Muse

Epilogue

Fifteen Years Later…

"Dad! Gabby's here!"

Pulling the roast out of the oven, I place it on the island counter before removing my oven mitts and rushing out to the entryway. Ethan and Katniss are already there, a basket of confetti, in our son's grip.

Gabby has just returned from school, completing her first year, and has come back for winter break. Since she's on the opposite coast, we've only been communicating through Skype or texts. We miss her, but Gabby is in the best art school in the country, having been scouted after an impressive sculpture collection created in high school.

Our daughter's talent for art is admittedly not from Katniss nor Gale, but her love for creating it is definitely from me.

In those early days while I was still trying to get in both Katniss and Gabby's good graces, that dark-haired cherub and I would spend days working on some art piece or painting.

When I got Gabby's approval—it took three months—we created a portrait of our future to present to Katniss. In our portrait, I painted a large brick home with pillars and wide windows; an almost exact replica of the house we own now. Gabby drew our family including a little blue blur that she held—her little brother.

A few years later, Gabby got her brother—Ethan, named after my father.

Now thirteen, Ethan is gangly and sandy-haired, his eyes blue like mine but wide like Katniss'. He takes after her, with an ability to jungle numbers like nobody's business.

My thoughts are interrupted as the door opens and Gabby steps in, bags in her hands and her mouth wide with happiness.

"Welcome home!"

Ethan showers the room with confetti before rushing over to his sister who embraces him.

"You're so tall!" Gabby tells him, mussing his hair affectionately. "Vanessa is probably all over you!"

"Sis…quit it." Ethan goes scarlet. "You know we're just friends."

Vanessa Odair is the girl across the street; she and Ethan have been friends for ages, but lately it seems that they've finally noticed one another.

"Don't tease your brother, Gabs!" Katniss admonishes before engulfing Gabby in her embrace. "My baby…"

"Mommy—" Petite like her mother, she can still tuck her face into Katniss' shoulder and I feel my heart swell at the sight. Gabby used to do that when she was little. "—missed you bunches. None of my friends understood anything about missing their moms."

"That's because you're a rare one," I tell her as they pull apart. "Welcome home, sweetie."

"Dad!" Gabby rushes over to me and I pull her close. She still smells like paint and I remember even as a kid, she was scented with whatever media she was working with. "I've been experimenting with gouache."

"I can tell," I reply affectionately.

"My two artists," Katniss says, a bright smile on her face.

I walk over, reaching an arm around her waist, and pull her close.

"My model," I whisper against her cheek.

"Peeta…" My wife gazes up at me with that familiar look of longing.

Once in a while, I can still convince her to wear that little white robe—

"Blech." Gabby and Ethan stand next to one another. "Are you guys always like this?"

"You won't even believe what positions I've found them in whenever I get home from basketball practice," Ethan tells his sister. "Can you even imagine bringing home your teammates and finding your parents making out on the couch?"

"Next time give us fair warning or just call us," I retort. "We might answer."

Then, I kiss my wife—despite ours kids gagging.

At the dinner table, we all catch up on our lives. Ethan talks about his basketball team and how they're just one game away from the championship and how he's been helping Katniss with some accounting work. He's actually just doing a lot of filing, but once in awhile he'll be asked to help with something that requires quick mathematics. Katniss talks about the account she acquired for a local chain of clothing stores and I tell everyone how Mellark Bakery has started creating Japanese cheesecakes.

After I married Katniss, I stepped down from my leadership role in the office, letting Beetee take over—he was pretty much guiding me since my Dad died, anyway—and went on to work in our flagship bakery as assistant to the Head Baker, Mags Olsen. Eventually when Mags retired, I took over as Head Baker and have been there ever since.

It feels good to work at our original bakery; makes me feel closer to my Dad.

Also, while some might not think of baking as artistic, I've been able to get a creative when it comes to designing with cakes. My wedding cake designs have been sought-after since the first one I created for Katniss and my own wedding. Ours was a multi-tier vanilla buttercream cake with a hot cocoa sponge cake spray-painted with edible gold.

