Epilogue

Rhyne had put the kids to bed. It was already dark and besides the lights from the yacht, only the moon and stars illuminated the night. She walked up to the bow of the boat, where Duke was seated. He was on the daybed, his back turned to her. From where she stood, she could imagine how he looked, with his face turned up to the sky, probably with his eyes closed. She could see his content, peaceful face as the night breeze wrapped around him. She imagined it, because ever since they had boarded the boat a few hours before, she hadn’t had the courage to look him in the face.

What was she supposed to say? Should she apologize, and if yes, what for? What was her fault in all of this? It wasn’t that she didn’t know the answers to these questions: it was if they were they the right answers, and beyond that, what were his questions. With Duke, unless he expressly said it, you’d never know exactly what bothered him or not. Jake was the obvious point, but he wasn’t there, in fact he never had been. To Rhyne, Jake had always been another person who supported her, but nothing more than that.

Ever since she’d met Duke, she never saw men the same way other women would. To her, they were just others while Duke was the only one. It was a weird thing to have your world in black and white and have only one thing in colour. He was a dream that she somehow never seemed to be able to make come true. Rhyne stood there, admiring the back of his head and neck, wanting nothing more in this world than to touch them.

“How long are you going to stand there?” Duke asked, his deep baritone shocking her out of her fantasies.

“I just-uh…” Uh—what. What was she supposed to say? “Do you need anything?”

“I have a nurse for that.”

“For something else, I mean.” She rolled her eyes at how stupid she sounded.

“Like something a nurse can’t give me?”

“Yes, something like that.”

“You?”

What was that supposed to mean? Rhyne’s brain froze before she said something completely ridiculous and irrelevant. “Me? What do you mean?”

“Are you going to keep talking to the back of my head?”

“Yes—I mean no. Of course not.” Actually, she would prefer it, but it would only prove how ridiculous she was being. Rhyne walked up to him, turned to face him, and sat by his feet on the daybed. “Are you comfortable?”

Duke bit his bottom lip and gave her one nod. He, too, seemed to have been deep in his thoughts before she interrupted. Rhyne was going to risk it: she was going to start a conversation between them, the first they were going to have since before she’d taken RD and ran.

“What are you thinking about?”

“You.”

Me? “What about me?”

“Have you ever tried catching the wind?” he asked.

“What?”

“Ridiculous, right? To think that you could catch something so magnificent in the palm of your hand. How do you hold on to something that can’t be seen or touched, just felt? That is what you are to me.”

“I don’t understand.” Rhyne searched his face and for the first time, she could see his composure melt away. She saw worry that could easily be interpreted as fear in his eyes. His jaw trembled a little as he spoke, and his expression sagged a little bit.

“At first you were a puzzle I couldn’t solve. Now you are just like the wind. I love you but I can’t have you.”

Rhyne’s whole body shuddered at the confession. “You love me?” she whispered.

“What else would you call it?” Duke looked at her for a moment, his face lifting in a slight smile. “It’s hardly an obsession. Maybe a little bit close to it. I didn’t know how to describe it but love fits. A little bit more than love. How do they say it? I’m in love with you?”

“I only care about how you say it.” Rhyne placed her trembling hand over his as her vision blurred from the tears. “I’m in love with you, that’s how I would say it.”

“Are you saying it?” He brushed her tear away with his thumb and cupped her jaw.

“I’m saying it.”

“Good. That’s good to know.” Duke looked away from her, actually right past her, and said, “You are a hard person to trust.”

Rhyne swallowed that like the bitter pill it was. But she didn’t let it burst her bubble or pull her down from the cloud she was sitting pretty on. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

“So, we are Rome?”

“No, we are us.” Rhyne moved so that they could sit side by side. She wove her fingers through his, holding his hand. “As long as you don’t let go of my hand, we can be us for the rest of our lives.”

“If you don’t let go, I won’t let go.”

“Even if you let go, I’ll keep holding on.”

“For the kids.”

“For me first, then you, then the kids. I like prioritizing myself,” she teased.

Duke chuckled, then said, “Okay, for me, then you, then the kids.”

