Entangled To The CEO

Epilogue

Kristen’s [POV]

I stared at myself in the mirror, running my hands over my gigantic stomach. I had on an ivory dress with lace details along the bell sleeves and the hemline. It was a beautiful dress, and it made me feel strong and confident: something I had been struggling with in my last trimester.

“You look fantastic,” Melody said, from behind me.

I whirled around and smiled. “You’re here! I didn’t even hear you come in.”

“You were too busy admiring yourself in the mirror.”

I rolled my eyes. “More like lamenting the state of my body.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “You’re glowing.”

“Am I?” I asked. “I think I’m just sweating.”

She shook her head at me. “I can’t believe you’re going to have a baby.”

“Neither can I,” I admitted. “I’m excited, though.”

“So…what are you having?” Melody asked, with raised eyebrows.

I laughed. “I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to,” I said. “We don’t know.”

Melody frowned at me. “What?”

“We told the doctor that we didn’t want to know,” I explained. “But we were going to have a gender reveal party that doubled as a baby shower. So Doctor Mitchell wrote down the baby’s gender in a sealed envelope and then I dropped off the envelope at this amazing little bakery down Corey Street. They’ve baked us a special cake for the occasion, and the moment we cut into it, we’ll know if we’re having a boy or a girl.”

“Oh nice,” Melody nodded. “I’ve heard of people doing this. Very interesting. So what are you hoping for?”

I smiled. “I don’t care.”

“Bullshit,” she said immediately. “Everyone has a preference.”

“I don’t,” I said honestly. “As long as this baby’s healthy and happy, I’m happy. And so is Jake.”

“Okay, okay,” she said. “I’ll buy that.”

I laughed. “Did you bring your plus one?”

“He’s outside,” she nodded.

“And, how’s it going so far?”

“Only time will tell,” Melody said. “We can’t all be as lucky as you.”

I smiled. “You know, I might believe in soul mates now.”

“Really?” she said. “Well, I’m glad, although I can’t take credit for converting you. It was Jake who did the trick, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” I had to admit.RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

“Well, I may have to go through a few more men before finding my soul mate.”

“Don’t lose hope,” I laughed.

“Never,” Melody said, giving me a wink. “In any case, I like the search.”

“I’ll bet,” I smirked. “Did you leave your new beau outside by himself?”

“Don’t worry; he’s fine,” Melody said. “He’s talking to this impressive bald man out front; I think his name was Larry?”

“Luis?” I checked.

“That’s it,” Melody nodded. “He got in a couple of minutes ago when we did.”

“That’s Jake’s old military buddy,” I said. “I must go out and say hello.”

At that moment, the door opened, and Jake walked in. “Hey, ladies,” he greeted, hugging Melody. “Sorry to break up the heart-to-heart, but a few more guests have arrived, and they want to see you, Kris.”

“I have an important question, Jake,” Melody said, turning to him.

“Shoot.”

“Is there booze?”

Jake laughed. “There’s a bar set up just before the balcony. Go crazy.”

“Oh, I intend to,” Melody nodded. “Excuse me.”

The moment she left, Jake turned to me and wrapped his arms around me. “Hi,” he said, kissing me gently on the lips.

“Hi,” I said, melting into him like I always did. Only now there was a slight barrier between us created by my ever-expanding belly.

“Did I mention how beautiful you look today?” Jake asked.

I waved away the compliment. “You’re just saying that.”

“I’m saying it because I mean it,” he said. “You look like an auburn-haired mermaid.”

“Wow, that’s quite a description.”

“I can’t take all the credit,” he said. “That was how Noah described you.”

“Where is our son?” I asked, enjoying the way ‘our son’ sounded.

“He’s outside, showing his drawings to his grandmother,” Jake replied.

“Good.”

“Also, the cake just got here,” Jake told me.

I clapped my hands together. “Oh, wow…we’re finally going to find out. Boy or girl.”

“My money’s on girl,” Jake said, with a smile.

I laughed. “Is that instinct or hope?”

“A little bit of both,” he smiled. “It doesn’t matter, though. We’ll have tons of kids, so we’re bound to end up with boys and girls.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Tons of kids?” I repeated.

“I’m thinking like ten,” he teased.

I laughed. “I think that’s up for discussion.”

“Fair enough,” he nodded.

“Come on, we better get out there,” I said, moving towards the door.

Jake held my hand, and I looked toward him. “What?”

“You should know that your mother just got here, too.”

I tensed a little, but then I reminded myself that our relationship had made strides in the last two years. Mom had finally accepted my decision not to have a relationship with Ted, and she had also stopped butting into my life and allowed me to make my own decisions.

“Okay,” I nodded. “Has she seen Isabelle yet?”

Jake smiled. “I was standing in between them when they met,” he nodded.

“And?”

“It went surprisingly well,” he said. “They didn’t talk about anything other than you. Your mother mentioned Daphne once, and then they moved on.”

