The Brazen - Bonus Epilogue Read online

  THE BRAZEN

  Copyright © 2021 by Devney Perry LLC

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 978-1-950692-53-8

  No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Bonus Epilogue

  Pierce

  “Again. Again!” Constance demanded, swimming across the hot tub at the cabin.

  We’d lowered the temperature so the kids could play in here without it being too warm, and it had become their personal swimming pool.

  “Ready?” I picked her up under the arms and launched her into the air, sending her crashing into the water. At two, she didn’t make much of a splash. The inflatable pink wings around her biceps popped her right out of the water so I could hear her giggle.

  “It’s my turn, Daddy.” Elias swam over, positioned himself on my knees and plugged his nose before I sent him into the air. My son was huge at four—hello, ninety-fifth percentile—and when he landed, the water sloshed out and onto the snowy patio.

  “There’s not going to be any water left in there,” Kerrigan said from the doorway.

  I chuckled and grinned over my shoulder. “Are you coming in?”

  “Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes. But maybe we can have a little hot tub time later.” She winked at me before disappearing inside.

  Damn, but I loved our vacations here. Not that Kerrigan and I didn’t have a great sex life, but my wife relaxed at the cabin. Really relaxed. And it made our nights in the bedroom unforgettable.

  We’d come up for Christmas and decided to stay through New Year’s. Kerrigan’s family had joined us but left earlier this afternoon before dark as a cluster of dark, ominous clouds had drifted in. Maybe we wouldn’t make it home by Friday. Snow was in the air.

  Getting stranded at the cabin was never a bad thing. That was how we’d conceived Constance.

  I smiled wider, tossed my kids one more time, then hurried them inside to dry off and change into warm clothes. Dinner was followed by our nightly s’more-fest at the fireplace. Then as Kerrigan went to put them to bed, I ducked into the office to send a quick email that I’d forgotten earlier.

  Grays Peak was taking on a new investment in San Francisco, a sports complex for underprivileged kids. The VP in charge of the account had sent me the pitch but there were a few numbers that didn’t jibe.

  I went in search of a pen and some paper to jot down a few quick figures, but when I tried to pull open the desk’s drawer, it stuck.

  “What the hell?” I pushed it in, reaching my fingers inside to feel for whatever was caught.

  A thick piece of paper had gotten wedged in the top, so I yanked it out.

  Except it wasn’t a piece of paper. It was a photograph.

  I smoothed out the wrinkled picture and took it in. “I’ll be damned.”

  My grandfather’s face greeted me. So did a much younger version of mine. I was in his arms, laughing. A smile stretched across his mouth as he stared at me. I had to have been around the same age as Elias in this photo, maybe four or five.

  “What’s that?” Kerrigan asked, coming into the room.

  She was wearing a red bikini, clearly ready for some time in the hot tub.

  “I found this in the drawer.” I handed it over and pushed my chair away from the desk, making room for her to sit on my lap.

  “Look at you.” She smiled. “You and Elias look almost exactly the same.”

  “Crazy, right?”

  “And Gabriel.” Her face softened. “He was so young.”

  I nodded, taking him in.

  “Does it bother you? Seeing him?”

  “No, not anymore.” I wrapped her in my arms. “You were right. I just needed time.”

  The hate and anger I’d had for my grandfather had vanished long ago.

  If not for Grandpa, I wouldn’t have Kerrigan. If not for Heidi, I wouldn’t have Elias. I hoped that from wherever they were watching, they could see how grateful I was for these gifts they’d left me.

  Forgiveness was powerful. Without any lingering resentment, my life had been consumed by love. Mostly for this woman and our children.

  “Ready for a quick swim?” A naked swim.

  “I can’t.” She set the photo aside and smiled. “I put on my suit but stopped in the bathroom.”

  “Okay. And why does that make you unable to go in the hot tub?”

  “Because I failed a test. Or rather, I came back with a positive.”

  My heart skipped. “You’re pregnant?”

  Her beautiful face came closer, her lips a whisper against my mouth. “I’m pregnant.”

  I didn’t need the hot tub to love my wife. I stripped her out of that red bikini and made love to her right there on the desk while beyond the walls, a snowstorm raged.

  We were snowed in for a week.

  And once again in early spring.

  Then later that summer, in Calamity, our son Gabriel was born.

 

 

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