I nodded, and hugged my girls again. “Come on, babies. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Halle whined, but I kissed her hair. “You’re safe now.” I looked to Jenna. “When is the last time you’ve eaten? Or slept?”
Her eyebrows pulled in. “It’s been a while.”
I pulled her into my chest. “Okay. Okay, that’s all over, now. Nathan?”
“I’m on it,” he said, going straight into the kitchen.
I helped the girls wash, and brushed their hair. It was so surreal, doing something so mundane while listening to their terrifying journey. I sat with them at the table and watched them shovel food into their mouths, and once their bellies were full, I walked them into Bryce and Miranda’s bedroom, and tucked them in.
In the other room, I could hear Nathan humming to Zoe and Elleny.
Halle gripped her fingers around my wrist, tight. “Don’t leave, Mommy.”
I shook my head, brought her hand to my mouth, and gave it a kiss. “We’ll never be apart again.”
“You promise?”
“I promise. You are so brave,” I said, kissing Halle’s forehead, and then looking into Jenna’s eyes and touching her cheek. “So brave.”
The girls settled in, and within ten minutes they were both in a deep sleep. Nathan came in and watched them for a moment with a smile. “They’re beautiful.”
“Thank you,” I said, sucking in a sharp breath to hold back the sob in my throat.
“You’re sleeping in here?” he asked.
I nodded. “In the chair. So I can be here when they wake up. They’ll probably forget where they are.”
Nathan kneeled down beside me and kissed the tender skin just below my ear.
I leaned into him. “Where is Ashley?”
“Skeeter is with her. She’s feeling pretty alone.”
“I imagine.” I sighed.
“They’ve both lost the loves of their lives. They have that one awful thing in common, and they can help each other get through it.”
We hugged for a while, watching my babies sleep. Jenna jerked a few times, unable to escape the struggle to survive, even in her sleep. I hoped that as time passed, she could rest easy again—that we all could.
“I can’t stop staring at them,” I whispered. “A part of me is afraid that if I look away or fall asleep that they’ll disappear.”
“Trust me, they’re here. They’re safe, and we’ll keep them that way.”
I looked to him, touched his face, and pressed my lips against his. “I didn’t really understand when you said the end of the world was the best thing to have happened to you, and how it was so close to perfect. But now that everyone in our family is here . . . and safe . . . I get it.”
“Our family, huh?” he smiled.
“They’re finally here,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief. I smirked when a random thought popped into my head. “Four girls. You’re outnumbered.”
“I think I can handle it.”
I laughed once. “I love you.”
His eyebrows pulled in, and he smiled like those words made him so happy that it hurt. “Now it’s perfect.”
Epilogue
Scarlet
Jenna was focused, ignoring the sweat dripping into her big brown eyes. She rested the butt of the rifle against her shoulder. It was her fifteenth birthday, and Skeeter would call her at any moment to walk with him into the field. For whatever reason, he’d decided that on everyone’s birthday, he would challenge them to a shoot-off. The winner would get a can of peaches, a delicacy we saved for special occasions. Somehow, even though Skeeter could beat any one of us on his birthday, he always seemed to lose by a hair on everybody else’s.
“I’m going to beat him for real this year, Mom.”
“Oh, yeah?” I said, glancing around the perimeter. It was my turn on watch, even though it had been over a year since the outbreak and the few teds that stumbled by were so far decayed that we didn’t need to make much effort to put them down. Shoving them to the ground and stomping their heads usually did the trick. The act was a lot like crushing an empty soda can; their insides were mush. Even Elleny had put a few down that way.
We still took turns, though, on top of the roof of the farmhouse. A surprise attack was still dangerous, especially on a day like today when everyone would be running around, celebrating, forgetting to be careful.
I glanced down at the crosses under the oak tree. The soil on the graves now had grass growing from the settled mounds.
Ashley stepped off the porch and looked up at Jenna and me, holding her hand over her eyes to shield them from the glare. “Are you coming or what?” she said, smiling.
Jenna managed a half-smile. “Just getting my sights lined out.”
“You’re going to surprise him,” I said, nudging her arm.
“I’m going to surprise everyone.”
With that, Jenna crawled to the ladder carefully and climbed down to the porch. She caught up with Elleny, and they interlocked arms. Over the last year, they had bonded and become best friends, both bearing a truth no child their age should carry. Elleny, with the nightmares she endured from Kevin, and Jenna, with the guilt of leaving her father to die. Except for that first night, she didn’t sleep through the night for months, tortured by the last moments she’d spent with her father. Elleny understood her pain in a way no one could, and they’d become inseparable.
“Mommy!” Halle called, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “You comin’ down?”
“No, ma’am. I’m on watch.”
“Aw,” she whined, kicking at the dirt.
Nathan stepped off the porch carrying Zoe in one arm, and scooped up Halle with the other. He kissed Halle’s cheek. “I’ll walk you, baby doll.” Nathan glanced up at me and winked, and then followed Elleny and Jenna to the open field.
I glanced around the perimeter, checking hard to see places through my scope, and then turned to watch my happy family marching to the place Skeeter had set up for the challenge.
Ashley had stayed behind, standing over the graves of her father, her sister, and Cooper. She stared at the crosses she had painstakingly made for them fondly, mouthing words I couldn’t hear. Finally, the front door slammed and Skeeter appeared. He walked up behind Ashley and put his arm tenderly around her waist. They stood there for a moment, with Ashley leaning back against his chest. Skeeter leaned forward to kiss her cheek and then took her hand, leading her away.