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Epilogue

Nate turnedeight years old one month before his cousin Lianne was born, and all five of them drove home together from the hospital in Parker's flashy new Hondaminivan.

Kell satin the back next to Lianne, who was bundled up and asleep in her car seat, with her Uncle William on the other side. Nate peeked over the seat to get alook.

"Sit properly,"William toldhim.

"She's so tiny,"Nate said, his eyeswide.

"You wereabout this big when you were born, too," his father toldhim.

Parker smiled,watching the scene through the rear-view mirror. His phone buzzed, and he slipped on his Bluetooth headset. "Hello? Yes, Parkerspeaking..."

Kell touchedhis daughter's face. She stirred and gurgled, but didn't wake, and reached out with a tiny hand to grab his finger. He felt his heart melt. In the years since he and Parker had been mated, they'd graduated from ADA and started their own design firm together, with Jessie as a resident artist and William as their receptionist. They were a family now, and life had takenoff.

Outside of the company,he was producing fine art for various patrons and was very much in demand. He and Parker even made joint paintings, and the two of them were in talks with a famous gallery in New York. Parker and William's parents had been trying to get back in contact ever since they'd caught wind of the gallery news, but their calls had goneignored.

"Thank you very much,"Parker said. "We're very much looking forward to working withyou."

"What was that?"Kellasked.

"The LAX contract,"said Parker, smiling. "They're going to hire us to design the installation for the newterminal!"

"Yes!"Kell and William shouted, and little Lianne started to wail. "Ooh, ooh. Shh..." they both said, and they alllaughed.

They drove off,pulling onto the long stretch of freeway towardshome.