As I look out over the faces smiling back at us, the excitement builds in me. When Magnus reaches out to take my hand, that same electricity courses through my veins that fills me with the anticipation of everything yet to come. I know that even eighty years from now, should we both make it that long, the intensity of it won’t have faded.
Because we both complement and contradict each other. He’s the yang to my yin, the negative to my positive…the perfect match.
It’s going to be an amazing adventure.
Epilogue
“So, are you scared yet?” I ask, looking over at Magnus.
“Twice over,” he says, his eyes still focused on the two recent additions to the Reinhardt family. A boy and a girl.
“Well, take a breather while they’re both taking a breather. Danielle is a screamer. Come keep me company in this bed.”
I watch Magnus smile a bit and reach out his hand to Max, who is apparently still awake since his tiny hand comes up to wrap around one of his father’s thick fingers.
“This one is going to be the poker player in the family,” Magnus says with a grin. “He gives nothing away until you force his hand.”
“Or he might surprise you,” I hint.
Magnus turns to me with a smirk, and when Max lets go, he walks over to settle on the bed next to me.
I wrap both arms around his neck and grin. “Only a week old and you’re already planning their futures.”
“Just preparing myself.”
“Well, prepare to be surprised. After all, they are our children. What are you going to do when they start walking…talking…driving?”
Magnus groans.
I laugh and pull him in closer. “He’ll probably want to take your motorcycle out. She’ll be riding next to some boy in his convertible down those winding streets, hell, she may even be the one driving.”
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I just became a father.”
Frankly, both thoughts cause my heart to go through a few palpitations as well. “Just getting you ready for when you inevitably butt heads, I think more so with Danielle than Max.”
“She is the one that keeps us up most nights so far. I don’t see that changing as she gets older,” he says with a chuckle.
I smile. “I think we’ll handle it okay. We’ll use our parents as examples.”
“I guess I know what to do if he’s scared of sharks,” Magnus says with a wry grin.
“Or clowns,” I say with a shudder. “Though is there really a cure for that one?”
“No,” he says with a straight face. “Sharks? Spiders? Snakes? No problem. Everyone should be scared of clowns.”
I laugh and pull him in to kiss his cheek.
“I think the key is to…let them be. At least they seem to get along with each other, which is a great start.”
“That’s another area where we can teach from experience.”
“Mmm-hmm,” I hum in agreement.
Giorgio and Estelle already have two boys, the youngest only a few months other than Danielle and Max. Even though they live in Italy, they visit often, which Mona is ecstatic about, especially since there are now more little ones to spoil.
My parents have finally retired. I’m pretty sure the pregnancy convinced them they needed much more free time in their lives. A few weeks in the French Riviera several times a year is just the icing on top.
Theo found a girl who is just as quirky as he is, and they have a blast nerding out with one another.
“I think the most important thing is to enjoy these moments, especially when they’re peaceful. Pretty soon, they’ll be more verbal…and mobile, then the real trouble begins.”
“It’s a good thing sharks still swim while sleeping,” he says with a grin.
“Keep in mind, they’re the children of sharks,” I tease.
“Which means they’re already off to a good start.”
I sigh and lean my head on his shoulder, staring over at the twin bassinets. “It’ll be an adventure, that’s for sure.”
“And there’s no one I’d rather experience it with,” he says, kissing my forehead.
A cry erupts from the bassinet with pink bedding, loud and fierce. “I think that one is more of a lioness,” I say with a laugh.
A second cry comes from the other bassinet, bold and determined. “And there’s your wolf,” Magnus growls.
“Never a dull day in this zoo of ours, is there?” I say, laughing as I slide off the bed with him to see to this latest crisis.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he says with a grin as he follows me.
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading The Monte Carlo Shark. I hope you enjoyed it.
To answer some questions you probably have:
1. YES, Richard Coleman will be getting his just desserts in the next book, The Spanish Pirate, coming April 2020 (Continue to end for an excerpt).
2. Whitney’s (from Her Icelandic Protector) friend, Jasmine, is getting her book The Armenian Saint in May 2020.
The Spanish Pirate (EXERPT)
The Spanish Pirate is next in the International Legacies Romance series.
COMING APRIL 2020
Below is an excerpt from the book.
* * *
I sensed something was off long before I noticed her swimming in the water past me. I’ve always been one to trust my intuition, and, as usual, I wasn’t wrong.
But that doesn’t answer the bigger question of who the hell she is.
This hidden island cove is supposed to be my secret. It isn’t visible from the other side of these cliffs. Even the opening allowing my boat access is hidden from the casual eye wandering past in the Mediterranean. If any of the sisters at the convent on the island knew about it, they sure as hell wouldn’t bother making the trek through the opening in the cliffs to get to this little bit of paradise, the one I discovered twenty years ago.
These days, I come here long enough to deposit whatever “booty” I’ve claimed from my latest pirating