"And, how about you?" I ask Gabby. "What have you been up to?"

"Well…" Gabby muses for a moment, her fork dangling in her grasp. "Been working with gouache on canvas and am working more on my sculptures—can't quite get the hands right for my series on the Muses." She puts down her fork, looking between Katniss and me. "Also, there is something I would like to talk to you about."

Katniss and I both put our utensils down as does Ethan to give her our attention.

Gabby goes scarlet. "Well…it's something that you might not be happy about. You might actually be downright upset."

"Well, when you start it that way…" I give Gabby an encouraging smile. "There's nothing that you can't tell us that we won't try to understand."

Katniss reaches for my hand under the table and I give it a squeeze.

"I'm thinking of working…as a sort of model," she begins, her voice tightening at its end.

I start to turn light-headed knowing where this conversation is going and I feel myself begin to float out of my body watching this train wreck.

Katniss' grip on my hand has suddenly gotten extraordinarily tight, tethering me back.

"That's cool," Ethan says though he looks a little confused. "But aren't models supposed to be super tall?"

"It's not exactly fashion modeling," Gabby replies. She clears her throat and then looks to me and Katniss. "I actually wouldn't be wearing…clothes."

Ethan's eyes go wide. "Whoa—and sick."

"It's really good money and I can pay for my art supplies without having to ask you or Dad," Gabby says in a rushed voice. "Also, I'm learning a lot about how to work on the human body." She eyes Katniss and me. "So…what do you think?"

I put up my index finger, trying to keep myself steady. "Can you excuse your mother and I?"

Gabby nods her head quickly while I practically carry Katniss out of her chair.

Katniss and I sit on the couch, a good distance away from the kids who are probably fearing what happens next.

"Did you expect that from her?" Katniss finally says after a long moment of silence.

"No," I say. "I thought it was going to be worse—like she was pregnant, or she got married…not this."

"Well when you say it that way, it doesn't sound all that bad," she replies.

"As horrified as we are, we can't exactly say no," I point out. "After all, you and I were pretty much in the same boat. Art supplies are expensive, and nude modeling is good money."

"I know it is, but we could give her the money!" Katniss argues.

"You know Gabby won't take it," I say. "She already feels bad that you and Gale are paying tuition." Taking a deep breath, I take her hand. "There is something we can do that might throw her off doing this."

"What?"

"We can tell her—" I grit my teeth at my next words. "—about our experiences. Just might freak her out enough."

Katniss pales, but after a minute nods in agreement. "That could work." She looks to me. "But then there is that chance that we'll have to tell her the rest."

I close my eyes, willing away the urge to run out of the house and yell bloody mercy.

"If that's what we have to do, then we do it."

Knocking on Gabby's door, we wait until she opens it. After Katniss and my discussion, we went back to the dining room and continued our awkwardly silent dinner before sending Ethan off to bed.

"Can we come in?" Katniss asks.

"Sure." Gabby widens her door before turning and going to her bed. Katniss sits at the end of it, while I take the seat at Gabby's desk. Our daughter takes her pillow and hugs it as we settle down. "What's up?"

"First," Katniss starts. "We're not upset. However, you can't be surprised that we're not exactly happy about this."

"I know," Gabby says. "And, I know there are other jobs available, but this particular job works with my schedule and it's a learning experience. The money is good and I'm not going off campus so it's accessible."

Katniss looks to her in concern. "Do you really need money, sweetie? We can—"

"No, Mom," Gabby interrupts. "You know I don't want to do this myself. You and Dad more than helped with the tuition. Also, Dad offered to give me money and I turned him down, too. I know that he and Madge are still paying off the new house, so I don't want to add on anything else."

"Before you make a decision, your mother and I wanted to tell you about how we met."

"I know you met in college and then just drifted apart," Gabby recalls. "Then a few years, a marriage, a baby, and a divorce later, you guys met up when Mom came to your office—"

"Gabs, there's a little more to that story," I say. "I was attending an illustration class where I was also a teacher's aide and I needed ink. I knew that Effie, my teacher, had an extra supply in the back cupboards so I went to the back, opened the door, and there was a girl—in a white robe—just crouched inside."

