Epilogue
EIGHTEEN MONTHS LATER: HAILEY
By the time Joy was born, I had a family.
Jackson’s dad, Mack, was the first to stop by. He dropped by my first week back in Miami, and I came home that night to a home-cooked meal.
“Surprise,” Jackson said. “I did try to text you. But?—”
“You must be Hailey!”
I knew this must be Jackson’s dad without having met him, same ice-blue eyes, same powerful build. He came rushing at me, arms spread wide, then suddenly stopped himself.
“Wait, do you hug?”
Of course I hugged. I was thrilled to meet him. And, from the look of him, he was thrilled to meet me. I’d thought, coming home, I’d be too tired to eat — it’d been a long day, a lot of recording, and all I’d wanted to do was dive into bed. But he soon had me laughing with his wealth of road stories, and his food was simple, but it was good. By the end of the night, I wished he was my dad, and when we hugged goodbye, it felt like he was.
I met his mom next, over a Zoom call, with his two stepsisters crowding in back. They all wanted to know if I had a registry, and what they could do to help prepare for the birth.
“I think, uh, we’re covered. We’ve ordered a crib.”
“What about a bouncer?”
“A Diaper Genie?”
“Do you have rash cream?”
“Salve for your nipples?”
“Hush, now, you’re scaring her.” Jackson’s mom shook her head. “Why don’t we fly out, and we’ll see what you’ve got, then we’ll go shopping together? Girls’ trip!”
I hated to rain on her baby parade, but a public shopping spree would be a no-go. “I’d love to,” I said. “But when I go out, the fans…”
“Then we’ll do it online,” said one of his sisters. “We’ll get snacks, we’ll make mocktails. We’ll make it a party.” She leaned into the camera. “Trust me. You need this. When I had my first baby, I had no clue. You think you’ve got everything, but trust me. You don’t.”
“And it’ll be fun,” said his other sister. “Jackson says you could use some. You’ve been working too hard.”
We had the party two weeks after that, me and Jackson’s mom and his stepsisters, Mina, Rashida, and Jackson’s brother Nick. Nick had been kind of a last-minute addition, when it turned out he’d be in town for work. He didn’t know much about shopping for babies, but he mixed a mean mocktail, and he knew all about Jackson. I pumped him for stories of Jackson’s childhood, embarrassing moments. Times he’d been a good brother.
When Jackson came home that night, he saw Nick and scowled.
“What’ve you been telling her?”
Nick smirked. “ Everything. ”
“I swear to God, Nick?—”
I stepped up and hugged Jackson so tight he coughed. “I love you more now than I ever have. Trust me. He didn’t say anything bad.”
Jackson relaxed, then his blue eyes narrowed. “You didn’t tell the fish story?”
“What, the time you were swimming and a fish brushed your leg, and you ran up the beach screaming a dead guy just grabbed you?”
Jackson roared. Nick smirked. He ran away. Jackson chased him out to the yard, and they slapped at each other. Clapped each other’s backs. Jackson put Nick into half a headlock, which after a moment turned into a hug.
By month nine I was waddling like a fat mama duck, and I’d met the whole family, some several times. They’d call to check up on me, text little tips. I’d even been added to the family group chat. So when my labor pains started, I wasn’t scared. Or I was, but not as scared as I’d have been alone. I hit up the group chat, IT’S HAPPENING!!!!!! , and they flooded me with encouragement as Jackson grabbed our go-bag.
I don’t remember much of what happened next, except that it hurt, and then it didn’t, and then I was holding her. My little Joy. Jackson was there with me, counting her fingers. Leaning in to sniff her new-baby smell.
“She’s perfect,” he said.
“I know. Oh, she sneezed!”
Jackson dabbed at her tiny nose with the sleeve of his shirt. She made a gurgling sound, and he stroked her fine hair. Then I blinked, and somehow we were back at our place, and Jackson was rocking her, telling her stories. I blinked again and I was driving, and Jackson was with Joy in the back seat. I couldn’t stop driving or she’d start to cry.
