way to do it within the confines of Dudley’s wishes. I think Wally was just happy to be done dealing with it all. My uncle was a very high maintenance client from the grave. After a very brief discussion, Brenton and I decided to harvest the tree in the backyard together.
In my old bedroom, we held each other close the entire night, whispering our love for each other. We made love over and over again, unable to hold back our affection. Afterwards, he held me, his arm wrapped around the large baby bump that had formed.
“I hope she has your red hair,” he whispered into my ear.
“I hope she has your blue eyes.”
She had both and she was born happy and healthy, into a home filled with love. Candace was ecstatic to have a sister and Aiden thrived as an older brother. Samson was so gentle with the baby, giving her soft licks every so often.
Just under a year later, I was able to pay Brenton back for his generous loan. I spent the year taking care of our baby girl and writing profusely, inspired by my new family and the love we shared. I decided on the perfect cliché ending to my mystery: Mr. Banks’ niece realized the treasure had been in front of her all along, in the form of her friends and family who had helped her in her windy and perilous journey. And I ended up incorporating a romance into it after all.
A couple years later, after I had written a successful sequel, I found myself living out one of my lifelong dreams: I landed an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey after my new publicist, Lisa, berated her with hundreds of phone calls. That interview sent my novels soaring in the charts within hours.
Brenton and I celebrated that evening like we always had: some grilled steaks, red wine and a not-so-innocent swim in the pool. The night ended in bed, with Samson on his back between us, paws up tongue out. Brenton and I stroked each other’s arms over his fur and whispered hushed appreciation for one another.
“I love you Mrs. McLean,” he whispered. My cheeks grew hot. Those words would never grow old, always making me blush. Brenton smiled at my rosy response, his faint dimples showing. He planted a soft kiss into my palm. “Forever.”
The end.