Papillon

Epilogue

Francis
7 years later

"I think you added too much water," Bella said, frowning at the countertop.

"No, I didn't," Damon argued.

"You definitely did," Bella returned.

"How do I know you didn't mess this up, my little diva?"

"Just for that," she grinned, streaking a line of wet dough over Damon's face. He shot her an annoyed look and moved his dirty hand over her hair but rethought that action when she shot him a death glare. They were trying some new recipe together as usual and couldn't stop arguing about who ruined what.

"Okay, let's just start over," Bella suggested, chuckling.

"Oh, for the love of God," Ariadne groaned. "I'm starving."

Bella shot her a dry look. "Good things take time."

"I'll take anything right now. I'm so hungry," she frowned and sat down by them.

Damon tensed and moved away but then, quietly set a tray of baked goods by Robyn in front of her. Ariadne looked at him with inquisitive eyes, but he ignored her and redirected his focus onto whatever he and Bella were cooking together. I didn't miss a hint of a smile on Ariadne's face when she bit into a cookie.

"I'm ordering food," Christian declared from the living room, typing at his laptop. Bella and Damon shared a look, shrugged, and then got to work cleaning the countertops.

When Robyn walked in, Christian flicked a slow gaze over to her as she dropped her things, still dressed in a stunning gown.

When her gaze fell to specially made fresh cinnamon rolls with extra icing just for her on the counter, she practically squealed.

"These are my favorite," the girl practically moaned as she took a bite out of one. "Thank you, Damon."

"As much as I'd like to take credit, I didn't get them, sweet girl," Damon said coyly.

Robyn frowned and darted her eyes to Bella and Ariadne and when they both said no, she moved on to me. I shook my head with a wry smile and with parted lips, she inhaled a shaky breath and looked at Christian. He stared at her calmly. And in exactly that moment, realization collapsed on me. Because even if he didn't know it, even if he suppressed the very idea of feelings to the depths of hell, she was the only one he'd ever love.

Things had been particularly bad with them for a while now. Since the day Robyn graduated from NYU and Christian didn't even show up. The empty seat burned a hole through all of our hearts.

But still, no one talked about the fact that the cold, detached asshole who cared for nothing and no one had personally driven an hour out of the city just to get her favorite dessert from her favorite bakery.

She bent down to kiss his cheek. In an effort to cover up the way every single one of his muscles tensed, his eyes dropped to the covered tray she'd placed on the table.

Leaning back, he asked, "And what have you brought for us to indulge in today?"

Robyn flushed. "Peach cobbler." His favorite.

By the time takeout arrived, all of us were ravenous as we sat around the dining table. Bella sat beside me. Christian and Damon at either head. Ariadne and Robyn across from me.

Resting a hand on her thigh, I looked at Bella in her typical pink dress. She was so goddamn beautiful. She hadn't aged a day through everything—her senior year at high school, hers and my years at Harvard, and even now as she was making her way up the ranks of her father's company.