We drove a lot, through those first months, sometimes together, sometimes in shifts. We bought Joy new clothes as she outgrew her old ones, and took so many pictures we crashed our phones. We rushed her to the hospital for a rash we thought was measles, which turned out to be dye from a crappy new onesie. We stayed up all night and crashed out all day, and read Joy so many stories we learned them by heart. And it all went by in what felt like an instant, the first year of her life, and now her first show.
I’d picked a small venue for my first show back — well, small in the sense it wasn’t a stadium. It was still a huge concert hall, and it was packed, the audience charged up to hear my new set. But I hardly had eyes for them as the stage lights came up. My gaze was fixed firmly over their heads, on one private box close to the front. On my little family, here to cheer me on.
I had to squint, but I saw Jackson first, his big, bulky form. Joy in his arms. He was holding her up so she could see me, and I’d been worried she might be scared. But what I saw on her face was wonder. Excitement. When the crowd roared, she laughed and thrust her fists in the air.
I sang to her, and I sang to Jackson. Up in her box, Joy sang along. I couldn’t hear her over the crowd, but I could see her lips moving, her chest puffing out. She didn’t know many words yet, but she loved to sing. She loved music and dancing, just like I did, and my heart soared to see her so carefree and happy.
It took me four encores to get off that stage, and the audience was still out there screaming for more. But I could see up above, Joy was getting sleepy, burrowing into Jackson. We had to get home.
“I love you,” I called, meaning my family.
The audience howled back, they loved me too.
I got to my green room as fast as I could, but Jackson had beat me there, and Joy had conked out. I leaned down and kissed her, and she smiled in her sleep.
“You were perfect,” said Jackson. “Could you see us up there?”
“Yeah. She was singing.”
“She’s got those star genes.” Jackson set down the diaper bag and got out Joy’s quilt, and snugged it around her, right up to her chin. “I was thinking, before we head out on tour?—”
“I know, new clothes. She grows like a weed!”
Jackson laughed. “That she does, but that’s not what I’m thinking.”
I pulled off my tiara and sighed with relief. It’d been tugging all night on my lacquered updo. “I swear, these costumes?—”
“Hey.”
“—they’re like torture devices. Like an iron maiden, but for my head.”
“ Hey .” Jackson stepped up and took hold of my wrist. “Stand still for a second. I’ve got something to say.”
With anyone else, I might’ve felt anxious. I might’ve worried it’d be something bad. But with Jackson, I stopped and set down my tiara, and turned to him with a smile on my face.
“What’s up?”
“I’ve been thinking, this year’s been such a wild ride, but when I look back on it, there’s not one thing I’d change. Not one night of driving till Joy went to sleep, not one single spit-up or doomsday diaper. Now remember in Vegas, I said I’d love you forever?”
My breath caught with sudden rising emotion. “I’ll never forget that. I love you too.”
“Well—” Jackson dropped clumsily down to one knee. He fumbled in his pocket and came out with a box. “I bought this a couple of weeks after that, and I’d have asked you right then, but I couldn’t risk scaring you off. But I’m asking you now?—”
“Jackson!”
“I’m asking, will you marry me? Be my family forever?”
I snatched the box from him, rude in my glee. The ring inside was perfect, a cluster of stars. A scatter of diamonds around a large central stone. I slid it onto my finger and dropped the box on the floor, and in the same motion I grabbed Jackson’s tie. I half pulled him up and half dropped to the floor, and ended up in his arms, in a long, loving kiss.
“I adore you,” I said, when we came up for air.
“So, that’s a yes?”
“So, we’re getting married!”
Joy woke up at my shout, with a snort of surprise. Jackson lifted me, spun me, and that made Joy laugh. She slid off the couch and toddled over to join us, and we swept her into a big family hug.
“We’re a family,” I told her.
“Fa-ly,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s right. Family. Oh, I love you.” I peppered her little face with too many kisses, so many she giggled and pushed me away.
“I should warn you,” said Jackson, “there’s a party at home. To congratulate you on your first show back. Mom swore me to secrecy, but?—”
“I’ll act surprised.”
I couldn’t stop smiling the whole way back. This was more, so much more than I’d dreamed I could have. I had my music and I had my man, and we had our daughter, and our beautiful life. Whatever came next for us, I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t wait to take on life together.
The End