The Devils Of New York

Chapter Seventy Eight

Four Years Later

We sat in the backyard of our home many years later in the dead of summer. The sun glowed down on all four of us, since just two years ago Danial entered Arilynn and I's life. So Valerie who was currently sitting in one of the sundresses my wife had purchased for her along with the matching sunhat was playing with a yellow tulip, all while Arilynn levelled the soil that the flowers had been growing out of for the fourth consecutive year without any difficulties.

That also might be because I have a special sprinkler filter that is filled with plant nutrients and the water collects it as the pressure pushes it through.

Danial on the other hand was running around with stick that he must have found somewhere around the property and was occasionally falling before laughing and running off again before getting to Arilynn and showing off the stick with a bright smile that could only be from Arilynn to her.

"That's a cool stick, go show your dad" she whispers before pointing to me.

For the past hour I had been sitting on the patio of the house by the pool looking at the stock prices of Hamilton Enterprises which had fully been purchased and owned by the company though of course Arilynn had left around a million shares in free distribution. 

Though they were originally three hundred dollars per share and now every once in a while dipped below thirteen hundred to just over fifteen hundred which was a lot of money to have tied up in stock though because it was still well known that Hamilton Enterprises had nine hundred million shares.

The spike was profitable though since it didn't really fluctuate, and it kept Arilynn's company internally functioning.

She had given me full capacity to help her pick out a proxy CEO in the time that she would be gone from working in the office. In those four years she had adapted to being a working mom from home along with me helping since there were still days that she had to go in but she had quickly realized that going in every day wasn't feasable until the kids were in school and at that point we would both be able to work. However a two year old boy, and a four year old girl could not be left alone unsupervised. 

My parents did like spending time with them though.

That had been a key part of my life in the past few years was seeing exactly how much having grandchildren had made my parents happy, they had raised three kids and brought four into the world by one way or another, and now they had two grand children just from me though both of my sisters had twins. I had seen it on my parents faces though they were rejoiced though I think there were still times that my dad wishes that his parents would have been able to see the family that had come from them. Their two children had a total of five grandchildren and now there was eight great grandchildren. There could have been a family picture of twenty-one people since the Harrington's were considered direct family.

It was at that moment in my reverie that Danial stood next to me in his tan shorts, white V neck, straw sunhat, and barefoot while lightly covered in dirt without a single care in the world. Both of Arilynn and I's children constantly wore smiles of innocent blissful ignorance and pleasure and I wanted nothing more then to keep these kids happy for as long as possible.

"Dada wook" Danial says in toddler english, and I smile brightly at my son before moving the laptop to the stone patio and lifting my son to stand between my legs where he sat down cross legged and once more held out the stick to me much like what I had done with my own dad. I could remember doing many things like this, and every time my dad would take whatever it was and admire it like it was the most fascinating thing in the whole world before telling me that it was really cool and to go find another one so that he could have one too. I'd later found out that every time I did that he had kept it and eventually turned every rock and stick into an artistic collage board that he built by hand, and was in his office in Waccabuc.

"Let's see what you found buddy" I say before carefully taking the stick and examining it, every ridge, and dip the place where it had broken off before handing it back to Danial.

"Good find, you should go find a few more and build a house with it" I suggest and he happily nods before I lift him off of the chair before he ran off back towards the small area that had trees within the confines of the estate.

"Dad mommy gave me a flower" Valerie says running over to me faster then her brother.

"Do you know what that is?" I ask her and she nods before giving me a toothy smile.

"It's a tulip" she says sounding exceptionally proud of herself".

"They're your mom's favourite flowers, that's why there is so many in our backyard" I say and Valerie seemed both surprised but also not at the same time.

"Really?" my four year old daughter puzzles and looks over at Arilynn who was now also coming over to me.

"Yes Valerie they are, your dad has spent a lot to make sure I had way too many tulips" Arilynn says looking at me as I hit the final enter key on my laptop to sell three hundred thousand shares for four hundred forty three million dollars. Which was a fifty million dollar profit.

"Mommy, can I keep this one?" Valerie asks looking up at the woman that she got most of her appearance from except for my hair and eye colour, the face was Arilynn though, same as Danial who had many facial features from Arilynn along with the hair colour.

"Of course sweetie, do you want to come help me make lunch for us?" Arilynn asks and she nods before following my wife into the house all while Danial kept looking around for sticks. He had been looking around for a while and when he eventually came back to my spot on the patio he held dozens all of which he began stacking though when he realized it wasn't very stable he frowned for a second and tossed up his arms like he was annoyed at the fact it wasn't working.

"Dada iz no work'in" he pouts.

"How could you make it work to keep the stick in place?" I ask him and he looks at me wondrously before he walked off once more and came back after a moment with a slate rock likely from the garden but I knew if I asked him to take it back he would.

I then watched him hit the ends with it until it was chipped down and then start doing it with all the others before putting them together similar to how log cabins were built.

"How'd you figure that out?" I ask looking at him and he just smiled.

"I jus fought i' could work" he says and I smile.

"That's wonderful" I say and he then picks it up and carried it inside likely to show Arilynn and his sister. I then let out a sigh and went inside to find Arilynn holding Danial now while Valerie sat in one of the stools across from her all while Arilynn held a spatula in the other hand and regarded the stick tower Danial had brought inside.

"Go put it on the table outside you could probably get your dad to varnish it" Arilynn says glancing over at me.

"I'll do it after breakfast but right now we should all sit down and have a meal as a family, Valerie do you want to help me set the table please?" I ask and she hops down before I give her instructions on what to do all while Arilynn watched me with a smile. When everything was ready we all walked into the dining area and sat together, and now I understood the remark made so long ago. Hundreds of years had passed and now our lives had made a full circle, all the money in the world didn't matter anymore, what mattered was the people around us, and I would forever hold that as my greatest fortune. My family.
    
    
That's the end of the book, in fact this is the end. It's time to let the Winters go, all of them two years of stories have come to an end and it's a sad day and I'm sure you all will miss them as much as I will. I want all of you to know that things may change in the coming months, and I want all of you to know there will always be a place here in the words I've written for all of you. I hope you have all enjoyed the series I've written for both Adrian and now his family. I want to thank you all so much for the support on this journey. Comment, vote, and share. Anyways

Peace✌