Page 260 of His Virgin Romance Series

EPILOGUE

Abby

Five Years Later

I was washingdishes in the sink, looking out onto the gently sloping hill that preceded the clubhouse. It was a beautiful view, and five years in, I still couldn’t get enough of it. The house was no longer a ruin of lost opportunity. It was now bright and vibrant and full of life.

We had spent the better part of six months renovating it so that it was livable once more. It had been a labor of love, and Ryder and I had been very involved in all the new changes. I had actually painted the kitchen walls myself, and Ryder had laid the tile. It had been another bonding experience that had brought us closer, and in fact, I actually felt that it had helped Ryder find a new relationship with his parents, even after their deaths.

Everywhere I looked, there was a new memory that rushed to mind, and I realized how lucky I was to have that at all. My life had gone from ordinary to nightmarish to extraordinary in a matter of months, and I had Ryder to thank for that.

“Mommy!”

I turned to the little girl at the kitchen door. She had my auburn hair and Ryder’s hazel eyes. It was a perfect combination because she was beautiful, and I didn’t feel like I was biased in saying that. I remembered the day I had found out I was pregnant with her. Ryder and I had been together officially for almost a year, and we had settled into the newly renovated house only months before.

We had just established a rhythm that suited us both, and I was intent on enjoying that part without planning for the future. Of course, my desire to avoid planning was completely obliterated the moment I saw that pregnancy test. My first instinct had been joy, and my second instinct had been panic. What would Ryder say?

As it turned out, I didn’t have to worry at all. Ryder was nothing but a pillar of strength for me. He was at every doctor’s appointment. He read every book I bought on pregnancy and childbirth, and he insisted on being as involved as possible with everything to do with the baby. It was just another experienced that proved that as unlikely as our connection had been, it worked.

“Yes, darling?” I said, turning to her.

“I’m hungry.”

“That’s because you didn’t finish all your veggies during lunch,” I told her.

“I hate veggies.”

“Hate is a strong word.”

“I don’t like veggies,” she corrected.

“Sit down,” I said. “I’ll get you a snack.”

“Can I have Cocoa Pops?”

“No,” I said firmly.

“Daddy eats them for breakfast,” she pointed out.

“Alice,” I sighed.

“But he does,” she said.

She and her father were best friends. They had been since the moment Alice was born. Sometimes, I was almost jealous of their bond. Even as a baby, Ryder would pick her up, and she would stop crying immediately, even though I had been trying to calm her down for hours. When she was sick, she ran to Ryder first. When she had a story to tell, she waited till her father got home before she shared a word with me.

If I hadn’t been so in love with Ryder myself, I might have felt a little insecure. But as it stood, I recognized what an amazing and patient father he was, and I was nothing but glad that Alice had someone like him in her life. I thought about my own lonely childhood, and I felt such relief to know that my child would escape that kind of isolation. She would never have to grow up craving the love and attention of a father figure. She would grow up surrounded by people who loved her… her parents, her uncle, and all her surrogate uncles who lived over the hill in the big house.

It was an odd setup, but to Alice, it was nothing but normal. She was even proud of the fact that her father was president of a biker gang, as she called it.

“Here’s some carrot sticks,” I said, placing a plate in front of her.

“Urgh… I don’t want that,” Alice said, turning up her nose at the snack I’d just given her.

“Alice, it’s good for you.”

“I want cookies.”

“Well you can’t have cookies,” I said. “You had two cookies yesterday.”

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