Happiness Begins // polin A.U.

Epilogue - Summer in the Hamptons

Warm waterfalls stay falling on me
Your body takes me to some kind of place

Champagne ocean, raw emotion, sky's wide open
Sex like summer in the Hamptons

Four Years Later...

When you and your husband are both renowned writers, you can afford to live more than comfortably. When you and your husband both need plenty of time away from family after spending time with family, you travel thousands of miles away to be in another time zone for summer break.

Things are great amongst the Bridgertons and the Featheringtons, it's just that Colin and Penelope can only handle so much attention for so long. They both prefer not to be the center of things, both wanting to go unnoticed. Going unnoticed is hard to do when you've finally become pregnant with your first child and everyone wants to rub your bump. Penelope's only four months along, leave her alone! Colin would shout at his siblings. It's not like they were the only Bridgertons still making babies. Eloise is currently six months into her second pregnancy, for example.

The year prior, Colin had finally been able to take Penelope on a cross country trip around America. She fell in love with Hamptons, as so many people do. So, they did what rich people do, and bought a second home out there. The house is a good size, definitely room for their eventual baby, and one or two more. There's space for Colin to hang his hammock, and Penelope is able to read comfortably on a lounger on the porch as she watches waves crash.

The other thing they love about their seclusion in the Hamptons is the sex. No interruptions from siblings, parents, nieces, or nephews. Just them. Colin likes being able to walk around naked, and Penelope liked being able to walk around with just a beach cover up on. He wants her to be as comfortable as possible. He wasn't sure how her morning sickness would be on the plane, but she's been doing well, and has been all over Colin. Now he knows why his brothers were so eager to get their wives pregnant so soon after their first kids were born. Pregnancy sex has become Colin's new favorite thing.

Penelope would be embarrassed about her insatiability if it wasn't giving her inspiration for her next romance novel. Most of the romance in her novels are taken directly from experiences she's had with her husband.

"You look so beautiful." Colin says, snapping a picture of Penelope while she's lounging. She's wearing a high-waist bikini, a sunhat, and sunglasses. She closes her book and smiles at him.

"You know what? I believe you." She cups her bump and rubs her belly. "I don't think I've ever felt this beautiful."

"You're glowing, sweetheart." He pulls up the other lounger next to her and sits by her, taking her hand in his.

"How was your run?"

"It was great. Brought you back one of those decaf iced bullshit drinks you like so much."

"Preferring to have my coffee taste like a cinnamon bun does not make it bullshit. But thank you for getting one for me."

"You're welcome. It's in the fridge. I know you're trying to get through a liter of water first before other liquids, that's the only reason I didn't bring it right out to you."

"I'm quite proud of myself, I'm already halfway through." She takes her sunglasses off and looks over his half naked body. His chest is laced with sweat from his run. "Colin?"

"Yes, my love?"

"I think I need you to take me upstairs."

"Are you feeling alright?" He panics at first, then sees the look in her eyes. A simper forms on his lips.

"Never better, daddy."

"Alright, up you go." He hoists her up bridal style and carries her inside, then up the stairs to their bedroom. He gently lays her down on the bed and gets on top of her, careful not to squish her belly too much. He takes her bottom lip between his teeth and sucks, letting it go with a pop to watch it snap back into place. "Tell me what you want, baby, and I'll give it to you."

"You." She caresses her cheek. "I just want you."

"You have me, Pen. You always have."