Page 63 of Decker

Epilogue Two

As he watchedhis youngest daughter dance with her new husband it was hard to understand where the time had gone. A life filled with the beauty his gorgeous Savannah had brought to his life. His eyes moved from Isla and the man he knew would take care of her as if she were the most precious person on the planet, to his own wife of twenty-five years.

Savannah, as she always did, sensed his eyes on her and lifted her head from where she was talking to Willow and Astrid, a smile creasing her lips. The mother of the groom followed her eye line and landed on the man who was standing next to him. The look of love in her eyes was as bright today as the day he’d watched them wed.

“Can you believe we’re here, at our kids’ wedding?”

Decker sipped the brandy from the crystal tumbler before he glanced at Jack. “Nope. Not sure when it happened but we grew up.”

Jack snorted. “That we did, Deck, that we did.”

Alex, Liam, Lopez, Mitch, Waggs, Blake, Reid, and Gunner joined them, all of them watching on as the happy couple gazed into each other’s eyes. Deck could see the love Ethan had for Isla. He adored her as much as he himself did, and he knew there was nothing that young man wouldn’t do to make his new wife happy. He’d given them a hard time at first before he realised nobody would ever be good enough for his baby girl. Ethan was a good man, and in all honesty, he couldn’t have chosen a better man for her.

“He’ll look after her, you know. He’s loved her since the day they met.”

Jack was a good man, and an even better friend and Decker didn’t know where he’d be if he hadn’t met him and changed the course of his life.

Slowly the women they loved drifted toward them. He took Savannah in his arms and kissed her as her familiar body, that he loved every bit as much today as he did the day he married her, pressed against him.

“They look beautiful, together, don’t they?” Not for the first time today, he dabbed a tear from her eye.

“Not as beautiful as you.”

She smiled, her cheeks going pink even after all these years together and batted his chest. “Behave.”

“What? It’s true. You’re the most stunning woman in the room.”

“I love you, Mark Decker.”

“I love you too, Savannah Decker.”

“A toast.”

Liam began handing out glasses from a tray he’d grabbed from a passing waiter. All of their children were scattered about the room celebrating their friends’ wedding.

Clara and Xiomara, Alex and Evelyn’s daughters were talking with Liberty and Lana, who were Reid and Liam’s daughters respectively. Alex’s son, Luis was chatting up a woman in the corner, his model good looks like catnip to women.

Maggie was dancing with Rafe, Reid’s oldest son while his younger son, Cruz, was talking with Blake’s daughters, Ariella and Matilda. Liza, his oldest was laughing with the other two bridesmaids, Ember and Evangeline, Jack’s two daughters and the women, along with Astrid, who’d softened the hardened leader of Eidolon.

That left the rest of the Eidolon kids, his boy Seb, Lopez’s kids, Payton and Xavier, Waggs sons, AJ and Flynn, Mitch’s son, Devon, and daughter, Bailee, Liam’s oldest daughter, Nuha and Gunner’s two girls, Wren and Harmoni, at the huge round table in the corner, laughing and drinking.

He grinned at Savannah and winked as her free hand curled into his. “What are we toasting now?”

“To friends that are family.”

The group toasted and raised their glasses.

“To our children, and the future they hold in their hands.” Jack raised his glass and again they toasted.

“To the next Eidolon wedding.” Astrid laughed she looked towards Ember, who was being pulled onto the now full dance floor by their friend Zin Maklavoi’s son, Maddox.

“Oh hell, no.” Jack thrust his glass at Alex as he went to break up the smitten pair but was stopped by his wife.

“Jack Granger, don’t you dare.”

“But, firefly, he has a reputation.”

“Ember can handle him.”

“But…”

Deck was trying not to laugh as his friend struggled to convince his wife that Ember should be locked in a tower. “Not so funny now it’s your daughter is it, Jack?”

Jack glared at him, and he laughed harder.

“You going to dance with me, handsome?”

He glanced at his wife who was the light of his life, his second chance and one he thanked God for every day. He’d been through hell and she and his family were his reward. “I sure am, doc.”

She smiled as he led her onto the dance floor that was filled with his friends, his family, their children, and knew he had a lot to be thankful for and a lot to look forward to. The reins of Eidolon had been handed to Ethan. The next generation was solid and strong and full of men and women who had what it took to get the job done. Now and he and his friends were enjoying retirement, although no one ever fully retired from this type of job, and he looked forward to the next instalment of his bountiful life.