With You

Epilouge

MIKE POV

It's been five years since Matt and I got engaged. Four years since we got married. And three years since we adopted two beautiful children. One hour to go till the next Blackwood Anniversary meet up.

Matt and I are proud parents of two boys. There's Jeffery aged 5 and Andre aged 4. Both boys have a lighter complexion than Matt's and very dark eyes. We were convinced that their eye colour was literally black. Right now, little Jeffery and Andre Munroe are catching a football with Matt across the sofa. In less than an hour, they'll be seeing their cousins and aunts and uncles for the meet up.

One hour later

The first to arrive were Emily and Jessica with their daughter Nicole since they live around the corner. Obviously, Nicole looked as stunning as her parents despite being only 5 years old. Nicole had the same complexion as Emily but lighter eyes like Jess and a lighter shade of brown hair.

Next were the Washington's. Josh and Sam walked in hand in hand in an orderly fashion. Walking behind them were little Nicholas Aaron and Bailey Beth, who turned 6 years old today, helping their little sister, Harley Hannah aged 3, walk by holding her hands. All three children had a tanned complexion, light brown hair and piercing blue eyes. Harley had a pair of glasses sitting on her nose about to fall off. 

Finally, Chris and Ashley arrived last. They ended up having three children. The eldest at 5 was Aiden Toby. He was named after a close friend of theirs. Aiden had blond hair with a tint of auburn and his fathers blue eyes accompanied by his poor eyesight. The middle child was a 3 year old girl with auburn hair that reached down to her knees and greenish blue eyes, named April. Finally, their youngest, Jonathan, who has just turned 1 in January, had really blond hair it looked like it was bleached with deep green eyes.

Everyone gathered around in the living room. All the kids seemed very happy to see me, their favourite uncle. Of course they were also happy to see everyone else as well. The children bunched up together in one spot and discussed something before turning to me.
"Uncle Mike." Nicholas calls.
"What is it Nick?" I question politely.
"What happened to your fingers?" He asks.
"Oh uh... I don't think you want to know." I put off the question.
"But Jeffery and Andre said that you always say that." Bailey includes.
"Yeah. You never tell us." Jeffery looks at me with puppy dog eyes.
I sweat nervously and look back at Matt who is sitting with the group. He nods.
"Please daddy. Pretty please!" Andre exaggerates.
"Okay. If you insist." I ruffle Andre's thick hair.
All the children sit around me in a circle with grins in their faces.
Obviously I wasn't going to tell them how I actually lost them. That's for when they're older.
"Well... Many years ago, when I was a professional bear wrestler, I was up against the best of the best. The bear I was against was gigantic. Usually I'd get it over and done with, with my bear hug technique but this one was too mighty. I wrestled the bear for hours until I was victorious. However...... I lost my fingers in the process." I lied straight through my teeth.
I heard every single one of the group apart from Ashley who was holding Jonathan, spit out their drink.
"Woah that's so cool!" Aiden exclaims.
"I wanna wrestle bears like you dad!" Jeffery says.
"Unfortunately for you, every single bear there is has been defeated." I lie.
"Aww man." Jeffery cries.
"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll find something you'll be great at someday."
Jeffery smiles back at me.

After the conversation was over, I put on a Disney film for the kids to watch then joined the group at the table.
"Bear wrestler my butt." Emily mumbles.
"The bear part wasn't entirely wrong. It was just a bear trap I was wrestling with." I admit.
"Yeah. Although, you did lose to the bear trap." Chris laughs.
"Haha." I laugh sarcastically.

"Guys I got a question."
"Shoot at us." Josh says.
"You guys will always be with us right?"
"Why'd you ask?" Matt questions.
"It's just we've all been through so much together and I can't imagine a life without any one of you."
Matt rubs my back and comforts me.

"We will always be with you."