The President's Daughter (Liam Payne) Book 6

Epilogue

*5 Years Later*

Elodie's POV

I set the spray can down, taking off the gas mask as I step back to inspect my work. I can’t help but grin despite the pain in my back from the excessive work.

“Lucy, I’m home,” I hear Liam singsong the old tv show tune as he walks in the front door. “Where are you?” he adds not seeing me right away.

“Upstairs,” I call back, quickly hearing the sound of him taking multiple steps at a time. It doesn’t take him long to find the room I’m in and soon his head pops in the doorway. He splits into a grin when he sees me, covering the distance between us in two strides, pulling me into one of the tight bear hugs that only he could do.

“I missed you,” he murmurs into my neck making me roll my eyes with a laugh. He was acting as if he’d been gone for weeks or months instead of the mere 72 hour trip. We’d gone through much worse when he’d been on tour, but since the band had disbanded, there was rarely a day I’d gone without seeing him. Persuading him that I’d be alright on my own while  he went off to Lou’s stag had taken a lot of convincing and the only way I’d gotten him to go was by getting Harry to pick him up and assuring him that Lauren had agreed to come for dinners to make sure I was alright.

“I didn’t, Lauren and I had a fantastic time.  Piss drunk every night and chain smoking every day,” I tease. He pulls back, looking at me with a frown. “Kidding,” I tell him, putting a hand on his cheek and giving him a quick peck. That seems to appease him for a moment before he looks to the side, finally taking in his surroundings. Then the frown is back.

“Were you painting?” he asks.

“Yes,” I sigh, already knowing what the next question is.

“Were you wearing the mask?” he asks.

“Yes dad…” I say with a roll of my eyes. “Christ you and my dad both. You’re never going to let up are you?” This makes him grin.

“We just want to make sure you’re ok,” he says, repeating the same thing my dad had said this morning when I’d talked with him.

“Yea, Yea, Yea,” I say brushing it off. “How was the weekend? Booze and strippers? Anything scandalous that I should be telling Lauren about?” I question pressing for news of the night life.

“Nothing too bad,” he laughs. “Poor Lauren is going to have to deal with an extremely hungover  fiance though. I’m not sure he was sober from the moment we got onto the plane there.”

“What about you? I hope you don’t expect me to coddle you the rest of the week,” I say, trying my best to sound stern. If I wasn’t allowed to get pissed this past weekend, there was no way I would deal with the after effects of his weekend away.

I would never expect you to coddle me,” he teases.

“Hey! I can be nice!” I say with mock offense.

“Mhm, sure,” he jokes, but I know he’s not being serious. I can’t help but smile as I watch him smile down at me. The moment seemed perfect. Sometimes I couldn’t believe that just 6 years ago I hadn’t even known him and I’d been in a downward spiral with no hope of getting out. It hit me at random moments how blessed I was to be in the situation I was in now. To have had people who cared enough about me to have pulled me out of that lifestyle kicking and screaming. Then the phone rings interrupting the mood.

“Don’t answer it,” I groan as he cocks his head to the side to listen. “It’s the damn caterers again. They’ve been calling all weekend with every different problem you could name. It’s driving me nuts. Just let it go to voicemail, I’ll call them back later.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be doing this,” he says with a frown. “Let someone else handle it. You’re not supposed to be stressed right now,” he admonishes.

“And which book did you get that from Doctor Phill?” I ask.

“I’m serious El, you need to take care of yourself first,” he says, ignoring my comment.

“I’m fine! Jeez if you had it your way I wouldn’t be doing anything. Just sitting around all day. That would drive me even crazier. Besides, we need this fundraiser to do well. Those ladies deserve it.”

“Alright, alright,” he concedes and I can’t help the smug smile that appears on my face. He gave in way too much nowadays. I could get him to do practically anything I wanted. It was the middle of the night and I was thirsty? ‘Liam will you get me a drink?’ He was doing work on his computer but I was craving mac and cheese mixed with lo mein? Guess who would be on his way to the chinese restaurant?  I was going to take advantage of that as long as I could. He leans down, pressing another brief kiss to my lips before looking at the wall I’d been painting.

“So is this it? Is it done?” he asks.

“Yea, what do you think? Should I redo it? Maybe you’re right. The walls should just be plain…” I say with a frown as I examine it again.

“It’s great,” Liam cuts off my worrying. “She’ll love it.”

“Hey,” I warn. “You don’t know it’s a she. It might very well be a he,” I scold as his hands once again find their way to my stomach. It seemed to be their favorite resting place these days, hoping to feel a kick or a punch which had started to become a frequent occurrence in the last month.

“It’s a she,” Liam replies confidently. He’d seemed certain since the day I first told him that, despite hanging up his daddy direction title, he was in fact going to be a daddy. “And she’s going to be just as much trouble as her momma.”

________________________________________________________

So that's it for President's Daughter! Thanks so much to everyone who stuck with it through that long hiatus. Definitely took more time than I'd expected when I started writing. And a reminder, I don't do sequels to stories, but my characters tend to appear in future stories.

Picture on the side is what she painted for the room.

So what did you wall think?!? Leave the comments below!