Page 91 of His Secret Wish

Epilogue

Six Months Later

Owen swore as he gave the massive pine tree a yank, trying to get it through the front door.

Isabella laughed, which got her the stink eye from her loving husband. She clamped her hand over her mouth, but couldn’t stop from grinning. “You need to watch your language.” She indicated the two little girls who were peeking around the corner from the living room with a tilt of her head.

He glanced that way, his cheeks turning pink. It had been a bit of an adjustment for all of them, with some things coming more easily than others. His swearing was one of the ones taking some time.

It had been two weeks since she and Owen had flown to Wisconsin to collect the girls, and they were all still in the initial adjustment period.

The flight had been their first adventure. Since there were four of them, they couldn’t all sit together, so she’d taken Claudia, and Owen had taken Marissa, and they’d ended up a couple of rows apart from each other. As per usual, Claudia talked the whole time, asking questions and just being her inquisitive self. It had been sweet, but also exhausting, and Isabella was happy when the little girl had discovered the in-flight entertainment system. Of course, she spoke really loudly when she had the earphones on, and Isabella had to convince her to use her inside voice.

Marissa had still been quiet and reserved, but her infatuation with Owen hadn’t gone anywhere. Every time Isabella glanced back at them, she was either curled up in his lap, or leaning against him. Parts of the flight had scared her, and he’d been so gentle while soothing her. Isabella’s heart had melted into a gooey puddle.

“What do you need to do? You’ve got to talk to me, Owen.” Declan’s voice sounded from the front porch, on the other end of the tree.

“I don’t fu—freaking know.” Owen gave another yank, and the tree moved a couple of inches.

She tried to stop from laughing again, she really did, but it slipped out anyway. This time she got a fierce scowl from the love of her life.

“Here, let me help.” She didn’t wait for an answer, just walked over and grabbed the tree. Owen sighed and wrapped his hands above hers on the trunk.

“Okay, Dec. In one, two, three.” Owen yelled at his brother.

She pulled hard. Owen’s arm muscles bunched with exertion. Declan swore, the rattling of branches coming from the other end of the tree. And then the doorway let go of the death grip it had on the tree, and she and Owen went sailing backward onto the floor of the foyer, the tree on top of them.

The scent of pine and dirt assaulted her nose. Declan stumbled through the doorway, managing to stay on his feet by grabbing the door frame.

Owen sat up, pushing the tree off of them. He ran his fingers over her shoulder, her arm, her hip. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

She sat up, spitting out a couple of pine needles. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She scrambled to her feet, her butt smarting. But there was no permanent damage.

Owen stared at her for a minute, his gaze roving over her, searching for injuries.

She planted her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “Seriously, I’m fine.”

He nodded, giving her one more overall glance. She wasn’t really all that annoyed. It was nice to have someone looking out for her, making sure she was okay. Both inside and out.

Their reconciliation hadn’t been all sunshine and roses. Mami was less than pleased they’d found each other again, but she was coming around. But both she and Owen had come to the realization Mami was never going to love her son-in-law. Isabella knew it hurt him, but she tried to do her best to minimize the damage. Papi was more reasonable, and Isabella thought he might even be secretly happy she and Owen were back together, although he’d never say it out loud and risk Mami’s wrath.

Owen’s family had been much more supportive, welcoming her back into the family with open arms. Not that they’d ever stopped treating her like family after she left Owen. But it was still nice to be accepted so readily.

In fact, Owen’s mother had taken her under her wing, along with her other two daughters-in-law, Grace and Noelle—Jake and his girlfriend Claire lived out of state with Jake’s daughter Olivia, which was the only reason Claire hadn’t been made part of the group—and they all went out for dinner once a week, sans husbands. It was nice to be around the other women, and to have people to talk to about the Callahan men.

Living together again had been a bit of a challenge at first. Over the years apart, they’d both developed different habits and routines, so it had taken a bit of time for them to get in sync. It had been nice to see the differences in him, the ways he’d changed, and she knew he felt the same about her.

“Grab that end.” Owen indicated the part of the tree Declan was currently standing on. She hoped the branches weren’t too damaged.

Declan did as he was told, hoisting the top of the tree up. Owen picked up the bottom.

“Right this way, my good sirs.” Isabella motioned toward the living room, leading the way. She sat on the sofa with the girls, who were both looking a little wide eyed after her and Owen’s tumble in the foyer. Marissa climbed onto her lap, resting her head against Isabella’s shoulder. Claudia was bouncing her butt on the couch, the trauma from the tree incident clearly evaporating by the second.

They’d already set up the tree stand and the tree skirt in the corner. Owen and Declan managed to get the tree over there, and upright. Declan held onto it while Owen got down on his hands and knees to screw the tree into place. Isabella couldn’t take her eyes off his ass. The way his jeans cupped it to perfection...

She shook her head. That had been one of the biggest things to take a hit since their little family came together. Their sex life. While they still managed to be intimate, things had changed a bit. They’d had to make sure the door was locked. And she’d had to learn to be quieter when she orgasmed. He loved to try to make her lose it, always giving her a wicked grin when she was forced to scream into a pillow.

A muffled swear word came from underneath the tree, and she cleared her throat loudly. The last things they needed was for Claudia to entertain her classmates at her new school with some colorful language.