Gabby straightens, her eyes round as she realizes who I'm referring to. "Mom?"

"Yes…" Katniss shakes her head in embarrassment. "I needed money and you know that I didn't have much since your Grandma was the only one working. My roommate told me about a modeling job and that the money was good…" She lets out a breath. "But as soon as I got the robe on, I panicked and before I could even think, I was hiding in a cupboard."

Katniss looks to me and I reach over to grasp her hand.

"And suddenly, this beautiful boy was staring at me."

Gabby puts her palm. "This is the weirdest story ever."

"It gets stranger," I say. "So, your mom explains that she's super nervous and obviously doesn't want to model, we're trying to keep quiet before Effie realizes that she's hiding, and I had modeled during my first few years in college…"

Our daughter screams into her pillow before responding, "You were a nude model!"

"Yes, and thanks to this really gorgeous girl hiding in a cupboard, I was going to do it again."

"Mom, you let Dad take the hit for you!"

"I know!" Katniss covers her face with her hands. "Though I have to say, it was worth the view."

"I knew you were peeking!"

"This is just getting weirder," Gabby says. "I really can't imagine all of this." She turns to Katniss. "Did you eventually end up modeling?"

Katniss looks to me before answering, "More or less."

Gabby looks between us. "I know that look. Oh God, please tell me that what I'm thinking isn't true."

Our silence is enough of an answer.

Also, it's a reminder to clean up our attic which hides some not-so-suitable sketches of Katniss.

"I was your age, Gabby," Katniss explains. "And though it seems like easy work, it was a very exposing experience—in more ways than one. Realizing what I was about to do, exposed my lack of confidence…and body issues…my vulnerability…"

"Being up there, it was all the things your mother said. I did hesitate that first time, but I was determined to prove myself to your grandparents that I could be self-sufficient," I tell her. "But in order to make it up to that podium, I kind of had to shut down parts of myself, the parts that made me vulnerable."

I look to Katniss, giving her a smile.

"But I do have to say, your mother brought all those parts out of me."

"In so many ways, I'm sure," Gabby retorts with a soft smile. She sits back against her headboard. "So, are you basically telling me that you don't want me to do this?"

A few hours ago, I had come up with this plan to deter Gabby from modeling. However, modeling was what brought me Katniss…and Gabby…and Ethan. So, part of me has doubts as to whether I should be trying to enforce my fatherly duty and tell her no.

I feel like we're at an impasse.

"Not every story is going to be like ours," Katniss warns. "And, we can't stop you from doing it so…the decision is yours. You're an adult, so you are now in charge of the consequences or rewards."

Gabby nods. "Thank you for treating me as an adult," she tells us diplomatically.

Together, we stand and hug her, holding Gaby like she is still that tiny four-year-old that I just met.

As I lead Katniss to the door, I turn to her. "That was pretty cool of you."

She winks at me. "Not quite."

At the open doorway, Katniss suddenly turns to our daughter.

"Oh, by the way, Gabriela—" The girl on the bed suddenly looks worried; being called by her full name is never a good thing. "—you're responsible for calling your father tomorrow and telling him about your potential new job."

Gabby's jaw drops. "Wha—MOM!"

Katniss has already closed the door behind us.

It will be a cold day in hell before Gale Hawthorne will allow his first-born to be a nude model.

"Pawning the no off on Gale?" I grin at my wife. "That was a good one."

We high-five.

Katniss reaches on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around my neck. She pulls me down, pressing her mouth to mine, immediately causing my stomach to flip as well as some other parts to react.

"I think I'm feeling a little inspired," I say, my mouth smeared against hers.

"You are?" she asked breathlessly.

I pull her closer, practically lifting her off the ground.

"You will never stop inspiring me."

FIN.

*If any of you readers are curious, Gabby decides not to model. However, she does date the model who ended up with the job

Thanks for reading!