Elude [H.S.]

EPILOGUE IV

Four Years After Mallory's Birth

"Goodness. You really don't like the peas do you? Your dad is going to be so disappointed. He likes peas a lot," Maeve sighed before reaching forward to pick Maxwell up from his highchair.

His chubby legs kicked, as he was so excited for his mother to be picking him up again, and Maeve couldn't help but giggle at him. Grabbing a washcloth from the counter, she wiped her baby's mouth - bouncing him on her hip as she walked over to the counter across from them where she was making sandwiches for her, Harry and Mallory for lunch.

"What was the song you were liking this week?" She asked, taking a moment before it hit her. "Oh yes, I know the one. I'll start at a different part since you're not being fussy right now."

With one hand, Maeve kept her precious boy on her hip while using the other to dress three sandwiches with lunch meat, cheese and fresh lettuce from their garden. This was one of her favorite things to do on the weekends with her family. Regardless of her successful career in fashion, Maeve made it a point to tell everyone that she was off limits on the weekend unless it came to a big event. Her weekends were for her family.

"For one so small, you seem so strong," Maeve sang as she pressed a kiss to Maxwell's forehead. "My arms will hold you - keep you safe and warm. This bond between us can't be broken. I will be here - don't you cry. 'Cause you'll be in my heart. Yes, you'll be in my-"

Her singing was interrupted as the backdoor that led right into their kitchen busted open, and she heard the pattering of small feet.

"Mommy!" Mallory's voice echoed through the house, and Maxwell's attention was immediately stolen by the sound of his older sister. "Daddy is cheating."

Maeve bit down on her bottom lip to stifle her laughter as Mallory rounded the corner of the kitchen counter, and when she saw her baby brother perched on her mother's hip, she gasped.

"Oh, let me kiss him!" Mallory exclaimed as she walked forward, and Maeve leaned down so that Mallory could hug him.

Maxwell had been sleeping when Mallory and Harry had decided they were going to play outside, and if Mallory went even an hour without kissing her brother, she thought it was the end of the world.

She made sweet kissing noises as she pecked her lips against her brother's chubby cheeks, and Maeve looked up to see Harry rushing through the backdoor.

"She's fast," he shook his head as he closed the door, and he readjusted the sweet baby girl against his hip. "And I was not cheating, Miss Mal. It's not my fault that Mabel gives me a second set of eyes when it comes to hide and seek, and that she doesn't completely understand we have to close our eyes while you hide."

Maeve's heart could have burst in that very second. It wasn't uncommon to see her family in such a situation, but watching her oldest love on her little brother while his twin was on her husband's hip - this was everything that she could have ever dreamed of.

Mallory was a spitting image of Harry, all except the shade of her green eyes. That she got from her mother. The twins, however, were the perfect mix of their parents. Maeve's plump lips. Harry's sculpted nose. They were truly a stunning family.

"You're sure you weren't cheating?" Maeve asked playfully as Harry feigned offense with his freehand against his chest.

"Who's side are you on?"

"Miss Mal's side! Miss Mal's side!" Mallory cheered with giggles before placing her fingers over her lips - looking between her mother and father. "Mabel didn't close her eyes so she pointed me right out to Daddy when he asked where I went."