Blind Fate

EPILOGUE

"Mom! Braden won't stop being a brat!" I sigh, putting my coffee down in front of me. I look down, preparing myself to take a deep, calming breath. I hear Max stomping up behind me, followed by Braden's lighter ones. I place my hand on my swollen stomach and turn around. Max has her arms folded over her chest and a smirk is on Braden's face.

I sigh again. "What happened now?"

"While I was in the shower, he went through my stuff and now I don't know where my diary is."

"I didn't take it!" Now Braden looks mad too at the accusation that was just put against him by Max.

"Max, I didn't even know you had a diary. You're 17 aren't you a little old for that?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. I attempt to think back to when I was 17 and what I would've done with a diary.

"It's an old one. But it has a lot of memories in it, I need it back." She turns to Braden and I see her eyes flare with anger. I'm surprised the little 6-year-old didn't shiver at the sight. If looks could kill, I'd be a mom of only two kids and one of them is still in the oven so he's safe for now.

I turn to Braden. "Be honest right now. Did you take it?"

He crosses his arms with a loud huff. "No, Mom."

"He's lying!" Max shouts. I put my hand to her.

"Max, no yelling. Go look in your room again and make sure you haven't misplaced it. And your father will help you look too when he gets home from work." As if he knew I was talking about him, he comes through the door. I get to my feet with a wide smile on my face. The kids both run up to him, throwing their arms around him. "Welcome home, honey. How was work?"

Brian reaches out, pressing a kiss to my lips. The kids turn away in disgust. "It was terrible. I missed my family." He turns to the kids and they turn to run away before he can start tickling them. I watch with a laugh as Brian begins to chase after them.

I throw myself up in bed, immediately feeling the sweat beads on my forehead. My hands fly to my swollen stomach as I sit up. I throw the covers off of me, trying to catch my breath. I feel the weight in the bed shift as Ian sits up beside me, snaking his arm around my waist.

"Mandy, what's wrong?" I look over at him and his face is laced with concern. I let out a deep sigh of relief after seeing his face and sink into his arms. He lays both of us back down, never letting go of me.

"It was just another nightmare," I breathe. He pulls me even tighter.

"And that's all it was. A nightmare," he reminds me.

I bite my lip. "You weren't there," I whisper, my throat tightening with the need to cry.

He props himself up onto his elbow so he can look at me. His other hand goes to my cheek as his eyes sadden the darkness. "Amanda. I'm right here. I'm here with you and you're here with me. We have two and a half beautiful kids." His hand moves to my stomach. "And we are living the life we always wanted. It was just a nightmare. He's in jail and he's going to be there for as long as we're alive."

I just swallow and nod my head. Of course he knew who the nightmare was about. This was a reoccurring thing. One of us, or sometimes both, would get a nightmare and then the other would reassure the one shook up. Some people have eggs and bacon in the morning as a routine. We had nightmares.

"I love you." His words travel in the darkness, dancing around me like a conga line. My lips morph into a smile as I reach out to touch his face. Even with the lights off, I could see his face perfectly clear from memory. Even after all these years, you could see the pure love and admiration in his eyes when he looked at me. And I can only imagine what I reflected back.