Exposed (Let Me Love You #3)

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

RAFE’S HOMECOMING

JASMINE

R afe stares out the window, internally processing this new chapter of his life while we drive home from the foster care center. My maternal instincts turned on full force when I saw Rafe. My momma heart wants to protect him, care for him, and let him know how loveable and smart he is. I hope he opens up to us.

When we walk into our house, Rafe’s silence speaks volumes as his jaw drops and he looks around.

I remember the sense of awe I experienced the first time I walked into Matt’s home in Miami. It was worlds nicer than anything I’d ever been inside, with a clean, fresh smell.

Now, Rafe can live in a safe, clean environment. Our home outside of Aurora isn’t a mansion by any stretch, but it’s perfect for us. We had it painted white with red shutters and a red door, and the four bedrooms will be perfect for Matt, me, and our three kiddos. Inside, the decor is light and airy.

Shani trots over to greet us, and Rafe takes a step back when he sees her coming.

“Ever had a dog before, Rafe? This is Shani, and she’s super sweet,” Matt kneels down to scratch Shani’s ears and show Rafe how docile she is.

“Never had a dog,” Rafe shakes his head. “She’s only got three legs.”

“Yep. She doesn’t let that stop her,” Matt grins.

“Put your hand out, if you want. She’ll sniff you, then lick your fingers,” I suggest.

Instead, Rafe puts his hands in his pockets.

“Maybe later, huh?” Matt asks, looking up hopefully at Rafe.

I set Simon down so he can pet Shani, then head straight to the kitchen to get Rafe a frozen bag of peas for his eye.

When I come back, Simon is showing Rafe his panda bear plushie, one of his favorite toys.

Rafe gives Simon a thumbs up and murmurs, “Cool bear.”

“Here’s a bag of frozen peas for your eye.” I hold out the bag for him.

“What?” He responds.

“Your eye. Doesn’t it hurt? I can get you a Motrin to help with the swelling and pain. And the frozen peas will help, too.”

Rafe nods and cautiously takes the bag from me. He winces at first, then an audible sigh escapes him as the cold temperature soothes his eye. He obviously hasn’t ever been cared for. That changes today, because I want to care for this sweet boy.

“We can show you your room, then we usually make dinner together. Want to help us?” Matt asks.

“You want me in your kitchen?” Rafe asks, squinting at us with his good eye.

“Of course. And it’s your kitchen, too,” I tell him.

“I can go to my room,” Rafe mumbles.

“You can if you want, but it’d be cool if you chill with us,” Matt shares.

I take a deep breath again, ready to be honest with him. His experience could’ve been similar to mine. “Growing up, I never felt like anything was mine. My parents, then my mom and her boyfriend, said everything was theirs. We’re not like that. This is your home, Rafe. Everything that’s ours is yours.”

Rafe looks around the big living area and open kitchen design, then his eyes find us again. He’s wary, and he simply nods in response.

With time, we’ll prove to him that we’re different from the other foster parents and even his own parents.

Matt

Rafe’s been with us for a little over a month now, and he’s slowly coming out of his shell.

After knowing Rafe’s past, we removed the locks to his bedroom door before we even brought him home. We want him to feel safe, and Pepper suggested he’d want to know his room wouldn’t lock. She was right. When we got home and showed him his room, the first thing he looked at was the doorknob.

“There’s no lock. If you ever want a lock, let us know. We can add it, but we want you to know you’re free to come and go in the house wherever and whenever you want,” I explained.

Rafe looks at us in surprise.

“I don’t have to stay in my room?” He asks.

No eight-year-old should wonder these things, and I’m sad it was part of Jasmine’s history as well.

“Nope. We’ve got a playroom with toys for you and Simon. You can play in here if you want, but we’d love to have you hang around with us,” Jasmine smiles. “Simon and I will be home with you during the day when Matt is at work.”

Besides that, Rafe was shocked we didn’t ask him to eat in his room, and if his parents weren’t already going to be on trial for child abuse, I’d be paying them a visit to teach them a lesson. No child should have to deal with that shit, and I’m beyond grateful he’s in our care now.

