On The Border - Marry Him Or Die

2.Epilogue

Five Years Later

Lucas’s POV

I wake up to the sound of my little munchkin Hope, sucking; or rather slurping, on her mother’s left nipple fervently while her deep blue eyes were gazing adorably at Angel.

She takes breast feeding to a whole other level. This baby is as obsessed with her mother’s nipples almost as much as I am.

At one year old, you’d think she would have started preferring real food over milk, but no. You don’t mess with her mother’s milk and keep her away from it or god help you, she will bite your head off, literally. I would know, she is my little girl after all. She has the same crazy genes all right. She keeps us on our toes all the freaking time, and she’s not even walking and talking yet.

The same thing cannot be said about Isaac, Alex and Jenny’s son. He’s almost ten months old and you can already tell the chubby little bastard has his father’s tame and wise attitude. He’s an angel compared to my girl. But he also doesn’t take shit from anybody. You mess with him, you get an angry glare that will definitely have you gulping nervously and doing whatever you can to please him. The kid has a bright future as a leader already.

My angel catches me gazing at Hope and smiles at me softly “Morning, baby”

“The best morning is waking up to this beautiful sight” I said in a raspy tone as I propped myself up and kissed her on the mouth briefly before I bent down and kissed Hope on her cheek.

She gave me a quite obvious warning to let her enjoy her milk time in peace and keep my hands or any other parts to myself until she’s done.

I raised my hands up in surrender and said innocently “Just leave some for me when you’re done. Sharing is caring you know, I have a right to those nipples too”

Angel chuckled at me and shook her head.

Hope went back to focusing on her task, going the extra mile and putting her tiny hand on her mom’s breast, staking her claim and marking her territory.

“I think she just told you to back off, very subtly” Angel said with a smirk.

“Yeah, I can see. But I don’t back down from a challenge that easily. Those nipples were mine way before she started competing with me to claim them. I was here first little munchkin, which means I get to stake my claim over yours” I said teasingly.

“Don’t worry there is enough for both of you, baby. There’s no competition. I’m all yours, both of you” she said lovingly.

Five years passed and I’m still completely in awe of my wife. I love her with an intensity that can burn the whole world. And I don’t think there will ever come a day that my love for her will ever leave my system.

After the breastmilk monster is satisfied and content; judging by her deep snoring sound, I took over her place and satisfied my own monster, plus her mother’s.

By the time we showered and wore our clothes for the morning, Hope’s nap was over.

I carried her lovingly in my arms and we all went downstairs for breakfast with the rest of my family.

“Morning everyone” I said cheerfully as I entered our dining room where everyone was already seated at the table.

Hope went frantic in my arms reaching for her nana with big, excited squeals.

“Come here baby girl” mom extended her hands lovingly for Hope.

I gave her to mom and bent down to kiss her forehead like we’re all used to do every morning.

Hope was having a blast, sitting in one of her favorite places in the world, her nana’s lap.

She gave a side eye to Isaac who was sitting in his small high chair between mom and Alex, making a mess on his face by eating a banana in his chubby little hand.

I chuckled hilariously. Teasing her cousin for sitting in her grandma’s lap while he is placed on a chair is way too advanced for her age.

“She’s already stirring trouble with him. Better teach him how to fight his battles before my girl here walks all over him, Alex” I said lightly.

“Nah, he is plenty capable of fighting for what he wants without my help, trust me” said Alex confidently.

“We’ll see” I said smugly.

I turned towards April who was sitting next to me and put my hand gently on her large belly.

“How’s my little boy doing in there? Ready to come out into the world and join us yet?” I asked softly.

“No, I think he’s pretty content in there and plans to make me struggle for air a little bit more” she said in complaint.

“Stubborn already? Man he’s a Snow all right” I teased.

We enjoyed breakfast in a light atmosphere just like we do everyday.

Our lives has improved for the better since we took down the person who disrupted our peace five years ago.

Ever since then, we’ve known pure happiness and bliss.

I’m not saying danger was no longer crossing our paths completely; given our still successful smuggling operation, but it was always contained and maintained by the effort of all our town people.

Alex was a perfect leader and successor after my father.

Snow has prospered and kept safe under his leadership even more than when my father was alive.

We couldn’t be more proud of him for being the best man to shoulder that huge and dangerous burden successfully.

Of course David, Mathew, and I were always there to make it a little easier for him, but he still deserves the full credit for this peaceful, happy ending I’m sitting through right now.

Jenny graduated last year and got her bachelor’s degree in exercise science. She was fully responsible for her prospering, successful gym down in the heart of town. It wasn’t just a gym but had lots of programs and trainings for all age groups for this town and the nearby towns as well.

