Chapter 415: Epilogue

"You must stay off Eloise. I am worried about her," Quinn said, watching as Damien carried his niece in his arms. "Let me hold Emma."

"No," Damien flatly denied the request, tightening his hold on Emma ever so slightly.

"You have four other children whom you can entertain. Just allow me to have the youngest," Quinn said, holding out his arms hopefully.

"You have four other children that you can play with. Not this one," Damien replied, keeping his daughter securely in his arms. "She is quiet. Go see what the others are up to. Ensure they don’t trouble their mother."

"I don’t want to play with the others. I want to play with Emma and her messy hair. Did she just wake up?" Quinn asked, reaching to smooth down Emma’s hair.

"Yes. I’m going to hold her a little longer before going to wake Eloise," said Damien, glancing at his daughter.

"Were you and Eloise in a contest to see if you could have more children than our parents? Ten years ago, I didn’t think I would have so many little children running around the estate. Then Jane’s child is not here," Quinn said, looking around at the home that had grown far livelier than he could ever have imagined.

"Though she is now a married woman, I cannot fathom that Jane now has a child. Sometimes I want to go take her from her home and bring her back here, but she isn’t a little girl anymore. Just our little sister," Quinn said, forced to accept the bittersweet reality.

"A little sister who had the courage to court, fall in love, and have her family before her two older brothers did. Are you not ashamed?" Damien enquired as he walked away to find his other children.

"Would you have me go make a child with just any lady when I have not found love? And to defend Kyle, he says that he is married to his business. I will settle down someday," Quinn assured Damien.

Though even he wondered when that mysterious woman would finally arrive.

"I continue to have my doubts. For a moment, I thought there was a spark between you and Rosalie," Damien confessed.

Quinn laughed at the absurd assumption. "You misunderstood us. Rosalie and I were helping each other back then. She found her love, and I didn’t. We were never anything more. I am starting to think my love is outside this town."

"Hmm," Damien responded as he adjusted Emma in his arms.

"What are you and Eloise planning to do for Emma’s first birthday?" Quinn enquired, changing the topic from his love life. "You have three more months left to plan."

"We’re heading to the countryside to meet with Viola-"

"Splendid! I will join you both to see if the love of my life is there waiting for me," Quinn decided.

"You had ten years to travel to the countryside. Do not spoil celebrations for my daughter all because you couldn’t find a woman here. If she were not in my arms, I would send you out of the estate," Damien said, narrowing his eyes at his brother.

"I am fortunate that she is in your arms, and she is looking at me. I am certain that I am her favourite uncle. I also pride myself on being the favourite of Zayne’s three children. Now, let me have her," Quinn said, offering his arms again. "I hear the others coming."

Damien looked around, trying to pinpoint the direction from which his children were coming.

"Father!"

The call of his oldest alerted him to their whereabouts.

"Ethan," Damien said, his gaze settling upon his oldest son. "You must keep an eye on your siblings."

Ethan, the nine-year-old, turned around to see how close his siblings were behind him. He ran behind his sisters to get to his two-year-old brother, Derek, who was being held by Hannah.

"Emma!" Avery, the oldest daughter, called to her young sister.

Not far behind her was Luna, the five-year-old daughter.

"Is Mother awake?" Avery enquired, her hands clinging to Damien’s shirt.

"Not yet. You must let her rest a little bit more," Damien replied.

"She’s not pregnant again, is she?" Quinn asked and earned himself a glare from Damien.

"No. Emma shall be our last," Damien responded.

"I am almost certain that is what you said about Derek, then you had Emma. While it is lovely that, after being married for over ten years, you two still love each other very dearly, you must give it a rest," Quinn suggested.

"You’ve overstayed your welcome. Children, tell your foolish uncle goodbye," Damien said, reaching for Luna’s hand to take her away.

"Goodbye, Uncle," the children called back.

Quinn sighed dramatically. "I’m not ready to leave, but I’ll give you some time alone. You’ll want my help eventually when they don’t leave you alone."

"Lord Hawthorne," Hannah greeted, with Derek in her arms.

"Can I hold him? I will be careful," Ethan promised, eagerly reaching towards his little brother.

"Give him to Ethan," Damien instructed Hannah. "Take a break. Running around with the children couldn’t have been easy."

Hannah smiled, as she did enjoy running around. "Thank you, Lord Hawthorne."

"Mother!"

The children ran from Damien’s side to get to Eloise.

"I was searching for all of you. What are you all doing gathering here?" Eloise asked, greeting the children as they came to hug her. "Where is Quinn going?"

"To place himself where he wouldn’t be a nuisance to me," Damien answered.

Damien approached Eloise for a kiss, and as he did so, Emma leaned forward to go to Eloise’s arms. "I spend equal time with them, yet they rush to you as though they haven’t seen you all morning."

"You mustn’t get jealous. There are days when they run to you with great excitement after being with me, and I don’t think anything of it. I might have run around with them too much this morning. I must remind myself that I am not so young," Eloise said, regretting her earlier choices.

"You look just like the day I saw you at the ball," Damien said, leaning forward to kiss Eloise’s cheek to cheer her up.

A few of the children groaned as they did not enjoy the sight.

"Mother! There’s a pretty bird in the garden," Avery said excitedly.

"It’s small and moves quite fast," said Luna.

"Is there? Then we must all hurry to see it before it leaves. We need to be quiet, so we don’t scare it off," Eloise said, immediately sharing in their excitement.

Luna raised her arms to Damien to be carried, and without hesitation, she was hoisted into his arms.

Avery happily led the way back to the garden and kept turning around to make sure that her parents were near.

The group walked together with the children sharing what they found.

The warm afternoon air greeted them as they stepped into the garden.

Avery immediately lifted one finger to her lips, reminding everyone to remain quiet as she searched eagerly for the little bird. "There!" she whispered, pointing towards a nearby branch.

Damien remained beside Eloise with Luna resting comfortably in his arms while Emma clung to her mother. He looked at the children gathered before them and then at his wife, feeling something warm and almost overwhelming settle inside his chest.

Ten years ago, he could never have imagined this.

The noise. The mess. The constant little footsteps running through the estate. Children calling for him from every direction.

Yet Damien would not have exchanged any of it for the quiet life he had once known.

Eloise glanced at him and caught him staring. "What?" she whispered.

"Nothing," Damien replied, but his eyes betrayed him.

Eloise smiled knowingly.

For all the unexpected turns their lives had taken, all the hardships they had endured and all the years that had passed since that first ball, somehow they had arrived here.

Together.