SERENDIPITY | BOOK 1

E P I L O G U E

Eighteen years spent with my best friend, and they have been the most fulfilling years of my life.

Sixteen years of marriage, seven incredible children, our dream home. Everything up to this point is worth it if we can spend the rest of our lives together in the peace that we have now. It's still complete and utter chaos around here, but our love makes it all worth it. We still look at each other the way we did when we were first falling in love.

After we got married, we didn't wait long to continue growing our family and Ace was born 15 years ago, just a few months after our wedding. Ten months after that, the triplets- Silas, Greyson & Isaiah were born, and eleven months later our last two babies- Sutton & Octavia completed our family. It has been a wild ride mentally, emotionally, and physically, but we're so happy- and that's something money could never buy.

The kids are all at school and for the first time in years, we have a day off. So- after spending the morning in bed, we showered and headed downstairs and out into the backyard. I took a seat in one of our lounge chairs as Alexei started a fire, and we enjoyed the sun and talked as we waited for the kids to get home. An hour later, all 7 of them were piling through the backdoor, and Via was walking over to me. She said hi to her daddy before asking me if we could go inside in chat, and I smiled and nodded head before giving Alexei a kiss and following her.

We talked about everything under the sun- boys, her friends, makeup, her dreams, love. It has been one of the greatest joys of my life to watch her grow up, but these conversations came faster than I ever expected. After talking for over an hour, we headed back downstairs to start getting dinner ready.

Alexei wanted to barbeque burgers, so we threw together a salad and some fruit and the kids invited over a few of their friends to swim in the pool and sleepover. As the sun began to set, the kids and their friends started to swim as Alexei and I cuddled up on the sofa watching them.

Every last one of them except for Via is a boy well over 6ft tall, and even as they rough house, and play- they all watch out for her and make sure she's okay. She on the other hand, has no qualms about trying to take them down, and as she giggles, I cant help but notice Ace's best friends- Nico and Kyan, staring at her with nothing but warmth and admiration. I tuck that information away for later before curling further into Alexei's arms and kissing his cheek.

He smiles and rests his forehead against mine for a few moments before I look back out to the kids and lay my head against his chest. Looking out at all of them, and the chaos they bring to our lives, I still can't help but smile. We raised a bunch of crazy ass kids just like we said we would, and I couldn't be any prouder of the people they are and are becoming. They have all done incredible things, and still aren't done changing the world.

Alexei warps me up tighter in his arms and rests his chin on my head as he slowly starts to sway us back and forth. "we made them" I whisper. "Well, most of them" I laugh.

"We did" he replies with a soft kiss on my temple. "What do you say we do it again?" he jests. I laugh and shake my head. "Not a chance lover boy. You and I both know our family was complete the second we got those last two pink lines." Alexei hums, "You're right about that."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the kids splash one another before I looked up at him. "Do you still love me?"

Without missing a beat, Alexei looks down at me and asks- "How could I not?" I stared at him, confused, for a minute before he continued. "You are the love of my life, and my every waking thought. The thought of you alone consumes me like an uncommitted sin, and there is not a thing in this world that could ever change that. You've given me seven amazing children, eighteen incredible years, and everything I have ever desired. Forever hasn't run out yet love."

I smiled softly and wrapped an arm around his neck, bringing his face to mine and combining our lips in a soft, slow kiss. A kiss exactly like our first- one that held that promise of forever.

"EWWWW, GROSS" Octavia yells, and our laughs force our lips apart as we both look back out over to the kids. "What? Your mom is hot, I can't help myself" Alexei calls back. Via gags as my face turns crimson and I let out a soft laugh.

We stayed outside until the sun set, and as we all filed back into the house and into the entertainment room for movies- I realized that I am exactly where I'm meant to be, and that everything I went through got me to this moment.

Maybe fate can have small pockets of Serendipity after all. 

THE END