At first anytime we ate, Rafe would ask for more. He’d try to inconspicuously tuck it in napkins to hide away. He hasn’t opened up about why, but we’re guessing his parents starved him or withheld food from him. He’s thin for his age, but he’ll be well-fed with us.

Jasmine didn’t want the meat he was hoarding to go bad, so she turned it into a game. Noah and Hope own a restaurant as one of their investment properties, and they gave us a huge stack of takeout containers. Jasmine fills one for him every meal.

“Let’s keep your snacks in here, okay, Rafe?” She showed him the full takeout container the first time she fixed it. “I want your meat to stay good in the fridge, but we won’t eat it. It’s all yours.”

Rafe is quiet. It’s going to take time for him to open up, just like it did with Jasmine. We’re willing to wait, because we want Rafe to know he’s worthy of love and protection.

He’swarmed up to Shani. Shani seems to know he needs a friend. She’s forever going over to his side and nudging his hands with her nose so he’ll pet her. He usually kneels down and lets her lick his chin. It’s cute to see them bond.

“Want to play outside after dinner?” I ask Rafe.

Rafe looks up, still chewing. He’s only eight, but the wary look in his eyes and his guarded posture make him seem much older.

“Sure,” comes his one-word answer.

Jasmine follows behind Simon as he toddles around. Jasmin’s belly is rounding out more, and I love seeing my baby grow inside her. Makes me extra possessive over her. We loved what Noah and Hope did with letting their baby girl be a surprise at birth. We’re doing the same thing and still calling our baby Peanut until he or she is born.

After we play outside for a while, we go in and get ready for bed. Jasmine and I take turns putting Simon and Rafe to bed. Rafe doesn’t take much work. He huddles himself under his covers and stares at the wall until he falls asleep.

Nightmares plague him at least twice a week. He wakes up drenched in sweat and crying out for his sister. We take turns comforting him. He doesn’t come into our room, and he always apologizes when we go to him. I can’t imagine the visions that play out in his head, but I wish I could erase them. He’s going to play therapy, and the counselor says he’s making progress with talking about his feelings.

Jasmine puts Simon to sleep, then her and I cuddle in bed.

“What do you think Peanut will look like?” Jasmine asks me, same as she’s done ever since she found out she’s pregnant.

“I hope Peanut is like you,” I whisper back, the same answer I always give. Whether it’s a boy or girl, I’d love a kid with her big brown eyes and tenacious attitude.

Jasmine grabs the maternity pillow we bought to support her back, and we fall asleep.

A cracking sound along with Shani barking wakes me up. I instantly sit up, wondering what made the noise. My worst fears are realized when my ears register smoke alarms going off. And fuck, it’s hot.

Fire .

“Jasmine, wake up.” I shake her shoulder, and she groggily opens her eyes.

“What?” She whispers, then sniffs the air.

“The house is on fire. Get out. Now,” I shout over the sound of the alarms.

“Matt.” Fear and tears swim in her eyes, and I squeeze her shoulders.

Shani jumps around, barking her head off.

Jasmine swipes her cell phone off the dresser and calls 9-1-1. Noah, Hope, and their baby girl Zuri are out of town visiting Hope’s parents. Our nearest neighbors may not see the fire until the whole house is engulfed in flames, so we have no one to help us.

I quickly hop out of bed and grab Simon out of his toddler bed that’s still in our room.

Yes, I’ve been harping on Jasmine that we need to get him in his own bedroom before the baby comes. Also yes, I’m immensely thankful now that she’s said no every time I tell her it’s time.

“You’ve got this, Jasmine. We’ll be fine. You, Simon and Peanut get out of here. I’ll get Rafe and meet you outside.”

She nods and takes our sleepy Simon from my arms as he rubs his eyes and wakes up.

“Momma?” He asks, covering his ears from the alarms.

“It’s okay, baby. We need to go outside. We’re going through the window? Won’t that be cool?” Even with tears streaming down her face, Jasmine shifts into mommy mode, making sure Simon doesn’t feel afraid.

