Let's pretend (book 1)

Epilogue

Elise Collins POV

Sitting on my rocking chair in the corner of my art studio I smiled as I watched Helena who was now eight years old paint on her canvas using bright colors while her brother Mason who was six and a half years old drew on his sketching pad.

Three months after our wedding I found out I was two months pregnant with Mason. I remember how I surprised Zachary as if it was yesterday. I had bought a baby bottle along with a pacifier and a white romper and placed them all in a box. When he found the box on our bed with a post-it saying 'open me' he curiously lifted the lid only to frown at the content of the box. He didn't get it at first; it was when I placed his hand on my belly that he realized the meaning of the box.

Aria and Andrew got married just a couple of months after we did, we all thought it was rushed and I couldn't recognize my best friends who always took her time for the littlest thing. But they were deeply in love and now they have two beautiful children, Brandon who was named after his grandfather and was now six years old, and Andrea who was four years old.

The family got even bigger as Amelia got married to Mike, Zachary's lawyer, and friend, and had a daughter named Eliana.

As for Veronica, just as I had predicted, she and Nathan had a baby boy the same age as Mason, they named him Jason. They got married two years after.

I was pulled back from my reminiscing when I heard Zachary's car pull up the driveway and waited for him to join us, but instead, he peeked inside the studio and motioned me to follow him outside. We went into his study and I could tell something was off, he looked devastated and his eyes were shot red like he'd been crying.

"Zach? What is it?"

"Nejat and Leyla Yilmaz..."

"What about them baby?" Nejat was a Turkish businessman Zachary met five years ago. They became friends in no time and decided to start up a construction business together. We became very close since then, we considered them family.

"Zach! Baby, what happened to them?"

He gently held me by the shoulders struggling with himself "They were in a car accident Elise, they passed away"

"No no no no! please no, that can't be happening" instant tears clouded my eyes and I shook my eyes not wanting to believe it. Leyla was like a sister to me, I couldn't believe she was gone. I buried my face into Zachary's chest and cried. I tried not to make much noise not wanting the kids to hear me.

"Elise... there is more"

I looked up at him horrified "Please tell me Adam is okay" Adam was their eighth years old son.

"He is. He wasn't with them when it happened, he was at school"

I sighed in relief putting a hand on my heart that was beating so fast right now.

"And... he's outside. Nejat and Leyla... they wrote in their will that if anything happened to them they wanted us to be his legal guardians. And I couldn't say no, I couldn't disrespect their last wishes so I brought him home with me."

"Of course! We will raise him together, and he will be brought up just as if he was our son. I promise you"

"The problem is, he's still in the car and doesn't want to come out" Zachary stroke the back of his head discomfort showing on his face.

"I'll talk to him. Keep an eye on the kids will you?" he nodded and I made my way outside.

My heart broke when I saw his pouting face, he was looking down at something I couldn't see as I was still a bit far from him, tears were running down his cheeks.