Page 68 of That Time in Venice
Epilogue
When Anika finished brushingher teeth, she pulled her hair into a bun and padded back into the bedroom. Climbing into bed, she resumed reading the Agatha Christie novel she’d started the nightbefore.
Today she was allowed to be lazy and was going to take full advantage. Later she’d go downstairs in her pajamas, but for now enjoyed the peace andquiet.
She was deeply engrossed in the book when a knock at the door disrupted her concentration. “Comein.”
In came her husband andchildren.
First up was Brielle, prancing into the room dressed in princess pajamas and her hair full and bountiful around her shoulders. She was followed by her 18-month-old brother, Jaden. Anika and Reed adopted him less than a year ago. Reed pulled up the rear carrying a bed tray ofbreakfastfood.
“Happy Mother’s Day!” Brielle and Reedyelled.
Jaden repeated something that came out more garbled but sounded similar. With his toasty brown skin and dimpled smile, he looked simply ecstatic to be a part of the surprise, even if he didn’t fully comprehend what was takingplace.
“What is all this?” Anika asked. She was genuinely surprised. She and Reed had agreed her gift would be spending the day in solitude with no disturbances. He’d assured her he’d keep the kids occupied downstairs and hinted at taking them to the park for aspell.
“A little surprise for you.” Reedgrinned.
He looked mighty pleased with himself, but she couldn’t imagine what he must have gone through to prepare the meal while wrangling two little ones. “Brielle was worried you’d sit up here and starve, so we made you breakfast. She saw this on one of those YouTube channels shewatches.”
Brielle was obsessed with watching two little girls who had a YouTube channel. Mostly she watched them play with dolls, but the girls also went on excursions to the park and interacted with their family. She often wanted to duplicate whatever she sawthemdo.
Reed set the tray across her lap and dropped a kiss to her lips. Meanwhile, Brielle helped her little brother onto the bed and then climbed upherself.
“We helped Daddy make breakfast,”Briellesaid.
“Yeah, they did,” Reed saiddryly.
“You did? Thank you, sweetie.” Anika bit back a smile and kissed Brielle’s cheek. She knew from experience how much coordination it took to manage both kids while trying to prepare a meal with their so-calledhelp.
Anika carefully placed the orange juice on the table beside the bed. “Oh my goodness, look at these pancakes.” Three heart-shaped pancakes with bacon, scrambled eggs, and fruit sat on theplate.
“Daddy made those with a special mold,” Brielleexplained.
“Your daddy is very creative,”Anikasaid.
Her son touched the bacon on the plate. “Mommy.”
“That’s right, bacon. Food of the gods.” Anika tappedhisnose.
Her son laughed, as if she’d said the funniest thing in the world. Adopting him to round out their family had been an easy decision. She and Reed had seen the photos of him and fallen in love. The icing on the cake had been finalizing her adoption of Brielle on thesameday.
“Come here, my beautiful boy. Mwah, mwah.” She dropped sloppy kisses on his cheek, and he squirmed, gigglinghappily.
“I love bacon, too,” Brielleannounced.
“I know you do. Come here, my beautiful girl.” Anika pulled Brielle into a hug and delivered the same number of sloppy kisses, listening to her daughtersqueal.
Her arms were not only filled with her kids, her heart was as well. Across the room, Reed snapped photosofthem.
“Stop, honey.” Anika self-consciously smoothed her hair. She didn’t have on a stitch ofmakeup.
“I took some good candid shots,”hesaid.
“I’m sure I lookawful.”
His affection for her was evident in his eyes. “You lookbeautiful.”
