Almost Mine by Winters Eden

Author:Winters, Eden [Winters, Eden]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Rocky Ridge Books
Published: 2014-02-06T23:00:00+00:00

Epilogue—Ten Years Later

Travis’s gray hair glittered, and laugh lines etched deeply into his face. Thirty years. For thirty years he’d been by my side, save for the two years apart that had only served to strengthen our bond. Eventually. We called those lost years our “time out”.

He produced a Wet Wipe to swipe away a chocolate smear from our grandson’s chin, while I helped our daughter Shari don her necklace.

Bob asked, “Everybody ready?” How proud and confident our son stood, so unlike the scared little boy he’d once been.

“I believe so,” I replied, wrapping my fingers around my husband’s.

Travis added his voice to mine. “I can’t wait.”

Bob took over parental duties, herding the youngsters out of the tiny café we’d rented for the occasion, and led them to the very front of an assembled group of family and friends. Travis and I trailed behind, and when the kids took their positions near a makeshift podium, we stepped forward.

We stood on a mountaintop at sunset, a far cry from the sumptuous hall we’d used the first time we’d said our vows. I’d made a promise to avoid the norm, and never to settle into a rut—I’d kept that promise too. Whereas before we’d worn suits, this time we’d both opted for khaki shorts and white polo shirts. Several things did remain the same—the green eyes gazing at me still told me better than words “I love you”. Oh, and once more Bobby stood with us at the makeshift altar—Bobby Junior, rather. My grandson. My grandson! I winked at him. We’d cause some mischief later.

To my left Bobby, Sr., excuse me, “Bob”, stood with his wife, his two-year-old daughter now squirming in his arms. Next to him Shari jutted her chin out and extended her full height, trying to impress her older brother. If she kept up her growth spurt she’d soon reach his shoulder, and at eight years old, she’d growing left to do. How we’d worried for her at first, a child born addicted to crack. The cry! Lord, her wails had torn my heart out. Many times Travis and I had feared letting her down, but in the end, through sleepless night and many tears and prayers, we all pulled through.

However, now we feared Shari might grow up with a bent spine, for we couldn’t keep her from lugging her nephew or niece around on her hip. She took her role as “Auntie Shari” seriously.

Yes, there was something Travis did well, and although he made a fine assistant to me, the love he gave our family would forever more be his legacy, for he was the glue holding us together.

As the sun sank behind the trees, the minister asked, “Do you, Ian, take this man…?”

I replied without hesitation, “I do.”

“Do you, Travis, take this man…?”

Green eyes glimmered with unshed tears, but they were happy tears, as they should be. “I do,” my husband answered.

When he kissed me our children cheered.

No more “almost”; no more “mine”. I am his.

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