Author's Notes: After many moons this story has finally reached its end. I just wanted to take the time to thank all the ejamis that contributed to the GoFundMe campaign for Nujeen Mustafa. Special mentions to Melissa Salmons and Giselle who were invaluable in getting Nujeen her new wheelchair and setting her up with the new equipment. John Oliver for giving us a happily ever after and of course, Nujeen who is so amazing, words fail me.
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EJ shuddered, having fallen over the precipice. His pleasure a palpable thing as Samantha's screams filled the garden. He shifted his rapidly cooling body so he could take her in, hair splayed across the grass, lips swollen from his kisses as her chest heaved, and their child, still growing, beautifully in her stomach, daddy's little girl.
How he loved this woman!
Leaning down, he placed a kiss to her stomach, tracing the silvery scars she often moaned about, but they were just proof that her body was a phenomenon, that she had held each one of their children under her breast. Johnny, Allie, Sydney and now this little one. Remembering his sister's words, he had a DNA test done as soon as possible and having it confirm what he knew already in his heart had been amazing. It certainly didn't hurt that Allie accepted him as her father, immediately.
EJ couldn't imagine one thing that could make him give up their life or forget about Samantha and their children, yet, he had. He had lost his memories and still she haunted him like a sweet ache his heart dare not forget. The moment he opened his eyes in his eyes in the hospital, he had known her. His Samantha. His.
It was bliss, the last few months. As soon as he was well enough, they had traveled from Germany back to Spain. From there, they took a trip to Switzerland for there held everything he had ever gathered against his father. Stefano was a proud man and an arrogant one, often thinking that fear meant respect and surrender meant weakness. After his father had put Samantha in prison, making EJ plead for her life, he had sworn as he kissed his father's ring to never be in that position again. It was a promise he spent years, making sure he kept. Stefano was a powerful man, but he wasn't a god and there were limits to his reach, enemies that would give their lives to see him fall. EJ had used avenues he never planned to, for despite all he had done over the years Stefano had never once hurt him, truly hurt him. In sending Samantha to prison, his father had destroyed him, and the callous way in which he had done it, had broken down any lingering loyalty, any feelings he had for his father had been demolished and so he had planned the great Phoenix's demise.
In a Swiss bank, under lock and key, laser scans and fingerprint was everything needed to put Stefano away, to bury him under a pile of rubble of his own. They were files for the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security. Even Interpol would be more than interested and honestly, he didn't even care what prison or far more likely hellhole Stefano and all those that had aided, including corrupt cops, politicians and agents, ended up in. For added enjoyment he made sure that the Salem Police Department and more specifically Rafe Hernandez didn't get a single dot or 't' of credit. He would always hate that man and it was his special brand of 'screw you' from the grave, as it were.
Their safehouse in Spain was just one of many all over the world he had designed to keep his family safe and any inkling that Stefano had slipped through the cracks (however unlikely that was) or was coming after them he would pack his family and move⦠and that included their new additions.
If nothing else, his time in Germany had given him an appreciation for the hardships others went through. It was the reason why he had invited Nujeen and Nisreen into his home, both of them beautiful amazing people. They had stayed with him in Spain, his contacts working some of their magic to get Nisreen on a work visa employed by his alias Edward Santino and Nujeen on a student visa.
His mother and Celeste, his two weird saviors were owed far more than he could ever repay. While both women had accepted his gratitude, he still made sure they wanted for nothing. While Celeste left a few weeks after he was found, his mother had remained with them for a few months before returning to England and to her husband. By the time she left, she and Samantha were as thick as thieves, Susan's earlier dislike of his wife feigned.
As for his wife, she was as imperfectly perfect as always and he wouldn't have her any other way.
" Are you okay?" Samantha asked, as always able to read him like a book.
"Best I've ever been, my darling,"
"Good, because Nisreen and Sylvia have taken the children to the zoo and we have the house to ourselves."
"Oh my, whatever shall we do?"
