His Love for Her (Carmel Springs Book 10)

Second Epilogue

Stanley Colter – (Five Years Later)~

While I couldn't make it out here every day, I made sure that not a week went by without visiting. As I stared at the headstone, that familiar sensation started to settle in my chest again. I knew that my Nadine wasn't really here, her spirit up in Heaven where it belonged, but I needed something here on earth to keep me connected to her for moments like these. Though I still slept with her mentally and emotionally by my side every night, that was different from the long talks that we had when I visited her gravesite.

"Well, I'm not sure if we're done yet, but we've got another little one to add to the family, and if you can keep track of all of them from where you are, you're a better grandparent than I am," I chuckled.

See, no matter what, no matter that Glen and Merina Campion were still alive and well, and no matter the other set of grandparents in the picture, all those Colter and Campion boys were ours, mine and Nadine's. We were family, and no one could convince me otherwise.

Pulling out my phone, I touched the notepad app and looked at my entries because I didn't want to get it wrong, even though I could never forget how little Nadine was my first ever granddaughter.

Clayton & Stevie – Stanley, Christina

Brett & Addie – Brett Jr., Naomi

Trayce & Arden – Christopher, Hale & Prince

Keats & Poppy – Lance, Debra

Jax & Layne – Carson, Silas, Preston

Maxwell & Rogue – Ian & Nadine, Jason

Zale & Effie – Glen, Oliver

Bennett & Winter – Lauren, Derrick

Quest & Riker – Quinten, Quincy, Quixley

Ransom & Bexley – David, Vivian

After reading her my notes, I ran my hand over the cold stone. "God, I miss you. You're the only thing missing from making us the perfect family. Plus, you'd have no problem keeping all these damn kids straight in your head." I shook my head. "Maybe I'm just getting old."

I looked up as the wind picked up, and I couldn't help but smile. People could say what they wanted, but I refused to believe that what Nadine and I had was over. We'd never be over. Whether we were destined to live only one life or a million, I was meant to live them all with Nadine. I might still have a good thirty years left in me, but I'd wait another hundred if she was waiting at the end of them for me.

"You know, I'm not supposed to have a favorite, but Max's twins are something else, baby," I chuckled. "Now, could be because they're the only two with those beautiful blue eyes of yours, but they really are something else. I have no doubt that Ian is always going to look out for our little Nadine."

The wind picked up again, and I knew that she could hear me. Call me crazy all day long, but I didn't care. Nothing mattered more than my feelings for my wife. When I had stood before that priest and our family members, I had vowed to love her for the rest of my life, not hers. My vows had been for my lifetime, and I still loved Nadine Colter as much as I'd ever had.

"Well, if nothing else, little Quixley is going to be very loved by the entire family, for sure," I sighed happily, grateful that the Campion boys saw us as family just as much as we saw them as the same. "It's very kind of Glen and Merina to share them with us."

Standing up, I winced as my knees reminded me of just how old I was getting. Normally, I didn't feel this rickety, but that damn ground was wet and cold. Granted, I was a couple of knocks away from turning sixty, so maybe I really was just getting old.

"Well, baby, I need to get back and babysit whichever kid lands on my doorstep today," I laughed softly. Though all of our children were great parents, sometimes you just needed a break from the racket that were rambunctious kids, and none of our children were shy about dropping one or all of their offspring on my doorstep at any given moment in time.

I could feel that weight in my chest threatening to drown me as always, but when the wind picked up again, I was able to let out a steady breath, reminding myself that I still had something that very few people ever got to experience; a one true love.

Walking away from my wife, I felt good knowing that I was going to see her later today. I was going to see her in the beautiful blue eyes of Ian and Nadine, my favorites, though only I knew that.

The Very End.