Alex's Destiny (Racing To Love) (25 page)

Epilogue

As the leaves fluttered in the warm fall air, James couldn’t help but smile. He had worked so hard all his life to give everything he could to his family. He had painstakingly drawn out every detail in the house where they gathered, and had enlarged it twice during the years he spent designing it, all with the intentions of giving his precious wife, Karen, the children she so badly wanted.

Voices and laughter floated out the French doors from the kitchen to the patio. Their one son had been the only miracle they thought they’d ever be blessed with. By fate’s design…the house was now filled. It had taken years and the road was often curved. Their path to a large family had been a rough one. However, James had finally been able to give Karen the one thing she wanted in life, and that was children. Only two in the whole crowd carried their blood, but that meant nothing to him and Karen. Brody and his son, Chance were loved dearly, but every one of the people milling around, chatting, joking, and helping put together their weekly Sunday dinner was family to them. Each one was special. Each one was needed to complete the family puzzle.

Each one—chosen.

Maybe not by blood, but by choice—they were family.

In his book, that bound them together much tighter.

From the outside looking in, one might assume the Noland’s had the perfect life. In many ways he supposed they did if it the tally was based on material items. But James and Karen had walked through the gates of hell more than once, trying to rescue their loved-ones from the other side. Hurt at the hands of others, they had picked up the pieces and put their children back together. All they wanted to do was trade places with them and keep the pain for themselves, not sharing the agony with anyone.

The nightmare they’d pulled Molly through as a child, had nearly taken her life once again as an adult. Then it was Emery’s health, Eli’s wreck, and Carter’s brother, Mike, the very man who saved their daughter. Added to the list was Dallas’s education, and then there was something more intense about his precious granddaughter, Alex that just tore him up. Maybe it was age, but it was more. Knowing he was just yards away from her, listening to her scream his name when he answered her phone call, pleading for him to help her. It would haunt him for the rest of his life.

People on the outside wouldn’t guess he’d spent too many nights in a hospital hoping to hell one of his own would pull through. And when they did, those people weren’t around for the months afterward he’d spent on his knees praying they’d come back to him, and return to the person they were before they were struck by tragedy. It was in those moments though his family seemed to expand. A blessing in disguise and he grasped that silver lining with both hands.

Karen sat on the oversized soft leather couch, listening to their granddaughter, Tasia tell her all about her recent trip to New York and the dance company she’d been accepted by.

His wife’s hair would be gray, but she made a regular trip to the salon to keep that from happening. He leaned against the counter watching her. There were a few more lines across her face and hands, but she was still the beautiful girl he’d finally gotten enough courage up to sit next to in a college class decades before. Her eyes still twinkled and sparkled with happiness and joy despite all the hurt they’d seen.

Dallas caught his eye as he helped Alex down the hallway with one arm, holding his great-grandson in the other. Alex moved slowly, but he knew their three-day-old baby made all the pain worth it. She sat on the couch next to her grandmother, and Dallas deposited the bundle of blue blankets in Karen’s arms. Pushing off the counter, he headed their way.

“Here, Grandpa. You sit next to grandma,” Tasia said, standing up to make room for him.

“Thank you, sweet girl.”

With a kiss to his cheek, she drifted toward a young man watching her with a matching smile. And so it would carry on.
Just as it had with Carter and Molly, then Dallas and Alex, and now James Michael Hunter.

“It’s never too early for your first Sunday dinner is it, buddy?” James cooed.

Ruby lay down in front of Karen. Alex grinned at Dallas then ran her finger over James’s baby cheek. They’d all watch Ruby’s job shift months ago, even before James was born. The watch dog was very protective of Alex already, but it was as if the dog could sense there was more. Now wherever the baby was, Ruby wasn’t but a step away.

Dallas
sat on Alex’s other side, and placed a kiss to her temple. James couldn’t be prouder of the man he’d become, or the angel he’d chosen to marry. The joy they’d given his wife, he’d be grateful for through eternity.

“Isn’t he just the most beautiful baby you’ve ever seen, James?” Karen whispered.

“He’s perfect. Yes, you are, little man. Just perfect.”

“Hey you guys, stay just like that. Let me get a picture.” Jesse grinned.

James looked across the couch. The three smiles looking back at him were priceless. His life hadn’t turned out the way he had tried to make it. But his destiny was just like his great-grandson—perfect.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Gregory leads an incredibly active lifestyle in Kansas City with her husband and their three fantastic kids who keep them running in three very different directions.  Amy is known for her snarky, off the cuff sense of humor, which you’ll find shining through in the characters she’s created.

I’ve spent my whole life trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, and now I’ve finally found it. – Amy Gregory