Rhyne cupped his jaw in her palm and gently moved his face closer to hers, “Duke, I’m in love with you.”

“Rhyne, I’m in love with you.”

***

“Jake.”

Rhyne winced. She ought to have known the truce that had seemingly agreed to the night before wouldn’t last. “He’s just a friend.”

“Last night you told me you were in love with me, and I believe you,” DJ paused for a moment. “But you love him too.”

“I DO NOT!” Rhyne shouted so loud she could hear the wind carry her voice.

“No need to yell,” DJ retorted.

“How did you want me to react when you accused me of loving another man,” Rhyne hissed through clenched teeth.

“I’m not accusing you. I’m just telling you what I heard.”

“From whom, who would lie like that-,”

“From you.”

“What?” Rhyne asked stunned. “I’ve never told you or anyone that.”

“That night you were rushed to the hospital, the night Sophia Marie was born, you told Jake that you loved him.”

“No, I did not, Jake was never there,” Rhyne racked her brain trying to recall that night. She didn’t remember much, only Duke being beside her. She remembered holding onto him so tightly afraid that he would leave her. “Jake came later, just before we went to the operating room. Or was it after.” Rhyne was confused as her memories of that night were jumbled.

“You don’t remember telling Jake not to leave you, that you loved him,” Duke asked.

“I told YOU! The only three people I have said those words to are you, our son and our daughter. I don’t think I’ve told Reno I love him either and he’s my brother,” Rhyne didn’t understand what was going on and she was getting frustrated. “I don’t remember much from that night, but I would never tell another man that I loved them when you are the only man, I’ve loved for seven years.”

“It was probably delirium, why else would you get us confused,” DJ filled in.

“I love you. I’m in love with you and only you,” Rhyne sighed. “And I’m sorry for leaving the first time. Maybe if I had the gut to stay in bed the first night, we were together none of this would have happened.”

“Yes, you’re right. This is all your fault,” Duke teased. “Maybe if I was someone who was more approachable, you’d have felt comfortable telling me the truth.”

“I’ve been naked in front of you,” Rhyne scoffed, “I should have trusted you more. I should have told you the truth when Nola was still running around doing God knows what with your credit card.”

“Yes, you should have,” Duke said the angry note in his voice back.

“From now on, I promise to never lie or withhold anything,” Rhyne lifted three fingers in a salute, “Scout’s honour.”

“I’ll take a pinkie promise.”

Three months later….

Duke walked into the Henry’s Hamptons residence with a nervousness he had never felt before. He looked down when RD yanked on his arm.

“Are we going to see grandpa and grandma?”

“Yes, we are,” Duke said with the best smile he could master.

“What about Nonna and Pop Pop?”

“They are in there too,” Rhyne answered this time.

“I don’t think a welcome home party was the best thing today,” Duke said.

“It’s your birthday not a welcome home party,” Rhyne said as she rolled her eyes. “When was the last time you had one?”

“Ten, I think,” Duke said sadly.

“That’s unacceptable,” Rhyne scoffed.

“Is there cake?” RD pipped up.

“There better be,” Rhyne growled under her breath. “I’m sure they are still not mad at you for freezing them out when you had the accident.”

“I don’t care. Here goes nothing,” Duke pushed the door open and walked into confetti and the sound of party pipes. Everything that you’d expect for a six-year-old birthday party and not a man in his thirties.

“Happy birthday big brother!” Kat said as she leaped into his arms.

“I guess I have you to thank for…this,” Duke tried not to sound put off. But he had expected a barbecue and a whiskey and not coloured paper.

“Don’t you like it?” Kit asked as he hugged him.

“Can’t you see how excited I am?” Duke hoped that the sarcasm hadn’t been so obvious.

“I love it!” RD squealed as he joined his cousins in playing with the confetti and pipes.

“How are the twins?”

“Allergic to sleep,” Kit laughed.

“You and Danny?”

“We are okay.”

The way Kit said it made Duke think that things were far from okay when it came to his baby brother and his wife.

“I don’t have to ask you how everything is going,” he said to Kat. “You and AJ seem to have the perfect marriage.”

