Authors: Adrianne Byrd
Epilogue
Three years later...
D
estiny and Miles returned to Violet’s house late in the evening exhausted. So much so, in fact, they collapsed on the sofa instead of journeying upstairs to the guest room.
“What a day,” Destiny said, kicking off her high heels and enjoying the instant relief to her feet.
“Tell me about it.” Miles yawned and draped an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer.
Violet stuck her head around the corner to peek into the living room. “I thought I heard you two in here.” She smiled and entered the room carrying a large box. “How was the wedding?”
“Wonderful...considering.” An instant memory of the day’s drama popped into Destiny’s mind.
Miles chuckled. “At least it wasn’t us running around like chickens with their heads cut off.”
“Yeah. It was sort of a sweet revenge to see Lu Jin and Wes go through the motions this time. Wasn’t it, hon?”
Miles gave her a quick kiss. “Definitely.”
“So everything went without a hitch?”
Destiny and Miles looked at each other and laughed.
“We didn’t say that,” Miles said. “Theo, of course, was one of the groomsmen, but he had gotten drunk the night before and was still suffering a severe hangover. We didn’t think he was going to make it down the aisle.”
Destiny jumped in. “Lu Jin had a bad case of wedding jitters. For a moment there I really thought she was going to leave Wes standing at the altar.”
Miles glanced over at her in mild shock. “Wes nearly did the same thing.”
They laughed again.
Violet shook her head as she headed toward the vacant love seat beside the sofa. “Sounds like I missed quite a wedding.” She sat down and placed the box on the coffee table.
“The minister was an hour late. The ring bearer tripped and the rings rolled under the pews—that took another thirty minutes to find both rings. And all the while, I had to try and convince Lu Jin that none of this was a sign of their marriage being doomed.”
Violet laughed and withdrew a tissue from the table to blow her nose.
Miles frowned. “Your cold hasn’t gotten any better?”
Violet blotted her nose. “Actually, I’m starting to feel much better.”
“I hope little Miles wasn’t too much trouble for you,” Destiny said, worrying.
Violet waved off her concern. “Don’t be ridiculous. My grandson is always the perfect angel.”
The exaggeration made Destiny and Miles laugh again.
“But while he took a nap today, I did do something that I’ve been meaning to do for years.” She clapped her hands and beamed a smile at them.
“And what’s that?” Miles asked.
Destiny laid her head against her husband’s chest and slid her arms around his waist while she watched Violet bubble with excitement.
“I cleaned the attic.”
Destiny looked up at her husband, struggling not to laugh.
“Well,” Miles said with a smile hugging his lips, “sounds like you really know how to let your hair down.”
Violet leaned over and popped him on the knee. “Don’t patronize me.”
Miles continued to smile.
“Like I was saying—I was up in the attic and reminiscing about a lot of stuff that’s up there when I came across this box.” She pointed to the one on the table. “It has a lot of personal stuff about Richard—things I’ve never seen before.”
Destiny sat up.
Miles leaned forward to bend back as flap of the box to look inside.
“It also has a lot of his Army stuff,” she added.
Destiny looked at Miles. “I didn’t know your father was in the military.”
Miles nodded. “He fought in Vietnam.” He shrugged. “Once, he thought if he was going to die young he might as well die fighting for his country.”
Destiny shifted, uncomfortable with the conversation drifting toward “the family curse.”
“Actually, I don’t think this box belonged to your father. I believe it was your grandmother’s stuff. I seem to recall when she passed away your father put some of her things in the attic.” Violet reached inside the box. “There are a lot of baby pictures and letters written by her. And there are these.” She pulled out a small stack of papers.
“What are those?” Destiny asked.
“Adoption papers.”
Destiny was confused. “Adoption papers?”
Violet nodded and handed them to Miles before reaching for something else. “And there’s this, too.”
Destiny took the weathered piece of paper and looked at it. “It’s a birth certificate for a Richard Kendall.” She looked up at Violet. “I don’t understand.”
“At first neither did I, but then I started putting things together. I mean about the Stafford curse.”
Destiny’s apprehension increased. “I thought you said that you didn’t believe in the curse.”
“I don’t.” Violet stiffened, but failed to maintain eye contact. “But things sometimes float in the back of your mind.”
“You mean like the question of what if you’re wrong and there really is a curse?” Destiny asked, knowing exactly what her mother-in-law meant.
Violet’s smile wavered at the corners. “I’m sure you two have dealt with the same questions.”
“Only all of my life,” Miles answered, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“But don’t you see? This settles it for once and for all.” Violet inched closer to the edge of her seat. “If these papers are legitimate, and I don’t see any reason why they’re not, then you’re not susceptible to the Stafford curse because you’re not a true Stafford—neither was your father. And according to that birth certificate, Richard was actually older than he thought.”
Miles blinked, and then stared back down at the papers he held.
Destiny’s heart bloomed with hope.
“But Dad died,” Miles tried to vocalize his jumbled thoughts.
Violet’s expression softened. “We’re all going to die, sweetheart. But Richard’s death had nothing to do with a curse. It was an accident—nothing more, nothing less.”
Destiny and Miles digested this information and looked at each other. The revelation remained on their minds well after they’d checked on Miles Junior and retired for the night.
“So what do you think?” Destiny asked, easing comfortably into the crook of his arm.
“It’s a lot to take in,” he admitted honestly. “I wonder why my grandmother never told my father that he was adopted or if she had why he had never told us.”
Destiny nodded and watched her husband’s frown deepen. She reached up and kissed him gently.
Miles savored her lips and when she broke away, he smiled down at her. “What was that for?”
“Do I have to have a reason?”
He turned and pulled her pliant body toward him. “Then I guess I don’t have to have a reason to do some things to you, either.”
She giggled and pulled away. “You better not. Your mother is in the next room. We can wait until we return to our own bed tomorrow night.”
He chuckled and nibbled on her ear. “I’m sure she’s fast asleep.”
Destiny’s body melted at the feel of his warm breath against the nape of her neck. All thoughts of a curse vanished. And on their tenth, twentieth and thirtieth wedding anniversaries the curse was nothing more than a comical memory.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459241336
Copyright © 2003 by Adrianne Byrd
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