“I … I don’t know what to say,” he whispers.
“Say that you’ll remain in Pennsylvania.” That’s my biggest fear. That he’ll leave and I won’t get to see him as often as I want. I know that’s selfish of me, but I want him to be part of our lives and our children’s. I want my family to have the life I wish I had. Surrounded with lots of love and support.
He gets up from his seat and walks around the table. I stand and he pulls me into a big hug. “I’m not leaving, Elli,” he says roughly, and I feel tears sting my eyes. His arms hug me tighter. “I’m not going anywhere.” Letting me go, he steps over to Sin, and they share a man hug.
I feel the first tear run down my face while I smile. This is what I always wanted. To be loved and feel safe.
EPILOGUE TWO
SIN
EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER
I EXIT THE bedroom to find my wife in the kitchen. “Good morning, little demon,” I whisper in her ear as I step up behind her. My arms going around her waist. Burying my face into her neck, she lets it fall to the side to give me better access. I groan, my left hand coming up to grip her chin. “I’m so—”
The front door opening and slamming shut cuts me off and I pull away. “Who the fuck is here this early?” I mumble. When you’ve got two teenagers, kids are always coming and going all hours of the day and night.
My wife and I both walk into the living room in time to see our daughter running up the staircase.
“Where have you been?” I demand.
Annaleigh stops midway, throws her head back and sighs before turning to face me. “We went to get coffee.”
“Who is we? And shouldn’t you be getting ready for school?”
A bleach blonde pops her head over the second story balcony. “Hey, Mr. and Mrs. S.” Her best friend waves down to us.
“I’m ready.” Our daughter gestures to her sweatpants that look three sizes too big and a T-shirt. Neither look like hers. I’ve never seen them before. I’m the kind of dad most kids hate. I’m very active in my kids’ lives whether they want me to be or not. I notice everything and am always asking questions.
I’ve never believed in God. But if I had, I’d tell him to go fuck himself. Those days spent with Elli in the basement trying to knock her up worked. I’m forever in my father-in-law’s and Tyson’s debt for coming and dragging me out of Carnage. But God laughed and said watch this. He gave me a daughter that’s just like me. Hardheaded, stubborn, and a pain in my ass. Then to make it worse, he said let’s make her look just like her mother.
“Hurry along. I don’t want you to be late.” Elli shoos them away.
Heading back to the kitchen, I follow her. “If she went to get coffee, where was it?” I ask my wife.
She gives me a pointed look. “Calm down. You worry too much.”
“She’s eighteen,” I point out. About to graduate high school. I don’t trust the boys she hangs out with.
She pats my chest. “It’s fine.”
“Mornin’.”
My wife pulls away to look at our son. His eyes are barely open, he’s got red marks down the side of his face where he’s been sleeping. His hair a messy mop on top of his head and hanging in his eyes. “This is what a teenager is supposed to look like in the morning,” I point out.
Our kids couldn’t be more different in every way. People who don’t know our family think they’re twins. But what do you expect when they’re the same age?
By the time they were old enough to talk, they’d tell people they were twins. We never corrected them. They know the truth, but to them they are brother and sister. Elli is Mom and I’m Dad and anyone who can’t understand or accept that can go fuck themselves.
“Hungry?” she asks him.
“Starving,” Brexton answers through a yawn.
“Up late?” I wonder.
“Yeah, was studying for a final.” Laying his face down on the countertop, he closes his blue eyes.
I hear the front door open and close again, and seconds later my father-in-law enters the kitchen. “Good morning.” He greets everyone with a bright smile.