Page 56 of Raging Inferno

Epilogue

Happily Ever After

September 11th 2019

“And this here, is where the Twin Towers stood,” Jimmy says, pointing to the footprints of the fallen towers that now act as memorial. The tranquil sound of the waterfalls rush over me as I lift my eyes and stare up at my son perched on Jimmy’s shoulders. “And that one there is where the South tower was.”

“That’s where you rescued my dad?” Christopher asks as he stares at the waterfall. As he tilts his head and glances up at the sky, I imagine he’s trying to picture the tower standing tall, touching the sky.

“It sure is.”

“Mommy and Grandma said my dad couldn’t walk and you carried him out of the building, is that true?”

“Yes,” Jimmy replies.

“Like you’re carrying me now?”

“Almost,” he says with a smile. “Your dad was a little to heavy to sit on top of my shoulders. Do you want to see the church I carried him to?”

“It didn’t fall down?”

“Nope,” Jimmy says. “It’s still standing and it’s only a few blocks away.”

“Okay,” Christopher agrees.

Jimmy turns his attention to me.

“That good with you ladies?” he questions with a smile on his face. Simultaneously, we both glance down at the stroller and at our precious baby girl who is sleeping soundly.

“Of course it is,” I reply, tucking the blanket around her before meeting Jimmy’s gaze. “We have an hour before we meet Gabby and Gianna for lunch.”

A smirk ticks the corners of his lips and he shakes his head.

“Knowing my girls, they’ll keep us waiting,”he retorts, wrapping his hands around Christopher’s calves, he bends his knees and brings us eyelevel before pressing a kiss to my mouth.

After Jimmy recovered from the heart attack, he retired from the FDNY. Four months later, I found out I was pregnant and six weeks later we were married.

Circumstance put Jimmy in Chris’s life.

Fate brought him to me.

And destiny kept us together, living a happily ever after neither of us thought we’d ever have.

Life may be short, but love is for forever.

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