“Well…that’s good.”

“Don’t be worried,” Jake said, taking my hand. “I’ll be right beside you.”

After sharing one last kiss, we walked out together. The crowd mostly comprised our friends and colleagues from work and a few other people who had made a difference in our lives. Luis came up to me and hugged me.

“Kristen, you look wonderful.”

“Thanks, Luis,” I said. “It’s great to see you. Where’s your new bride?”

Luis scanned the crowd. “Cathy?” he called.

A tall, beautiful woman approached. She had dreadlocks that fell to her middle back and light hazel eyes that danced when she smiled.

“Lovely to meet you, Kristen.”

“The pleasure’s mine,” I replied. “I must say, we were both so curious to meet the woman who finally managed to convince Luis to settle down.”

“It wasn’t easy,” she laughed. “But I convinced him that I was more than willing to be an army wife.”

“My next deployment will be my last, though,” Luis said. “Then it’s time for me to start a new chapter.”

“Good for you, man…and if you ever need some help getting a job when you’re back here for good, just give me a call,” Jake said, clapping him on the back.

As the group kept talking, I glanced up and noticed my mother standing in one corner looking straight at me. I excused myself and headed over to her.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, leaning in for a hug.

“My God,” she replied, patting my stomach. “You’re so big.”

“I definitely feel big,” I nodded.

“You look lovely,” she said, and I could see that she was a little emotional.

“You have a lovely apartment,” she continued, looking around.

“We moved in right after we got married,” I said. “Jake wanted a place in a good school district, and we needed a bigger space because we knew we were going to start a family soon.”

“I wanted to thank you for inviting me,” she said. “I wasn’t at your wedding, so it makes me feel good to know I was included in the baby shower.”

“No one was invited to the wedding, Mom,” I reminded her. “There was no wedding, to begin with. Jake and I eloped, and the only person with us was Noah.”

“You didn’t want a wedding?” she asked, and I knew she still didn’t understand why we had eloped.

“No,” I said. “We just wanted to be married; we felt the wedding was unnecessary. I did wear a white dress, though.”

“I saw the pictures,” she nodded. “But I’m glad you decided to have a baby shower.”

“And a gender reveals party,” I added.

“That’s exciting,” she nodded. “So when is the reveal going to take place?”

“I think the cake was just delivered a few minutes ago…so, soon,” I replied. “I think they’re just taking it out of the box and setting it up.”

Just as I finished speaking, one of the caterers we’d hired for the evening wheeled in a food trolley with the cake in its center. It was a beautiful cake in a blushed fondant with tons of different kinds of chocolate decorating its head.

“Mom,” Noah said, rushing to my side.

I placed my hand on his shoulder. He had transitioned into calling me ‘mom’ right before Jake and I had decided to elope, and ever since then, I always got a little tingle of happiness every time he addressed me.

“Ready to see if you’re going to have a brother or sister?” I asked.

“Yup!” Noah nodded, bouncing up and down.

He had grown up into a little man now. He was seven and more or less independent, which was what had initially prompted me to want to get pregnant. I missed Noah at four, and I was hoping to get as lucky the second time around.

As we walked up to the cake, Jake appeared on the other side of the cart, and all our guests fell silent as he tapped his glass to signal a toast.

“I just wanted to say to everyone here, thank you for coming,” Jake started. “And, I also wanted to thank my beautiful, kind, and selfless wife for transforming my life and for being a wonderful mother to our son. Ever since I married you, our life has been an adventure, and I can’t wait to start this next adventure with you.”

“And me!” Noah piped up.

The whole room exploded in laughter, and I felt so happy that suddenly I felt light as a feather, as though I could float away.

“A few years ago, things were really difficult for me,” Jake continued. “I was going through a hard transition, and I needed some hope, I needed a reason to persevere, and Kristen gave me that reason. So I’d like to invite everyone here to raise their glasses to my brilliant and beautiful wife Kristen Middleton.”

There was a clink of glasses as everyone toasted to me and then the crowd started cheering and clapping. The moment the noise quieted down a little, Noah grabbed my hand.

“Can we find out now?” he asked impatiently. “I want to know what we’re having.”

I smiled and nodded. “Of course,” I said, as Jake stepped in beside me and handed me a knife.

“Ready?” Jake asked.

I nodded. “I am,” I said. “But I think Noah should do the honors.”

“Really?” Noah asked, sounding thrilled.

“Go for it, buddy,” Jake said, passing the knife to Noah.

Looking a little nervous suddenly, he cut into the cake and pushed aside the split piece so that we could see the color on the inside.

“It’s pink!” Noah yelled.

The room burst into another round of applause, and I felt Jake’s arms wrap around me from the back. He kissed my cheek and neck, and I could tell that this was what he had hoped for.

“We’re having a girl,” he said joyously.

“She’s going to have the best father in the world,” I said.

Jake gave me a wink, and then he was kissing me passionately, for the entire world to see.