All of the bedrooms are on the second floor. Simon flaps his hands and starts to cry from the loud noise as I pull the emergency escape ladder out from under the bed.

I hurriedly open the window and latch the ladder onto the windowsill. I give it a hard tug to test it, then cup Jasmine’s face.

I give her a quick kiss, memorizing her face in case I never see her again. I pray to God that isn’t the case. I have to make it out of here with Rafe.

“I love you,” she says, tears falling down her beautiful face.

“See you soon, princess.”

Fuck, I hope I do. The thought of never seeing her again has my stomach twisted in knots and my chest physically hurting.

“It’s okay, Simon. The noise will stop once we’re outside.” Jasmine creates a quick makeshift carrier, putting Simon in a pillow case, then uses a sheet to wrap him around her.

“I don’t want to drop him. Seems safer to have him tied around me,” Jasmine shouts above the blaring fire alarms as she secures Simon to her body. “Hold onto me, Simon. Don’t let go, and Momma won’t let go of you.”

“Momma,” Simon cries. She wraps his tiny arms around her, then secures one arm around him before she swings her leg over the windowsill.

She’s crying as I give her one more glance and smile at her.

“Yours forever,” I call to her.

“I love you,” she mouths. She probably speaks, but I can’t hear her over the wailing of the smoke alarms.

Shani is losing her mind barking. She jumps back and forth from me to the window where Jasmine is fleeing.

“Yeah, girl. They’re getting out of here. Help me find Rafe, and we’ll get out of here.”

I put a hand on the doorknob, but hiss and pull back when the metal burns my hand. Wrapping a blanket around my hand, I hurriedly jerk open the door.

Shani whimpers and backs up as a rush of heat blows towards me. The sight before me is horrendous. Bright flames lick up the walls and arch over the ceiling.

Our home.

I’m down on my knees and crawling in a second. How in the hell did this spread so fast?

“Shani, follow me,” I shout at her.

“Rafe!” I scream, then try to breathe into the sheet I brought as I make my way toward his room.

Shani is still whining in my bedroom.

“Now, girl. We have to find Rafe,” I command, and she reluctantly follows.

The staircase is on fire, and a hallway separates the master bedroom from the other bedrooms.

“Matt!” Rafe’s panicked voice rings out down the hall.

“Rafe!” I call.

Just then, a boom sounds from downstairs, and huge, vicious flames engulf the stairs. The temperature of the carpet beneath me is burning my knees and hands.

“Go to your window!” I scream, then scramble as fast as I can to him.

Once inside his bedroom with Shani on my heels, I slam the door and stuff the sheet in the crack where the door meets the floor.

“You came for me,” Rafe says with tears in his eyes.

Fuck . He thought we would leave him alone in a burning house?

“You bet I did. We’re getting out of here together.”

He’s got his window opened as we taught him in case of a fire, and the fresh air is a welcome reprieve to my burning lungs.

“I tried to put the escape ladder on like you told me, but it slipped out of my hands. I’m sorry,” Rafe hunches his shoulders and lowers his head, braced for my anger.

Being in an actual fire is as stressful as all get out, and he’s only eight.

“Don’t worry about it, bud. I’ll get you out of here.” I eye the ladder where it’s fallen to the grass below.

“Matt!” Jasmine calls from down below. She’s standing on the ground with Simon pulled tight against her, one hand covering her mouth in concern.

“We’re climbing down,” I shout back.

I grab the blankets and pillows from Rafe’s bed and toss them out the window in case I need something to break my fall, then scope out my options. We’re at the back of the house. It’s built on a slight incline, so a built-up foundation makes the second story higher than normal.

The siding will offer zero grip unless I can get my fingers under it and hold us up. I’ve been rock climbing a few times with Noah and Deacon, so I could attempt it, but there’s no place for my feet to go. To the right, there’s a rain gutter drain pipe running the full height of the house from the roof to the ground where it drains. It’s not far from the window, and it’s bolted in at several points. I’ll climb down it like a pole. It may pull away from the house as we go down, but it’ll slow our descent.

