Epilogue
A few years later
Natalie Quinn
Ipouted at my reflection. Dammit! I mean, I had a solid excuse for the leather jacket not fitting, okay? But still. It was going to be a while before I could wear this again.
I rubbed my belly.
Don’t worry, baby girl, you’re worth it.
“You ready to go, baby?” Ethan hollered, coming up the stairs. “We’re running late.”
“Yeah, just a sec.” I was in the middle of taking off the jacket when he appeared in our bedroom doorway.
I threw the jacket on the bed.
He smiled. “The time has come, I take it?”
I blew out a breath. “Yeah. I’m not actually upset or anything. I just…worked so hard to wear it again.”
He came over to me and hugged me from behind, his hands shifting to cover my baby bump. “We enjoyed the journey last time, didn’t we?” He kissed my neck.
I sighed contentedly and leaned back against him. “Both times.”
He hummed. “This won’t be any different, except… Even less sleep, more screaming…”
I laughed softly, and he grinned against my skin.
Then he snuck around me and sank to his knees, and he pressed his lips to my belly.
“You be good to Mommy in there, princess.”
I smiled and combed my fingers through his hair.
“Then again, it’s impossible to be worse than your brother,” he went on. “The moment he started kicking, he didn’t stop until he came out.”
Fucking truth. We’d been in the middle of moving to our house then, too.
“Speaking of… Let’s go rescue your parents from him,” I said.
“Like they need to be rescued,” he laughed.
Either way. Jamie was wild—like, Ryan wild—and Ethan’s parents weren’t young.
To make matters worse, they were babysitting three grandchildren at once, all hopped up on sugar and hopes of Santa coming down the chimney.
Ethan and I made our way over to them with our trunk full of Christmas presents, and we had to park on the street. The driveway was full.
“You could also let me help you.” He hurried to my side as I got out. “Fucking stubborn.”
I reached up and popped a kiss to his jaw. “I’ll reach the waddle stage soon enough.”
A beat later, the front door swung open, and our toddler came running out in pajamas and absolutely nothing on his feet. Goodness, boy, we had snow on the ground this year!
“Mama, Dada, Dada!” he hollered. “Mamaaa!”
Ryan came running after him. “Get back here, you little hellion! Who taught you to open the door?”
I laughed.
Ethan chuckled and opened the picket fence gate, and he was quick to scoop Jamie up. “You running from Uncle Ryan, baby boy? Yeah? I’d do the same thing.”
“Fuck that nonsense hard,” Ryan retorted.
I shut the car door, leaving all the presents for Ethan to deal with, ’cause I had limits. I had to get off my feet. During my first pregnancy, the cravings and the nausea had been the worst. This time around, it was my feet. They probably contained more water than the rest of me did.
Good thing Ethan gave the best damn foot rubs—and he loved doing it too.
The moment we entered Mary and James’s house, we were surrounded by family.
Darius and Gray had just arrived too, and it was difficult to keep track of everyone when nobody could stand still for a second.
I greeted Elise and Avery, Gray and Jayden, it was good to see Leighton and Bo again, Justin was clinging to Darius’s leg, Willow was pouring eggnog, Cass and Emma were eyeing the gifts under the tree in the living room, Angel was chastising her twin boys, Alex and Abigail were busy on their phones, Mary was scolding Ryan for some reason, Jamie bounced from Ethan’s arms to mine, two children were suddenly crying, the doorbell rang, and now I really needed to sit down.
“That could be Ace!” Jayden bolted past me to get the door.
“Let’s go find a place to sit, sweetie.” I smooched Jamie’s cheeks and carried him into the living room. “Did you have fun with Nana and Pop-Pop?”
“Yuh!” He nodded furiously and started rambling words only he understood. But I had learned his sound for cookies—they had decorated cookies. Something about Santa too.
“That’s so exciting.” I grinned.
“I’ll get you something to drink, baby,” Ethan called from…somewhere, possibly the kitchen.
As much as I loved being part of a big, rambunctious family, it felt nice to steal Mary’s reading chair in the far corner of the living room. I only needed a moment to calm down and catch up with my little miracle.
I’d read so many mommy blogs and articles about how the second child was the hardest, from actually becoming pregnant to the pregnancy itself.
And for Ethan and me, it had been the complete opposite.
We’d tried for over a year before two pink lines had finally appeared on a test, and then I’d gone through hell, with around-the-clock nausea, iron deficiency, and craving everything that was bad for me.
How Ethan had put up with my mood swings, I’d never understand. I would’ve left my cranky butt.
I smiled and smoothed down Jamie’s bed head while he poked at my belly and said, “Hi, hi, hi” to his sister.
She’d been our effortless surprise. So far, at least. We hadn’t dared to hope for a second little one. Then one day, I’d woken up nauseated. Ethan had run out to buy a test, and the rest was history. Almost no nausea after the first few days. Zero actual vomiting.
Ethan came over to us in the corner, and he had a decaf Diet Coke for me and a bowl of mashed-up banana for Jamie. We knew our son. He started screaming when hunger hit, and breakfast would probably be a while longer.
Ethan squatted down in front of us and poured my soda into a glass with ice before handing it to me.
“Hi, Dada!”
“You’re the best, hubby.” I took a sip and sighed with relief. So good. Perfect amount of ice too.
Jamie went back to rambling, and Ethan picked up new words like a pro.
“You made cookies all night?” he asked, pretending to be shocked. “Well, I sure hope you saved some for Daddy.”
Jamie beamed and held out his arms. “Dis many!”
“That’s a lot,” Ethan replied. He snatched up the boy and positioned him on his leg. “How about we go get some food in you? Mommy needs to rest for a bit.”
“B’nana!”
“Yeah, I got some banana for you to get all over your PJs.” Ethan chuckled and rose to his feet, but then he dipped down and smooched me on the forehead. And he spoke quietly. “I love the family chaos, but when I get you to myself tonight is when Christmas really begins.”
I giggled like a schoolgirl and smacked his arm lightly.
The next time the doorbell rang, it was my sister and Aiden arriving, and I was looking forward to a moment alone with Chlo. She had helped me get a memory book printed for one of my gifts to Ethan this year.
I’d titled it Let’s Be Honest.
He’d find cute couple stuff in there, photos of us, memories I’d written down, and one or two funny anecdotes I hadn’t shared yet.
Such as the time I’d matched with him on Tinder by accident.
Since he’d deleted those apps, he’d never discovered my faux pas, and now enough time had passed for it to be hilarious.
Knowing him, he’d eat that right up and feel ten feet tall.
If that didn’t work, I was also giving him the ultimate guys’ weekend.
Ryan’s wife and I had put the whole thing together.
We’d rented a luxurious cabin up in the mountains for the brothers and their closest friends.
They could watch whatever games they wanted to, they could play poker, all meals would be catered and approved by sports fans, they’d have a box of nice cigars waiting for them, top-shelf whiskey and rum—the whole nine yards.
My husband could use a couple days of chill fun before our daughter got here, and he wasn’t great at taking time off to himself.
For as self-centered as he’d once been, or portrayed himself as, that man was so focused on the people he loved.
I’d made it my job to make sure he got every bit of the attention he paid me and others, and it was a position I planned to keep for as long as we lived.
He glanced over at me while he was helping Jamie by the coffee table, both of them surrounded by children who wanted the gift exchange to begin, and we shared a smile.
“I love you,” I mouthed.
His smile widened.
Yeah, I couldn’t wait for us to be alone tonight either.
We were awesome at working off calories together.