Angelina graduated a year before Jenny did by being the top of her class. This girl was so talented and passionate about her work and I was so proud of her, I still am because she was able to achieve her dream in the span of two years. She now has around twelve branches; and counting, spread out around the states for her clothing company that she opened right from this town here. Her target was top, fashionable, modern clothes at an affordable price for both men and women belonging to middle and low class societies; which is where she originally came from.

She gives me a huge part in her success given that the capital was provided by me, but her talent was the main reason she succeeded in making and attracting a huge amount of loyal customers. She was able to gain profit and return back my investment from the very first six months.

My sister April graduated this year with a degree in education. She wants to become a teacher, but she still has to wait for that because she and her husband David are currently expecting their first born any day now.

They have been married for four years now, right after April finished high school.

David is crazy about my sister and I dare say she’s also crazy about him as well.

At first, some of the town people frowned upon their relationship during their engagement believing they were real, blood-related cousins; even though in modern days now that’s not even a shameful crime in itself… for some people, but we cleared up all the confusion before their marriage and explained that David was adopted by my uncle and is not in any way related by blood to April. He is still a Snow though and that will never change.

I excused myself around noon and headed up towards my room with Angel; leaving Hope with Isaac and Sara, who were playing outside together.

We were planning a surprise birthday party for my mom in five days and there was a person missing that we needed to convince to come here.

My brother Jacob has been living in Toronto for the past five years. He only comes here on special occasions. And only stays for a couple of days.

But in the last year, Jacob hasn’t visited at all. And while my mom was always happy around us, I knew; we all knew, she was missing him a lot.

We tried convincing her to fly to him and stay there for a couple of days but she refuses to leave Snow claiming that this town was her air and she can’t breathe outside it.

Jacob wasn’t being a dick or anything; maybe just a little bit, but he was a big, hot shot, businessman now. He is a CEO of a huge company in social media consulting, and he was extremely busy maintaining his business that he doesn’t have time for anything else.

He was the only one among us who’s still single and stubborn about forming a serious relationship and building a family for himself.

I think maybe he just hasn’t found the right one for him yet. Because I know from experience that no matter how much crap you have going on in your life, when she comes into your life, and your heart tells you that’s the one, there is no excuse in the world to keep you away from her.

I hold my phone, call his number, and put it on speaker so that Angel can join me in convincing him to leave his work for a couple of days and make mom’s birthday more perfect for her by coming here for a visit.

The call ends and he doesn’t pick up.

So I try again.

And again.

And one more time.

“I think he’s busy” said Angel softly.

“He can’t be too busy, not for his family” I said dryly.

I was a little annoyed at him. The distance all those years almost made him a stranger to us. He barely calls, he barely comes, he barely even joins the conversation on our WA family group.

It almost feels like he’s ashamed to consider us as his family and I was more than done with that attitude.

Maybe it’s the city life, or the educated life, or even the long distance that changed him this much, but I don’t plan on letting him stay that way. He needs to remember where he came from and what this family must mean to him like it means to us.

The fifth time I called was the charm; or so I thought. The line got picked up, but instead of my brother’s deep voice, there was a soft, feminine, hesitant one.

“Hello?”

It took me a second to form another; polite, reply instead of the insulting one that was at the tip of my tongue for Jacob.

“Uh….Hello. I want to speak with Jacob please” I said firmly.

“Mr. Snow forgot his phone in the office. He’s in a meeting at another firm. Would you like to leave a message for him?” she asked firmly.

I groaned in agitation. Who knows when he’ll even remember to call me back.

An Idea struck then.

“Who are you?” I asked curiously.

“I’m Rima, his personal assistant”

Rima? What kind of name is that? Never heard of it before. But then again, her accent seems a tiny bit foreign, like she’s not Canadian nor American.

“Well, Rima….I think you can help me with this then” I said in excitement.

“With… what? And may I know who I’m speaking with?” she asked in confusion.

I raised my eyebrow at that “What does the name on your phone say?” I asked in amusement.

“Uhh….” Followed by her clearing her throat, gave me the impression she was uncertain whether to answer me or not.

“He nicknamed me something nasty, didn’t he?” I asked tightly.

“Sir, I’m not really supposed to answer Mr. Snow’s phone but I answered it thinking there was an emergency or something because you kept calling him non stop. Seeing as there is no emergency, I think I better hang up now and I’ll make sure to tell Mr. Snow to call you back as soon as he returns” she said hurriedly.

Angel gave me a reproachful look because I must have freaked the woman out with my dry tone but I didn’t really care at the moment.

“I’m his younger brother Lucas. And it is an emergency. So unless you want me to tell him that you answered his phone and disrespected me during the call, you will do and tell me exactly what I ask of you” I said strictly.