“Put those under the storm drain,” I shout to Jasmine, and she rushes to move the padding I threw down.

Little plumes of smoke swirl into the room from under the door, and the temperature is heating up. We need to leave.

“I’m getting you out of here first, then I’ll have Shani jump to me,” I tell Rafe.

Grabbing his desk chair, I put it next to the window so Shani can use it to get up and out.

“Shani, girl. You’re going to get on this chair,” I pat the chair for her, “and jump when I tell you to.” Shani looks at me, her tongue hanging sideways out of her mouth. She’s panting to try to cool herself.

Hang on for me, girl.

I have no idea how much she understands, but I pray she listens when I tell her to jump.

I turn to Rafe. “Come here, bud.” He nods, and I hoist him up to my chest, wrapping his legs around my waist. If I have to fall backward, I don’t want him to get hurt.

“Hold me tight,” I instruct, and he presses his body to mine as he latches his thin arms around my neck and buries his head in my neck.

“Let’s do this,” I say, then hold onto the windowsill as I climb out backward.

Shani barks her head off, scampering towards the window, then backing up in a frenzy.

“Shani, it’s okay. Once I’m down,” I point to my chest, then point to her, “you jump down to me.”

I pray she can do that, because there’s no way I can carry them both down at one time.

I move to one side of the windowsill, holding on with my fingers as I stretch my body and reach towards the water drain pipe until I can hook my foot around it.

“Be careful, Matt!” Jasmine shouts.

“Well, I’m not trying to be reckless,” I shout back with a grin.

I swing my body and grab onto the pipe with both hands, then slowly start shimmying down it.

The crackling of the fire grows louder by the minute, consuming more of our home. As long as we’re safe, that’s all that matters.

“Women always worry about us, but they mean well. You won’t find a mom who’ll love you more than Jasmine,” I say, trying to distract Rafe from the fact that we’re scaling our house without safety gear.

His body trembles against me, likely from adrenaline and fear. “Almost there, buddy.”

The aluminum pipe whines under the pressure of our weight, and I’m thankful it’s secured to the house. I pick up my pace until we’re a couple of feet from the ground.

“We made it,” I murmur to Rafe as I jump down with him still holding onto me like a koala.

When I go to release him, he stays tightly attached to me, so I palm the back of his head. “We’re safe, buddy. No more fire. I’m gonna get Shani now.”

“Yeah,” he whispers and slowly lets go of me.

Jasmine tackles us with Simon in her arms.

“Shani?” She asks .

“She’s up there. Get the kids away from the house,” I grasp her in a quick hug before letting her go.

Jasmine nods and guides Rafe away with Simon in her arms.

Turning towards the window with open arms, I yell. “Shani! Jump!”

Her frantic barking filters down to me. “Jump on the chair, girl!”

In minutes, flames will engulf that room.

“Come on, girl! Jump down!”

Her furry face pops into view.

“That’s it, girl! Jump!”

Rafe bumps into my side. “Jump, girl!” He shouts. I’ve never heard him raise his voice.

“Good job, bud,” I encourage him.

Shani looks at Rafe, then me.

“Jump,” I pat my chest, then open my arms again.

She licks her chops, whimpers and barks, then launches herself out of the window.

Rafe jumps out of the way, and I grunt when Shani slams into my chest and face. I fall back onto my butt, landing half on the pillows and blankets.

Shani recovers quickly, wagging her tail, which makes her whole butt wriggle. She licks my face, and I can feel a sticky, hot substance running out of my nose.

“Good dog,” I praise her.

“You’re bleeding,” Rafe says.

“I’m okay. Shani just gave me a bloody nose,” I chuckle, thankful my entire family is out of the fire.

I guide us a safe distance from the inferno we used to call home.

Blood is dripping from my nose, but I could care less about myself. My family is my main concern. I crouch down, using the light from the burning house to check my family for injuries.

“Anyone feel pain anywhere?” I ask.

