The Best Years

Epilogue

Christmas Day

Two weeks following the court date Calum and Holland woke up in a tangled heap of limbs and sheets, the sun peeking through the blinds and the curtains still open from where they had been forgotten the night before.

"Knox slept the whole night?" Holland asked, rolling over to face her husband.

"I got him at like one, figured you could use the rest and we had milk stored." He replied easily, his voice gruff and low, his eyes still closed.

"I'm gonna go check on him." She said softly, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and tiptoeing across to the nursery hoping not to disturb any of their sleeping guests. She stepped towards his crib and was calmed by the gentle sound of his breaths, his chest rising and lowering in a gentle rhythm as he slept unbothered by the looming chaos of the day.

She thought about picking him up but decided against it and instead left him to his dreams and made her way back to the bed she shared with Calum.

"He okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine." She replied, pulling back the covers and sliding into bed. Calum reached beneath the blankets, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her forward until their fronts were pressed together, his hand blindly rubbing circles across her back as she sighed in contentment.

"What do you think she's doing?" Holland asked, her face falling into a frown as Calum's eyes slowly opened and dropped to meet her sad ones.

He sighed and pulled her closer to his chest, dropping a kiss against her forehead before he spoke.

"I don't know baby. I hope she's okay. I hope she's enjoying the holidays. I hope she isn't alone."

"She doesn't have any other family..." Holland said pitifully and Calum's heart clenched.

"I know."

"Maybe we should call." Holland offered and the pair were silent for a long while.

"You think that's such a good idea?" He asked, no judgement in his voice though perhaps a hint of concern was traceable.

"You don't?" She asked him.

He shrugged. "Up to you. There's already gonna be a ton of people here. No harm in one more."

They didn't have but a moment to consider it before their bedroom door was thrown open, "Mommy, Daddy, it's Christmas!" Chloe yelled excitedly, jumping into their bed and settling between them.

"Good morning, bug." Calum said, leaning over to kiss his daughter, officially now, on her forehead. "Merry Christmas."

"Sissy, let me ask you." Holland said, looking to Calum who nodded in agreement that it should ultimately be Chloe's decision. Chloe looked up at her, big brown eyes and messy bed head spilling out from beneath her sleeping cap. "We were talking about asking Mrs. Linda if she wants to come spend Christmas with us. What do you think?"

Chloe was quiet for a minute, looking away and fiddling with her hands.

"I think everyone should have a family on Christmas." She finally said, her eyes returning to meet her mother's.

"Alright then."

*

"Thank you for inviting me today." Linda said as she entered the kitchen and approached Holland. "You really didn't have to do that."

"If we're discussing things we didn't have to do, I'm still very, very indebted to you."

Linda gave a soft smile.

"I could never thank you enough, you know." Holland added, her mind already back in the courtroom the day of Chloe's case.

The judge had issued his ruling, not in she and Calum's favor. Holland had crumpled, unable to stand and fallen into the chair behind her as gasped breaths fell from her lungs and she felt her body become depleted of oxygen as her panic had overwhelmed her. Calum hadn't been much better off. He'd been stoic, unable to even process the words that had been said until Linda had gained the whole gallery's attention by asking to speak.

"I looked at you and Calum. I saw how completely devastated you were." Her eyes shone with glassy unshed tears. "Then I saw Chloe. She looked at me and all I could hear were the words from Calum's speech. I knew she already had a family, and I didn't want to be the one to tear her from the only one she's ever known. Stepping aside was the least I could do."

"No. It wasn't and we will be eternally grateful to you forever. We love Chloe to death but we know you deserve to be in her life as well and we want you to be. So, consider this the start of an open invitation. As far as we're concerned, you're family now too."

Linda's lower lip trembled before she moved her eyes to focus on the wall behind Holland, unable to look at her.

"I don't know what to say, thank you."

"Of course. Come on, we've been in here too long and with this crowd we've definitely already missed something." She laughed, reaching out to squeeze the woman's hand before leading her into the living room.

The room was chaos, wrapping paper and boxes still scattered all around the floor as the kids played more with the wrappings than the actual gifts. Holland's eyes met Calum's. He was seated across the room on the sofa, Mali to his side holding an awake and alert Knox. He shot her a simple, contented smile that she returned as she headed over to sit with him, Chloe approaching Linda and asking if she wanted to meet her friends.

KayKay and Ashton sat curled up on the love seat, their eyes twinkling with amusement as they watched Camp and Cai throw bits of the shredded wrapping paper at each other while their parents fussed at them and their grandparents egged them on, Holland's brother, Evan, who had managed to claim a day off, participating in the madness.

"Momma!" Cai said, drawing Sierra's attention to her. "Tell now?" She asked and Sierra's cheeks turned a deep shade of red as Luke laughed beside her.

"Well I guess it's as good a time as any." Luke said, looking over to his wife.

"What's she talking about?" Crystal asked, excitement coursing through her.

"Well, you're all here anyways and Cai already knows so...Si and I are adopting a little boy from Vietnam. We're going to get him in two weeks." He beamed, wrapping his arm around his wife and pulling her close to kiss her.

An excited hum filled the room as congratulations sounded and in that moment everything felt perfect. Holland and Calum were surrounded by all the people they loved most in the world celebrating their first Christmas as parents. They'd taken the scenic route to get to where they were but neither of them seemed to mind for it had led them here. To a life full of love and family with only the best years ahead of them.

AN: I hope you guys have come to love Holland, Cal, and their family as much as I have.

Thanks for sticking with me! I hope you'll check out my completed works as well as my new book "Who Do You Love?"

As always thanks for the support, I love you guys.

Sav🖤