Page 116 of Jacob

EPILOGUE

JACOB

Ten years later

I park my car in the gravel driveway of my house, well, my castle, and as soon as I open the car door, my three blonde-haired daughters fly out of the front door of the castle, screaming their heads off, dressed up in their princess costumes.

“Mommy is dying,” Catherine, my youngest, shrieks.

Oh, dear God.

I sprint past Catherine, Elsa, and Aurora and into the grand hallway.

My heart beating faster than a freight train pounding down the tracks in my chest. I hear groaning from the kitchen and run as fast as I can in that direction.

Almost skidding across the black and white checkered floor in my dress shoes, I come to an abrupt halt, instantly relieved to see what the hell the girls were screaming about.

I hold on to the edges of the door and bow my head. “Oh, thank God.”

Skye is lying on the floor fake-dying as she groans, pulling red silk scarves out of the bottom of her jumper.

“They gave me a heart attack,” I laugh while trying to catch my breath and move into the room. Ten years in and I’m not sure the need to protect her with everything I am will ever go away.

“Shush, I’m dying. Play along,” she whispers, then lays her arms out to the sides, against the floor.

With every day that passes, I can’t help but love this woman more and more.

I’m standing over her now. Her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth, she pops one eye open to look at me.

“Say the line?” she murmurs.

Fuck, what was it again? Oh, yeah, I remember. “Oh no, my queen. Who did this to you? Was it the evil prince?” I crouch down by her side, playing along, and peek up to see if I can see who I am looking for.

Skye pretends she’s choking and croaks out, “It was the evil dragon.” Then turns her head to the side, pretending to be dead.

I rise to my feet and say loudly, “I will slay this evil dragon. Where is he?”

I hear a tiny roar from the pantry and I wait.

The door opens gently and with his hands up, in claw-like shapes, out walks my cute-as-fuck two-year-old, William, dressed in a blue and purple spotty dragon costume with padded scales and wings. He looks adorable.

“What did you do to my queen?” I point at him, trying to be serious and stifle the laughter that wants to break free from my chest.

William snarls, trying to look mean, but all it does is cause his button nose to twitch, making him look even cuter.

“You killed the love of my life and now I will have to slay you, evil dragon.”

William bares his teeth, snapping and snarling with intention. He knows the game better than me.

He moves over to me and pretends to breathe fire across my knees and thighs and I act out, falling to the ground. “Oh no, you burned my legs off. Now I’m going to die. Who will look after my queen and princesses? I will hate you forever.” Then I fake my own death.

Everything goes quiet for a second before William clambers on top of my chest and whispers, “Please, Daddy, not hate me.”My sweet boy.

I pop my eyes open, grab his sides and tickle him, making him instantly burst into a fit of giggles and squeals. My three girls run in and jump on top of me as they all try to tickle me back.

Skye sits up with a deep scowl on her face and says, “What about me, I’m the one that died. Where are my tickles?”

I give a knowing look to the kids with a cheeky smile, then I widen my eyes and shout, “Get her.” They all spring into action and our kitchen becomes a ticklefest until none of us can breathe.

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