Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Epilogue
Elias
Twenty years later…
“Isn’t it so magical out here?” Ava says as we walk around the forest. I love the adorable smile she always gets whenever we walk around here.
We each have an arm linked around our oldest child, Penelope. Our other three children are up ahead in their bear forms, exploring the mountainside as we enjoy the last weekend before Penelope goes off to college.
I’m trying not tear up. God, the years go by so fast. It felt like yesterday that I was cradling this amazing child while she was in her mother’s womb. I still remember the amazing feeling at seeing her for the first time. Ava was so strong throughout the delivery. I fell even in deeper in love that day. For the first time, we were more than mates. We were a family.
“Dad, are you crying?” Penelope asks as she looks at me.
“No,” I say as I quickly wipe my face. “I think a bug flew into my eye.”
“You are crying,” Ava says as she scrunches her face up like she does whenever she sees a new kitten or a puppy.
“Stop,” I say with an embarrassed laugh. “I just… I can’t believe you’re leaving.”
Penelope kisses me on the cheek and then squeezes my arm. “I’ll be back at Thanksgiving and at Christmas.”
“And the whole summer, right?” I ask with an eyebrow raised.
She nods like the good little girl she is. “Definitely! We’ll hang out the entire time. I promise.”
“Penelope!” our youngest, Mitchel, shouts from up ahead. “Our Kodiaks are going swimming in the lake!”
She smiles at us as she wiggles out of our grip. I don’t want to let her go, but I have to.
“I’ll catch you guys later.”
I turn away as she quickly gets undressed and phases into her Kodiak bear. Ava gathers up her clothes and puts it in the backpack I’m holding as I watch the bear who was once my little cub hurry after her brothers and sisters.
“I can’t believe she’s leaving,” Ava says as she puts her head on my bicep and watches her go.
“I know. I feel like my heart is breaking.”
“Just think,” she says as she looks up at me with a flirty look. “Once all the kids are gone, it will be just the two of us again.”
I grin as I look down at her. “I’m listening…”
She slides her hand into mine as we walk. “We can have naked Thursdays and have loud crazy sex all over the house whenever we want.”
“Now you’re talking,” I say with a grin. “How long until the others move out?”
“Probably about seven years…”
“That’s too long,” I joke. “I’ll call a boarding school when we get home.”
“Now you’re talking.”
We both laugh and smile as we continue walking up the ridge. We get to the top, surrounded by the gorgeous forest that we planted with our own bare hands, and look down at our four Kodiak cubs playing in the lake.
Ava and I look at each other and we just know. We don’t even have to say the words.
We’re so proud of the family we built and so grateful for the life we have.
I squeeze her hand as she rests her head on my bicep and moans contently while we watch our kids splashing around and having a blast in the water.
I’m so thankful for my Ava.
Without that crazy auction, I might never have found her.
And that would be a life I wouldn’t want to live.
The End!