Always Running (MATURE CONTENT)

EPILOGUE 44

Lucas held Nessa against his hard body content with his life. His children were happy. His wife was finally happy, and life had finally settled...as settled as life could get for the both of them.

Carla started crying first and then Henley followed. Nessa groaned and began to push Lucas with her bottom.

"I'm going, I'm going." He kissed her head and left the bed. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants and walked the few feet to Carla's basinet and took her to her mother who was ready and waiting for the hungry baby.

"Okay, sweetie, come on, mommy's ready for you," Lucas cooed at his one-month-old baby girl as he laid her down in Nessa's arms.

He walked back and picked up Henley and placed him on her other arm and helped both of his children latch on to their mother's nipple.

Lucas sat down next to them and watched as Carla and Henley suckled hungrily and couldn't help but feel something stir inside of him just watching Nessa feed his children.

"Don't even think about it, Mac. I love you and I love your body, but if you touch me with that thing I will cut it off and feed the fish for a week."

Lucas roared with laughter. "Have you seen the size of me woman?"

"You're right, the fish will eat for a year." She winked at him and leaned her head on his shoulder laughing with her husband.

"Did you ever find out where Connie is?" Nessa asked out of the blue.

Lucas held Henley and burped him who always finished first and fell asleep immediately. "She is in Montana still. She doesn't leave the house much. I have eyes and ears on her. Do you want me to bring her here?"

Nessa put Carla on her shoulder and burped her. "No. I don't want to see her or know anything about her. She made her choice, now let her live with it."

Nessa had thought long and hard about her sister Connie. She was her only blood family still alive. The only blood family that had betrayed her. As far as Nessa was concerned Connie was dead to her.

"I do want to ask you for one thing." Nessa watched as Lucas laid Henley down in his basinet and then took Carla and laid her down in hers. He returned to the bed and gathered Nessa back up in his arms and held her tight against him.

"Anything you want, baby."

"If Connie comes within fifty feet of my children I want her taken care of."

Lucas didn't say a word for a few minutes. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Yes. You and the kids and this family is mine. She is not my family."

Lucas could hear the anger in her voice, and he knew without a doubt that Connie was nothing to her now.

"Sleep, baby. Carla and Henley will be up again in a few hours." Lucas kissed her head and closed his eyes.

It was a simple and unmistakable miracle that Nessa had come into his life. She was the woman he had always wanted and never found. She was everything he dreamed of and yearned for.

Together they had found each other. Together they had overcome demons that most people never get to overcome. They had built the kind of love that stories were made of. Together they were whole. Together they were invincible.

* * *

Nessa had the kids in their car seats in the back of the SUV with Maggie in the middle. Henley and Lucas were talking business in the living room and Carl was off somewhere doing something. He was always out of the house before anyone woke up and the last one to get home, but he always checked in with Nessa to make sure she didn't need anything and that the kids were alright. He took his title of godfather very serious.

The center was up and running at full capacity and Nessa was finally in her element. She was the director and owner of McAllister Wellness Center for Women. She knew exactly what the women who passed through there had been through and how they felt. Lilian was the house mother. She made sure that all the women were being treated right and getting the help they really needed. Lucas had made sure that only the best therapists and psychologists and life coaches were at the Wellness Center. They had allopathic doctors and homeopathic doctors that treated the women. No one was forced to follow a wellness program they were not comfortable with. The center was such a success that they had a waiting list, and Nessa was not happy about that. She didn't want any woman to be turned away, so she was getting the problem fixed as soon as possible.

Two more Wellness Centers were being built and two boarding houses for single mothers that had nowhere to go were also being built. Nessa had taken it upon herself to make sure that no woman ever had the misfortune of going through what she and Lilian had to go through.

Lucas stopped his wife and pulled her to him and kissed her with all the love he felt for her leaving her lips swollen and tingling. "I love you, sweetheart. I'll see you later."

"I'll see you at lunch time. Henley and Carl are taking the kids shopping with Lilian and Maggie."

Nessa climbed into the front seat next to Ryder and began her workday by dialing the contractor's number. They were falling behind, and she was not having it. She wanted her Wellness Centers up and running in two months.

The phone rang twice, and Michael answered. "Talk to me."

"I plan on it, Michael. What the hell is this shit about you not being able to have the buildings ready? Do I have to remind you who my husband is?"

"No, no you don't. I will have the buildings ready, don't worry."

Nessa cut the call and grinned.

"You love throwing Lucas' name around, don't you?" Ryder teased her.

"You know it."

The moment Nessa walked through the doors of the Wellness Center she was bombarded with everything imaginable. She smiled and felt she had walked in exactly where she wanted to be.

HOURS. She had been working for six hours straight and had forgotten about lunch with Lucas. She would have to make it up to him and she knew just how she would do it. She grinned to herself as she dialed his number.

"Baby, where are you?"

"Still at the center. Henley and Carl are with your mother, and they have the kids. I have two more meetings to go to and then I will drop by and make it up to you."

"Can I have my favorite morsel?" His voice was husky with desire for his woman.

"Oh, I was planning on it, Mac. I love you. I have to go, babe."

"You need to slow it down, baby. You will run yourself ragged at this pace."

"You know me, babe. I'm always running."

Lucas smiled, staring at the phone. Yes. She was always running, but not from him, not anymore. Running was in the past. Nessa was a different woman now. The woman he had fallen in love with so many years ago evolved and became the woman she was today. A woman with the strength like no other. A woman that when she loved, she loved completely and forever. A woman who knew what loyalty was and lived it. A woman who had stopped surviving and had learned how to live. A woman who had put her past behind her and had stopped running.

THE END.

 ***Hello my lovely readers. What did you think? Will Nessa's and Lucas' love keep going strong, or will her past find a way to come back? I hope you enjoyed the book. Let me know what you think. Thanks for the support and the votes. Happy reading.