Pathfinder

Epilogue

EPILOGUE—LEXI

TWENTY YEARS LATER

"Happy twentieth wedding anniversary, Baby." Brody told me, wrapping his arms around me and kissing the back of my neck, like he always does when I'm standing at the kitchen sink.

I smiled and patted his arm, with my soapy hand, but he didn't seem to mind. I couldn't believe we'd been married twenty years. So much had happened and I often thought back over the fond memories, but I looked forward to making many more memories too. We were only in our forties and our sex drive, for each other, was still off the charts. We were still so lovey-dovey, sometimes we freaked our kids out. I chuckled, thinking about it.

Our first born, our son Braydon, was in his sophomore year of college at Brown. I was so proud that he'd wanted to follow in my footsteps, at least at college. He still hadn't declared a major and seemed panicked by that fact sometimes, but Brody and I reassured him that he still had time to figure his life out. He hadn't even turned twenty yet. He had so much ambition and I knew whatever he decided to do, it would be great.

Our second born, our son Brendon, was a senior in high school this year and almost as panicked as Braydon. Brendon couldn't decide if he wanted to go to college or not. We were encouraging higher education, but made it clear that we would support his decision if he decided not to go to college. I think the main reason he was dragging his feet was because of his girlfriend, Roxane. They'd been dating throughout most of high school and neither could stand the thought of being apart. Roxane was going to college locally, but I know Braydon was hoping his little brother would join him at Brown. It was almost like Deja vu, but Brody and I tried to stay out of it.

Our third born, our daughter Laci, was a sophomore in high school and spent more time with her nose in a book than anything else. She was such a little nerd and I loved it. I did fear, however, that she was creating such high expectations for the future man in her life, based on the romance novels she read sometimes. Brody didn't like the idea of his daughter reading about sex scenes or anything, but I didn't see the harm. Better for her to read about it and live through the characters, than to act it out herself. At least, in my opinion.

Our fourth born and youngest child, Braxton, was our surprise baby. He was only ten and we hadn't been expecting him. After Laci was born, I had to have surgery and they told us that we wouldn't be able to have more children. Then Braxton surprised us. He was only ten years old and spoiled to the core. His older siblings babied him and while it annoyed Braxton at times, I loved it. They protected him and I knew, even when I was dead and gone, they would continue to protect each other. I loved how close my kids were to each other, even poor Laci, who was surrounded by all of those boys.

"What time are we going to dinner again?" Brody asked.

"Six." I tell him, drying my hands on a towel.

"When was the last time we went out to dinner, just the two of us? I'm not going to know how to act." Brody teased.

"It's been awhile. We're due." I tell him and turn to wrap my arms around his waist.

"Laci is still pissed you're not trusting her to babysit."

We both chuckled and I said, "I trust her. I'm just a little gun shy after what happened last time."

A few months ago, the kids didn't have school, but both Brody and I had to work. Laci talked me into leaving them home alone. Brendon had been zero help that day, according to Laci, because he spent the whole day talking to Roxane on the phone. Braxton had somehow simultaneously tried burning down the house, from an experiment gone wrong on the stove, and flooded our laundry room because he had been trying to hook up a hose to make a pond in the backyard. Yes, my child had gotten a shovel and dug a giant hole in the backyard, before putting a hose in it. He'd left the hose running, not realizing it wasn't completely hooked up to the faucet and was leaking in the laundry room, to go work on his project in the kitchen. He'd been attempting to make lava for some science project.

Laci's head had been wrapped up in a book, until she finally remembered to check on Braxton. By then smoke was rolling toward the ceiling, in the kitchen, finally setting off the fire alarm, and water had flooded the whole laundry room. When the alarm rang, Brendon had finally put down the phone long enough to make sure the house wasn't going to burn down or float away because of the hose flood. Needless to say, I was too nervous to leave them home alone, just yet. So Cammy and her husband were coming over to hang out with our kids, while Brody and I went to dinner to celebrate our anniversary.

Cammy and her husband, Nate Holbrook, were another great example of love. Nate treated Cammy like a princess and he adored Cammy's boys. Thankfully, Ronny and Ricky seemed to love Nate just as much. Ronny was married, now, with two small babies of his own. He'd become a police officer and we were so proud of him. Ricky had joined the military after high school and had just moved back to town. He had just started seeing a local girl, several years younger than him, and we all held our breath hoping things worked out. Ricky had been different, returning from his last deployment and we hoped his new girlfriend would be good for him.

I still worked for the school and Brody had went back to work for Vincent Investments. We had achieved Brody's dream and Vincent Village was booked solid, with events ranging between baby showers to retirement parties and everywhere in between. Taking care of the business was only a part time job, once we got it up and running, and hired a handful of employees. So Brody had been bored. Cammy had been doing great, mostly, but there had still been some things she'd struggled with and so she talked her brother into coming back to work. They now co-ran the company and everything seemed perfect there.

The only kink in our otherwise perfect life, was Brody's mother. She still, even after twenty years of being married to her son, didn't like me. I think she was obviously over the fact that Brody wasn't going to marry for social status, but now she hated me because I took that plan of hers away. Brody wouldn't bend to her will and had chosen me. That still grated on her nerves. She knew that Brody would cut her out of our live, however, which meant I was the constant recipient of her fake smiles. Valerie Vincent did dote on her grandchildren though. My kids were always gushing that Grandma Val always bought the best presents. I no longer bothered to point out that nobody could buy love, because it was the only way Valerie knew. Money, in her eyes, could buy everything.

Lucas and Leslie's marriage was still going strong, as well. Landry had two sisters now, twins three years younger than him. Layla and Lyla worshiped their big brother. I loved how close Lucas kids and my kids were. I just wish Lance had lived, so he could enjoy this life with us. I wondered if he would be married with kids of his own, if things had been different. It didn't little good to wonder, but I found myself playing the "what if" game, especially around Lance's birthday, the anniversary of his death, and special holidays. I didn't think I'd ever stop missing my brother.

I sighed and told my adoring husband, "I should go get dressed, so we're ready to go when Cammy and Nate get here."

"Hmmm, or we could get undressed..." Brody tells me, before leaning down to nibble on my neck. I tilted my head to the side, giving him better access and earning a chuckle from him. He loved making me shiver with need and I loved that he still had that ability. At one point in my life I didn't know if I'd ever see Brody Vincent again and now...

"Brody..." I moaned, as his teeth grazed my neck.

"Let's sneak upstairs for some quality alone time." Brody urged.

I sighed, "I did buy some new lingerie I was going to model for you later. I suppose I could be persuaded into modeling it now instead."

Brody groaned, "Baby, upstairs now. I need you."

He received no further argument from me and we began celebrating our anniversary a little earlier in the evening than I had planned. Thankfully our kids were old enough to occupy themselves and hopefully not burn down the house, long enough for Brody to send me into blissful oblivion. With the way my body was quickly heating up, I knew it wouldn't take much for him to send me over the edge. This is how every relationship should be. Craving each other with abundant longing and loving each other infinitely.