Romance Collision ✔

ღEpilogue

ღ. Five Years Later

"Silly Sissy!" Little Magnolia "Maggie" giggled behind her little hands. She peered up at her older sister wobbling on the ladder.  

The ladder seemed a bit too high now, and unstable, without support of someone holding onto the base of it. Maintaining balance was a lot harder than had been anticipated and now, Eve was kind of wishing she had waited to set up the lights until the others arrived. Just as Charlie suggested on the phone.

Biting her lip, Eve held onto the edge of top step of the ladder to keep it steady. She winced, her body wiggling with the ladder. Eve lifted her gaze up at the hook on the ledge about an arm's length away from where she was. 

For the passed five minutes, Eve had been trying to reach over and hang the lights that were still wedged between her teeth. But every time Eve inched forward, she started to feel the ladder tilt with her. She had to clamp onto the edge of the platform to regain her balance. It didn't help that every time this happened, her baby sister would giggle. Eve was aware Maggie was only four, but the twenty-one year old didn't appreciate her sister thought Eve breaking something would be funny. 

Still as stubborn as ever, Eve hadn't waited like Charlie suggested. They were all pressed for time when the reception would take place, and Eve, trying to be helpful, took on watching her little sister and attempting to finish up the last bits of decorations. Not the best idea, Eve admitted to herself.

Eve grunted, balancing herself again. She tucked her hair behind her ear, scrunching her nose and narrowed her eyes at the hook. She could have moved onto something else but, let's face it, this was Eve we were talking about. Eve was determined to get this last part of the lights strung up!

Letting out a slow breath, Eve glanced at Maggie still looking up at her, her head tilted with a small grin. 

Eve noted the striking resemblance the four-year-old had taken to their father; everything but the gray eyes. Those were inherited from their mother. Even with the seventeen year age difference, the Daniels girls were very close, even before Eve had legally changed her surname three years ago for her father's birthday. Daniel had cried when presented with the adoption paperwork.

Maggie bounced up and down, her fingers pressed against her mouth and giggled at her sister trying to keep a confident face. Eve was grateful, at least, that Maggie hadn't gotten her dress dirty yet. 

Eve had to wrestle the four-year-old into it this morning. It had taken Eve bribing the younger that if she would put on the dress then Maggie could wear her favorite sneakers instead of the heart-buckle dress shoes that were sitting on the bed. Maggie complied instantly, raising her hands up with a bright smile for her sister to dress her. 

When the girls had gone to the church, Eve grumbled under her breath at the disapproving look her mother wore as the flower girl was wearing this pretty white dress and sparkling pink high tops with one of the shoelaces that had come undone. Of course, the sneakers would have gone unnoticed had Maggie not stuck her foot out in front of Riley and pointed at it while cheerfully exclaiming, "Lookie, Mommy!" 

Riley gave a small smile to Maggie before snapping a narrowed-eyed look at Eve who raised a brow and weakly grinned with a scrunched nose and shrugged.

Eve groaned, shaking her head and told her sister in a grumble, "This isn't as easy as I thought it would be." 

Her brown eyes narrowed at Maggie giggling into her hands again. 

Scrunching her nose, Eve raised a brow and turned her chin while eyeing her sister. "You know... You realize that doesn't work on me, right? I'm not Mom and Dad."