“E…Excuse me? I… I didn’t disrespect you Mr. Snow…. I just…” she pretty much sounded like a deer caught in the headlights and I barely contained my chuckle from escaping my lips.

“Your boss is Mr. Snow. You can call me Lucas. Listen, I’m planning a birthday party for our mother and I need to make sure your annoying boss can make it. You must be responsible for his schedule. I need you not to book anything four days from now so he could come here. No matter how important it is, just clear his schedule and do not take any meetings or whatever it is that always keeps him busy” I ordered firmly.

“I…. I can’t do that! Mr. Snow is the only one who can ask this of me. I’m sorry but I think you need to speak with him first before….” She starts to stammer nervously.

Sheesh, he’s got this poor assistant on a tight leash!

“Ok, I’ll make sure to do that then. But then…. I’ll have to tell him how you were totally hitting on his married brother and asking me all sorts of personal questions about Jacob say like how big he is down there” I said huskily.

Angelina smacked me so hard on my arm, I’m pretty sure I’ll have a nasty bruise on it.

She was glaring at me and shaking her head but I ignored her and winked playfully.

I heard a horrified gasp coming from the other line followed by a tight angry tone “Sir! You’re crossing your line with me by forcing me to do something I could get fired for and threatening me if I refuse to do it! Whatever problem or issue you have with your brother, please leave me out of it!”

So scared assistant does have claws when someone pisses her off. I wonder how much self control it takes her to withstand my brother’s strict as fuck attitude.

“How long have you been his assistant Rima?” I ask curiously.

“About a month now” she says tightly with a loud sigh. I’m pretty sure she’s this close to hanging up in my face.

“Well, from what I heard, Jacob barely lets an assistant stay for more than three months before firing her for some reason. So here is my advice in case you want to last longer than everyone else: don’t let him boss you around all the time and show him a glimpse of this sassy attitude you just showed me whenever he’s being a dick to you” I said smugly.

“I think you’re advising me on how to get fired right away” she scoffed.

“So he is being a dick to you” I said humorously.

“You won’t trap me into saying anything bad about him if that’s your aim” she fired back smartly.

This time I let my chuckle pass through.

“I’m starting to like you Rima…and I mean that in a totally non flirting kind of way” I said gently as I looked at Angelina to make sure she got my true meaning; which she totally did.

“Well, I’m glad. You won’t try to get me fired for real, will you?” she asked carefully.

“On one condition” I said playfully.

She groaned “I told you I can’t make any adjustments to Mr…”

“Yeah, I got that don’t worry I’ll make adjustments on his schedule myself. I just need to know one thing from you and I promise he’ll never know you spoke with me at all” I said gently.

“What is it?” she asked warily.

“What time does he get home tomorrow night? I’m planning a visit and I’d like for him to be there when I arrive”

“You’re…. Coming here? Wait, you want to surprise him with a visit in order to get him to surprise your mother with a visit of his own?”

“Something like that” I chuckled.

“I don’t know…. If he finds out I knew about you coming and didn’t tell….”

“He won’t, don’t worry just keep my missed calls on his phone and delete this call from his log. I’ll totally act like I have no clue who you are. Trust me, he’ll never know” I said confidently.

“I’m so going to regret this” she muttered to herself before she sighed and said more clearly “Fine, he finishes at six in the evening tomorrow. He doesn’t have anything scheduled after that”

“Great, thanks Rima. See you tomorrow” I said teasingly.

“Can’t wait” she muttered half heartedly.

“Oh another thing…. What does Jacob call me on his phone?” I asked curiously.

“No, I won’t tell you, you’ll have to ask him that when you see him”

“Hmmm, ok then. But I think I might accidentally tell him about…” I start to say sneakily.

“Annoying POS, that’s your name in his phone. Can’t really blame him for it now that I’ve spoken with you!” she said bluntly.

I burst out laughing and say heartily “It was nice talking to you, Rima, really. Like I said, I’ll see you soon. Don’t worry your secret’s safe with me” then hung up before she had a chance to reply.

Angel shook her head “Pretty sure she’s cursing at you right now”

“Well, it’s me baby. You love me for exactly who I am and I cannot be anything else but me”

She circles her arms around me and gets closer as she says lovingly “Don’t be anything else. I love you just the way you are, Perfect just for me”

“Fancy a short trip to Canada tomorrow? We’ll leave Hope with aunt Jenny and uncle Alex and say we need some alone time like we usually do every now and then. Bring Jacob back and make mom thrilled and more happy on her birthday. What do you think?”

“I’m in” she says before she kisses me softly on the lips.

“And I’m in right now for another round of satisfaction. I wasn’t fully satisfied this morning. I need another feeding Angel, I’m hungry again” I said seductively.

She bit her lip and said sexily “All yours baby”

The End