Epilogue
COLE
Six Months Later
“Happy birthday, Dad.” I kneel down by my dad’s bed with my precious boy cradled in my arms. “He’s getting big, don’t you think?”
With big dark eyes and jet-black hair just like his mother and me, Jett is such a happy smiley baby and rarely cries. He’s perfect.
Dad raises his eyebrows in amusement. He’s not spoken a word today, which I hate. Sometimes he’s lucid and can string short sentences together, but on other days, like today, he’s tired, and all of us being here is probably exhausting him even further.
“Do you think he looks like me?” I ask, looking from Jett to my father and trying not to let his appearance upset me today. With each passing day, he’s looking frailer and less like the man who used to throw me in the air and make me laugh until I thought I would pee myself.
“You’re an ugly son of a bitch; he looks like his mother,” Max jokes, entering the room, making everyone laugh, filling Dad’s room with joy. “I have a knife to cut the cake.” Max waves it about then lays it down on the table next to Dad’s cake.
“Another year around the sun, Dad?” Nathan sits next to him by the bed and gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze, with Eli and then Max joining him.
A soft hush filters around the space, and with no instruction needed, next Sapphire, then Paige with Alfie on her hip, Arianna with a sleeping Riley in her arms, and then Yasmine with her arm wrapped around my mom’s waist make a circle around Dad’s bed.
I clear my throat because Nathan asked me to say a few words today to celebrate his big day.
Desperately trying to keep it together, I begin.
“I’m so happy you could all make it today, to celebrate Dad’s birthday.
When I was younger, I remember no matter how busy you were, you never missed any of our birthdays and that’s why we wanted to do something special for you today.
To all be here for you. Nathan, Arianna, and Riley.
Sapphire and Eli. Max, Paige, and Alfie.
” Alfie smiles and waves when I say his name and we all chuckle and wave back, breaking the tension I can feel mounting.
“Yasmine, myself and Jett. And of course, Mom. The love of your life.”
I gulp, unable to keep the emotion out of my tone, my voice cracking a little.
“We just wanted to say how much you mean to us all. Each one of us has our favorite memory of growing up but when I think of you, I always remember the day you told me to be bold, to be brave, to go for whatever I wanted in life, and to find someone who will love me hard and when I did I was never to let them go. I didn’t understand what you meant at the time, but now I know.
Each of us, Max, Nathan, Eli and me, we found our person just like you did in Mom. ”
A sniffle from my side alerts me to my mom, who has started to cry. “Ignore me, it’s happy tears,” she says, laughing and crying at the same time.
I give Mom a minute before I continue, “The love and care you brought us and taught us made us who we are today and for that we want to thank you, for trusting us with your firm, for always being patient, kind, and the best dad anyone could ever ask for.” I drop my head and stare down at Jett.
“I promise I will be the best dad I can be, because I learned from the best. I learned from you.” Jett’s face turns blurry, my eyes filling with unshed tears.
“Today, Dad, and forever, we will love you. Always.” My words begin to stutter and I can’t say the final thing I should have and the reason we are here.
“Happy birthday, Dad.” Nathan finishes for me and everyone joins in with birthday wishes in unison.
I can’t look up or make eye contact with anyone or I know I’ll break down, and today is a day for celebration; there’s no place for morbid thoughts right now, because while I know it’s incredible that we are sharing this special day with him, how many more do we have?
A week? A month? A year? We just don’t know.
A soft hand brushes my skin, startling me, and that’s when I realize it’s my dad’s.
“Come.” He digs his fingers into the skin of my forearm with barely any strength behind it.
Before I lean down to hear what he has to say, I pass a soundly sleeping Jett to Yasmine.
“Yeah, Dad?” I ask when I move in closer.
“Proud of you,” he mumbles, his words drawn out and slow. “Proud of all of you.”
“Love you, Dad.” I throw myself around him, then my three brothers pile on behind me, turning us into a ball of hugs as the five of us share a gentle yet more powerful hug than we have ever shared.
“Look after Mom for me,” Dad murmurs, and we all know what he means: he’s ready to go now.
That night, after celebrating his birthday with us, Daniel Hart, our father, peacefully passed away in his sleep.
He left knowing that Nathan, Max, Eli, and I were happy, safe, and loved, and that our mother—his wife—would be protected and never abandoned.
This brought him comfort in his last moments, and we vow to honor his trust by caring for her with love, just as she cared for us.