My Mafia Babysitter

epilogue

A beautiful, rich smell drifted through the kitchen of Hale Manor. My hand clenched around the handle of the oven and pulled the door open, my opposite oven mitt-clad hand pulled out the cake responsible for such a delicious aroma. Placing the cake pan on a safe surface, I flipped it over onto a plate and watched the decadent baked good slide from the metal pan. As I waited for the cake to cool, I exited the kitchen and put the finishing touches on the decorations in the dining hall. Rose gold and silver streamers lined the beautiful, dark dining hall; the dining hall I had eaten my meals in for a little over twenty years. I passed a mirror as I dumped more ice into the several different kinds of punch we had set up for the guests. 

My red hair had a few stray strands of silver hair peaking through, and a few wrinkles had formed at the crinkle of my eyes and around the smile lines of my lips; but I mostly looked the same. Sure, I was almost forty, but I still got it. A small redheaded boy burst through the door to the dining hall, dressed in the little tux I had laid out on his bed earlier in the afternoon. 

"Mom, I can't find my other shoe!" My youngest sighed in frustration. I rolled my eyes playfully and twirled him around toward the door. 

"Dmitri, please go ask Uncle Ravon to help you, I've got lot to do before your sister's party." Patting the ten-year-old's bottom, I shooed him out of dining hall and made my way back into the kitchen. Now cooled, the cake waited patiently for me to frost it with the rich buttercream frosting I had prepared earlier. After forty-five minutes, I stood back to look at the finished product, my eyes gleaming with an unspoken pride. A large pair of rough, calloused hands wrapped around my waist, a chin slipping into the nape of my neck. 

"My love, my light, my wife..." He murmured softly in my ear, kissing a trail up my jawline. "Twenty years has gone by and you are just as delectable as the day I first saw you." 

"You didn't like me when you first met me though," I cocked an eyebrow, a small smile playing on my lips. 

"Yes, well, I still thought you were hot." Nik spun me around to face him, my red hair swirling around with the sudden movement. I giggled softly, placing my hands upon his broad chest as he leaned in to kiss me. He was right, twenty years had gone by but our spark had done anything but dwindle. Our lips moved fervently, both trying to gain dominance without much success. Grabbing a fistful of my hair, Nik pulled me closer as my hands traveled down and slipped into his pants, squeezing his plump backside. Chuckling against my mouth, he went to lift me up and set me onto the counter but I squealed in protest. "What?"

"Um, your daughter's cake?" I turned around and pointed to the cake with an expression of obviousness. Niklaus leaned against the counter and stared at the cake for a long time, his face unreadable as he silently stood like a statue. "Babe, what's wrong?" My fingers splayed out against his back, gently running my hands up and down the length of his spine. 

"She's twenty." He said softly, his eyes distant.

"Yes," I nodded, feeling myself as that time had passed far too quickly. 

"Violet, she's leaving." He sighed softly, lost within his own thoughts. "I don't understand why the university here isn't good enough." 

"She's spent her entire life here and put in two years at Columbia, she wants to explore, can you blame her?" I questioned, feeling him tense beside me. 

"No," He ground out, "But why does she have to go so far?"

"She will visit and besides, Vivian will take good care of her in California, I have complete faith in my cousin to watch over. Besides, Griffin is going to the same school so she'll have at least one familiar face and Viv's brother-in-law is a cop, how much trouble can she really get into?" I smiled softly despite my heavy heart. My first child was about to move across the country, I wanted her to be happy and live her life, however that didn't stop the empty feeling of letting her go. The door to the kitchen suddenly opened and one of the guards popped their head in.