Unconditionally

Epilogue

  9 years later ~2027

|| Freddie ||

"And did you remember the almond milk? Because you know Aspen won't drink anything else."

"Yes, Belle. I got all three kinds of milk," I chuckled as I drove down the streets of New Jersey on my way home after a quick day at the office and doing some last minute grocery shopping.

"Ah, damn! Did you also remember the nuggets? I'm worried that Sav won't eat the turkey. You know how picky she is."

"I got everything on the list, baby. You don't have to worry," I told her.

I've been doing last minute Thanksgiving grocery shopping for the past five years now and I always know that Marabelle will phone me on my way home to make sure that I got everything on the list she gave me.

"Alright. I'll see you in a bit?"

"See you in a bit," I confirmed.

After nine years of being together and five years of those being married, I still find it quite funny that Marabelle still doesn't trust me with a shopping list. But I blame that on our picky children.

Marabelle and I have been blessed with three beautiful little girls. Aspen, who's four, and our twins, Gracie and Savannah, who've just turned two. The girls are practically the spitting image of their mother, both in appearance and personality. They do, however, have my green eyes.

Walking through the front door of our family home while carrying the groceries, I could hear animated chatter coming from the twins and Aspen's reading all directed from the kitchen.

"Augustus Waters drove horrif-ic-ally. Whether stopping or starting, evah-ree-thing happened with a tre...tre -" Aspen stopped reading and huffed frustratedly. "Mommy, I can't say this word."

"Can you break it up and then try?" Marabelle asked her.

"I'll try," She said. "Tre-men-dos...tremendous!"

"That's right!" Marabelle grinned at our eldest daughter.

"Wha t'at mean?" Gracie asked Marabelle with wide eyes.

"It means very big," Marabelle told her. "Like tonight we'll be having a tremendous Thanksgiving dinner."

"That was very good reading, Aspen," I said to my daughter as I made my presence known.

"Daddy!" My three little princesses cheered and Gracie scrambled down from her chair and wrapped her tiny arms around my leg.

"Daddy, I finished the whole of cha'ter one and I just started number two!" Aspen told me proudly, holding up her copy of the book The Fault In Our Stars.

At just four years old our daughter is already reading at higher elementary school level. From a young age Aspen's shown an interest in novels rather than picture books like most children her age do. Marabelle and I are convinced she's going to be a writer or do something that involves books one day.

"Already?! That's incredible. I'm so proud of you, Princess!" I said as I put the groceries down and then picked Gracie up before placing a kiss on Aspen's forehead.

"Daddy get nugges?" Savannah asked me as she stretched her arms out to me.

"I did," I told her with a grin as I also picked her up.

"I like nugges!" Gracie cheered with an uncontrollable grin. Gosh, my kids are so fucking cute.

"Alrighty then, let's get you three down for a nap," Marabelle said to our girls. "We've got a long night ahead of us."