Duke had allowed himself to enjoy the festivities, but once the party wound down and the children went to bed, he called a family meeting.

“Thank you for today, I appreciate it. The kids had fun, and so did I,” Duke said. “I’d like to think of the four families in this room as one, considering we seem to have all intermarried. Not sure if it’s fate or God messing with us, but what affects one of us affects all of us.”

Duke looked around the room and hoped that all the people who were looking back at him regarded him as family and not just the eldest Henry, the CEO. “Thank you for all the help you gave Rhyne and my children when I was in hospital, Reno, DJ, Lisette and Eyvette. Kit, Kat-,”

“KitKat, I told you it was funny,” DJ laughed.

Duke ignored him, “-father and mother, I’m sorry I didn’t allow you to visit. I felt a little betrayed by you. I just needed time to myself.”

“We were wrong,” Kat said.

“We’re sorry,” Kit went on. “If it wasn’t for you, Kat and I wouldn’t have lived our lives our own way. We are sorry if we don’t appreciate your sacrifice enough.”

“I’m your big brother, it’s my job to make sure you’re happy. But that doesn’t mean I don’t you to do the same for me. Once in a while, pick up the phone and ask if I’m alright.”

“Got it,” Kit and Kat said in unison.

“AJ and Danny, thank you for loving my siblings the way you do. I know that someone how you and Kit will figure it out, Danny.”

“Thank you,” Danny said with a smile.

“Reno, DJ, Mr. Kent, I would like to respectfully ask you to stay out of Rhyne’s and my relationship. When the day comes, I will gladly and humbly come to you.”

“Sooner rather than later,” Reno put it.

“Butt out,” Rhyne cut in.

Duke chuckled, amused by Rhyne’s show of support. “Reno, I know that it can’t be easy for you to have two sisters committed to two Henrys who are in limbo, but I respectfully ask for you to butt out, as your sister put it. Give us space, the same space I gave to AJ when he ran away to Djibouti, and the same space AJ gave you when you were dating his sister.”

“But she has two children by you,” Reno protested.

“So did Catalella, and AJ gave him time,” Duke argued.

“AJ had the satisfaction of knocking Rich on his ass. I don’t,” Reno stood toe to toe with Duke. “I need to know that my sister is safe with you. You too Kit, or I will take them back.”

“You have my word,” Duke swore.

“Mine too,” Kit put in.

“Forgive me if I have some reservations. Chris didn’t exactly win the Henry’s a merit badge,” Reno said.

“I’m not Chris,” Duke said.

“Neither am I,” Kit said.

“|If either of you hurt my sisters, this will be a very different conversation. There is four of us and only two of you,” and as Ren said those words, DJ, Rich and AJ stood beside him.

“Now it’s a party,” Lisette cheered.

“Lisette,” both Catalella and Rhyne chastised her as Danny and Evie chuckled.

Katherine stood up and put herself in the middle of the two sides, “Let’s just agree that we will all cherish each other’s sisters.”

Both alpha men nodded, and the rest took their seats.

“About Chris,” Duke began. “Father, mother, I am sorry that I kept his being alive from you but it’s for his own good. I knew that mother would try to send him money somehow and father, you would have tried to drag him back here. Let him try living on his own for a while. That way he’ll learn to respect and cherish his family.”

“How long are we supposed to wait?” Harry asked.

“Not long. He’s on his way back,” Duke saw Kit take Danny hand and pull her into his side protectively. Good he thought. Now all they had to do is wait for the brat to make an appearance.

***

“Duke,” Rhyne listened to the steady beat of Duke’s heart as her finger traced the scar in the middle of his chest. It gave her chills thinking about how close she came to losing him forever.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Promise me.”

“What?”

“That we will always be happy even when we are angry,” she said.

“I promise that I’ll do my best. I promise to always love you and put our family’s happiness first.”

“That’s all I want, to love you, to have a happy family, and-,”

“And what?” Duke chuckled. He knew what she was going to say.

“Another baby. At least two more.”

Rhyne yelped in surprise when Duke flipped her over and covered her body with his. “I’ll give you a chance to convince me.”