With all of the adrenaline coursing through us, our bodies may not feel pain yet.

“Simon and I are good. I already checked him,” Jasmine answers.

“You came for me,” Rafe notes as I check his body for burns.

“Of course,” I squeeze his shoulders.

“You had Simon. You didn’t have to risk your life for me,” Rafe states, his teeth chattering. The adrenaline is overwhelming his little body.

Jasmine hugs him as tight as she can with her five-month baby bump. “You’re our family, and we’d never leave you behind.”

Rafe looks shell-shocked, his eyes wide as he looks at us, then the house.

Sirens wail nearby, then we see the fire engine’s bright lights cut through the darkness of the driveway leading to our house. I’ve enjoyed being in the country, but I didn’t think about the fact that we’re kind of far from the nearest fire station.

It feels like forever ago that I woke Jasmine up to tell her the house was on fire, but, in reality, I think it’s only been a few minutes.

The firefighters fight the fire, and an ambulance arrives to verify that we’re all okay. I’ve got a couple of minor burns, but nothing serious, and we’re all given oxygen to help cleanse our lungs.

Having paramedics tend to us takes me back to the night Grace died. I let the memories linger for only a moment, honoring her, before I push them out. I’m grateful for the family I have today, and I’m thankful we’re all alive. I’ll keep them safe and happy with every breath I have.

It’s four in the morning here, which means it’s six in Aveline where Noah, Hope and Zuri are. I’m sure Noah is already awake and on a run, so I give him a call.

“What’s wrong?” Noah asks immediately when he answers.

“What? You don’t think I’m calling with good news when it’s four in the morning here?” I joke, then cough when I try to laugh.

“What happened?” He asks again, always to the point.

“Firefighters are currently trying in vain to save our house from a fire,” I sigh as I hold a wriggly Simon. I don’t want him anywhere near the danger. He’s wide awake, but I know we’ll all crash later.

“Fuck, Matt. I’ll have my dad bring you guys a spare key. We’ll be back in a few days to help out, and we’ve got plenty of room. You can stay with us as long as you need,” Noah says.

The guy may have a prickly exterior, but he’s got a heart of gold for the people he cares about.

“Thanks, Noah. I appreciate it. Who knows how long it will take to work with insurance and get our house rebuilt,” I surmise.

“Don’t mention it. Zuri is teething, so I can’t promise how much sleep you’ll get with her fussing at night.”

“Been there, done that. No worries,” I assure him. “See ya soon.”

“See you then.” Noah hangs up, and I turn back to my family.

“Looks like we’ll be staying with Noah and Hope while we work with insurance to get the house rebuilt,” I inform them.

“That’s fine. As long as we’re okay, that’s all I care about,” Jasmine says, moving to put her arm around Rafe’s shoulders.

Rafe’s been quiet this whole time. He looks at me, his lips parted like he wants to talk.

“Whatcha thinking?” I ask him.

“I, um, I want to stay with you guys.”

Damn straight, he does. He won’t find a better family than us.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” I smile and ruffle his hair.

“We want you to stay with us,” Jasmine adds, and I pull them both in for a hug. Shani pushes with her nose until we let her in the mix, then Simon squirms after a few minutes to let us know he’s done hugging.

“Guess you get to pick out what your room looks like now, Rafe,” I say, looking on the bright side, and he nods.

He’s been through a lot in the last six months. Hell, he’s been through a lifetime of trauma in his short eight years. I’m glad he wants to stay with us, because Jasmine and I will be the best parents we can be to him.

When we moved here, I thought that was the start of our new life. But getting Rafe, having another baby soon and rebuilding our house feels like we’re embarking on a new adventure again. Apparently, life is full of new beginnings.

“No matter how many times we have to start over, as long as we’ve got each other, we’ll be good,” I assure my family.

“Whatever happens, we’re a family, and we’ll always be here for each other,” Jasmine agrees.

Jasmine smiles at me, and I kiss her. I thank God that we all got out of the house alive. I’ve got my dream team, and I’m never giving them up.