One Step Forward

Epilogue: 5 Years Later

Mya's POV

The front of the high school was packed with kids in graduation caps and gowns. The girls wore blue and the boys wore black. Beneath a tree, at a distance from others, was our little group. Our little group was arguing.

I was trying to fix Darren's cap so it wasn't crooked for the photo. My parents were trying to get my two-year-old triplets, Ryan, Rylee, and Rebecca, to stand still for the pictures. 

"Listen," Mom coaxed to my son Ryan, who had a devilish look on his face. "If you are good, you can have three cookies when we get home."

"How about five?" Ryan asked and smiled. 

I chuckled. "He's just like his father," I said.

Craig was four years old. I was pregnant with him when I was in the fire. Thankfully, there was no permanent damage to him. Rylee and Rebecca, the girls, looked almost exactly like Lilly except they had their dad's eyes.

"Ow!" Lilly shouted. "Damn it, Ryan!"

"Lilly, watch your mouth," Linc warned.

"He bit me." 

Linc scooped up Ryan and shook his finger at him. "Dude, you can't be biting."

"This is a shit show," I said and sighed. "These pictures aren't going to turn out right no matter what we do."

"They never do," Dani said. 

"Dani!" the kids chorused.

"I'm sorry, we're so late. Norah's appointment went over because the doctor was running late," she said, and rolled her eyes. She kissed my cheek and then went to hug Darren.

"We're just glad you made it," I said and smiled. "Where is Eric?" 

Dani started dating one of the club members, Eric, after she came back to Long Beach. Things worked out well for them. They got married and had a baby girl named Norah. Eric was just a prospect when I first arrived in Long Beach; he's just a couple of years older than Dani. 

"Right here," Eric said, and he had Norah in his arms, swaddled in a pink blanket.

"Ah, let me see her," I cooed.

"Can I hold her?" Lindsey asked. 

"Later," Dani said. "When we get to the house, you can sit on the couch and hold her."

Lindsey was only eight years old. Lilly was now eleven. Dominic turned fourteen. They had all grown a lot in just five years. Darren had plans to go to college in San Francisco. 

We managed to finally pull all the kids together and get them to look at the camera. They didn't turn out half bad.

"So," Dad said to Darren in a teasing voice. "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

Darren chuckled. "Playing for the 49ers." 

Linc high-fived Darren. "Your big bro gets some free tickets."

"And me too," I said and laughed. 

***

Darren's graduation party was fun and sort of bittersweet for us. We realized then that we weren't doing half bad after everything we went through. Our family was a little blended and a little dysfunctional, but it was ours, and we made it work well. 

After everything we went through, we managed to pull Darren through the difficult parts of life. We kept him out of drugs and partying. He got a full scholarship to San Francisco. He had a sweet girlfriend who was also going to school in San Francisco. We begged Darren to get through college before any babies because we knew it would be much easier that way.

Dominic had been caught smoking last week, so he was still grounded to the house. He sometimes reminded me of Darren, but I knew if we got Darren through the hard teen years, we could do the same with Dom.

Lindsey was only three when her Mom died, and she never even met her dad. She often called us Mom and Dad, even though she knew the truth. 

Linc got out of the gun running and the drugs too. The entire MC was legitimate, and they did a lot of charity rides. Even though we had our house full and hands full, we signed up to be foster parents. I never went back to doing physical therapy. We had our plates full with all the businesses we owned and the kids we had.

Lilly turned out okay physically, but everything with Damen gave her some serious PTSD. I came out okay, but it took several months. Lilly suffers from nightmares.

Damen was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in New York City for three counts of first-degree murder, but he stood trial in California, too. They gave him an additional life in prison for what he did to Lilly and me. He would never get out, and he was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. When I shot him, there was so much blood loss and spinal cord damage that he became paralyzed. I was happy Damen didn't die. Damen had to live every day knowing he lost at his own game, and he came out unable to walk. I couldn't think of a better punishment. 

Linc was outside on our patio couch, staring out over the beach. I curled up into his side on the couch, and he wrapped an arm around me.

"So, where do you see yourself in five years?" Linc teased.

"Right here," I said and looked up at him with a smirk. "Watching our eight beautiful children run about."

"Eight?"

"Yep."

He was doing the math in his head. His expression was confused.

"Dominic will be an adult by then," I added.

"So it would be six," he argued.

"No. It'll be eight."

He stared at me in wonder. "Are you saying you're pregnant?"

"With twins," I said and smirked.

Linc's lips parted.

"You always said you wanted six kids," I said and batted my lashes at him.

Linc chuckled and pecked me on the lips. "I sure did."

If you had told me ten years ago that I would be where I am today, I never would've believed it. Life is so full of surprises, and I'm damn happy how mine turned out.

***

A/N: THE END!

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