Together again ✔

Epilogue

"Lucy!" I called up the stairs, upon hearing crying. Almost instantly, my seven year old daughter's head popped over the top of the staircase as she grinned down at me. "What have you done?"

"Max pushed me so I ripped the head off his doll," Lucy pouted, wiping a strand of curly hair from across her face.

Letting out a groan, I took a brief pause to collect myself, already feeling stressed enough.

Today was the family reunion day, and I really didn't need this right now.

At the age of twenty seven, I was barely able to find my car keys, yet alone arrange the assembly of five brothers, their wives, kids, and my dad.

Really, the only thing keeping me sane was my wife- Amara.

"Alright, why don't you go apologise to Max, and then change into your clothes. What are you wearing, again, by the way?" I asked, trying not to show the mental breakdown I was having.

"My soccer shirts and top," Lucy grinned toothily, only to proceed to disappear before I could say anything else. Great.

Just as I let out another groan, the sharp sound of the doorbell rang out, bouncing through the room as I heard an excited exclamation from Lucy upstairs. 

Oh great.

My daughter appeared once again, hanging her head over the top of the stairs to see me, although I noticed she didn't actually have any shorts on.

"Lucy, why don't you finish getting changed, I'll go get the door, OK?" I sighed, feeling weighed down with stress.

"OK!" Lucy chirped, almost immediately disappearing from view- once again-, obvious excitement painted across her face. 

Unable to help but smile slightly at my daughter's enthusiasm, I quickly hurried across the hall and to the front door, trying to be as quick as possible considering how much I loved my brother's girlfriends and wives.

Why care about a bunch of disgusting boys when there's a group of amazing girls to hang out with?

Reaching the door, I grabbed the keys from where they were hanging up on the wall, inserting them into the keyhole, twisting it and pulling open the door handle.

There, stood on the doorstep, was Kyle and his fiancé  Khadijah (although everyone called her Dijah). She was British/ Asian, with dark brown hair and coffee eyes. I couldn't help but smile slightly when I saw she was wearing sweats and a hoodie while my brother was wearing a suit.

"Come on in! I missed you guys," I grinned happily.

"Wish I could say the same back," Dijah winked, her hand leaving my brother's as she took a step through the front door.

There she was. My favorite sister in- law.

"Auntie Dijah! Uncle Kyle!" a small voice yelled from behind me, causing me to twist around to see Lucy stood at the bottom of the stairs, grin lighting up her face.

"There's the little monkey," Kyle teased, pulling my daughter into his arms as she ran towards him.

Ever since Dijah had entered his life, my second youngest brother had become a lot softer, although he was still by far one of the coldest of us siblings.

"Lucy, why don't you take them into the kitchen? There are some pretzels there you can have!" I suggested with a smile, watching as my daughter nodded frantically, grabbing a firm grip on Dijah and Kyle's arms as she dragged them off in the direction of the kitchen. 

At that moment, Max appeared at the bottom of the stairs, barely even giving me a glance before he was already sprinting down the hall after my brother and his fiancé .

"Lovely," I muttered, just as the sound of a car pulling up outside caught my attention.

The door was still open, and as I glanced out, I was able to see a black Mercedes that I recognised to belong to Caleb. As it pulled up onto the drive, the gravel crunching beneath its tyres, I could see through the windshield that I was correct, and he also had his 14 year old daughter sat next to him.

Like her mom, Alex, Caleb's daughter had ginger hair and bright green eyes. Sadly Alex had died only nine years ago during a house attack from one of the rival gangs.

"Hey Caleb! Hey Grace!" I called as the doors on both sides of the car were pushed open and my brother and his daughter stepped out onto the drive.

"Hi Gabs!" Caleb smiled, pulling me into a tight hug as he reached the door.

"The others are through in the kitchen," I grinned, as my youngest brother placed a final kiss on my head before pulling away.

"Hey auntie!" Grace chirped, giving me a quick squeeze before bounding off after Caleb.

It was kind of sad that a 14 year old was taller than me, but she clearly got her height genes from her mom.

Respect for my 5'8 daughter in law.

REUNITED

We were all there, sat around the large oak table in the dining room, the kids playing outside. My dad, brothers and their partners were sat around me, while Amara was beside me, holding my hand under the table.

As we all laughed with each other and enjoyed each others company, my mind couldn't help but travel to the question of where I would be now if I'd never visited that business building. But, as quickly as I could, I pushed that thought away, just allowing myself to appreciate where I was now. 

With my family, the closest people I had in my life.

And I wouldn't change that for the world.

Welp this was slightly rushed but ngl I just want to get off wattpad as quickly as possible 😂

I fucking love you all and tysm for all the support I've been given since I started this book. I can't believe it's over already!!!!

Hopefully I'll come back to this account some day but until then bye beautiful ppl and I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I have ❤

-Elin