Epilogue
EPILOGUE
NUGGETS
Two and a half months later
WESTON
We’re at Bowie’s house and the chatter of all of our kids in the connecting room is at a dull roar. Cassidy is carrying Caleb everywhere and he’s putting up with it, a sure sign that he adores her because my boy loves to be on the move.
“I cannot believe you’re engaged, man,” Rhodes says. “But what I really can’t believe is that you went to Turks and Caicos for two weeks but didn’t propose to her until you got home. What happened there?”
They all laugh and I shrug, grinning and not giving a single shit that they’re making fun of me.
“I wanted us to have our own day to celebrate. It didn’t feel right for it to be the day we met, on a trip where we were honoring her sister.”
“Oh shit,” Rhodes says, his head falling back.
“I swear, Rhodes,” Bowie says, shaking his head.
“You’re telling me you thought of that already?” Rhodes looks at Bowie incredulously.
“Uh, yeah.” Bowie’s hands fly up. “It’s kind of hard to forget.”
“Well, congratulations. We’re so happy for you,” Henley says.
“I can’t believe you’re gonna be the only married one out of all of us,” Penn says, shaking his head. “I love Sadie, but I do not know how to feel about this.”
“Be happy for me.” I reach out and shake his shoulder until his eyes look a little less crazed.
“First a baby, then a wife,” he keeps going. “Next thing you know, you’ll be having more babies.”
“I cannot wait for that day.” I get caught in a daydream, envisioning Sadie with a baby bump, smiling up at me with her radiant smile.
She’s made my house a home, and the thought of us filling it up with more kids makes me happier than I thought possible. She says she’s getting her interior design urges out of her system by making our house less of a bachelor pad. She’s done some decorating for the guys too, but for now, her priority is Caleb. I’ll support whatever she chooses to do in the future. I’m just so glad she’s going to be my wife. And my family could not be happier for us—even Olivia. It might be a while before Sadie and Olivia are as close as Sadie and Felicity are, but they’re headed in the right direction.
Rhodes dropping The Single Dad Playbook in the middle of the table pulls me out of my sweet thoughts.
“It’s time for you to take a look at this if you’re already thinking of having another baby,” Rhodes says.
I grin good-naturedly. “Bring it.”
I flip the pages, laughing when it stops on:
Being a dad is like constipation. You think you’re backed up because you don’t eat enough fiber, but there’s also the water and the vegetables and the exercise, and maybe a weird twist in your intestines that you didn’t even consider.
~Rhodes
“These nuggets of wisdom, I tell ya.” I shake my head and keep flipping, stopping next on a diagram Rhodes drew of the levels of agitation a dad can reach in a single day.
I keep going.
Becca taught me to stop and appreciate the little things. She noticed the simplest things that my eyes had learned to skim over, and once I tried to pay attention the way she did, it opened a whole new world for me.
~Bowie
“Keep going,” Rhodes says.
When I keep lingering on all the sentimental ones, Rhodes gets impatient and flips it to the page he wants, pointing at a passage I haven’t seen yet.
“Read this one,” he says.
When we found out we were pregnant with our second baby, everyone said, “It’ll actually help keep Cassidy entertained. You’ll see, it’ll be great.” And Audrey was great, but our precious little Cassidy turned into a hellion because she wanted to be “only one girl.” And when we were pregnant with our third, everyone said, “Two kids and two parents is a man-to-man defense, but three, you’ll be like: WHAT THE FUCK WERE WE THINKING?”
And that was true.
But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
~Henley
I exhale. It is a lot to think about.
“And this one,” Rhodes points to the next page.
When you have your first baby, you’ve never been so tired in your life. You can barely function, you’re so blindly exhausted.
When you have your second baby, you’ve never been so tired in your life. When the new baby finally sleeps after being up all night, you have to gird up your loins and take care of your first child and just pray that you don’t fall asleep while you’re driving home from the grocery store.
When you have your third baby, you’ve never been so tired in your life. When the new baby finally sleeps after being up all night, the second child also doesn’t sleep at night OR during the day, and the first child wakes you up every time your eyes drift closed because she’s finally ready for her turn to have attention.
But I wouldn’t change a thing.
~Henley
“Fuck,” I whisper.
Henley gives me an apologetic look and then brightens, flipping through the sweet things Bowie says about not being afraid to sing princess songs or wear pink nail polish if it makes your kid happy. And Rhodes even has some sweet things to say about the first time you toss a football to your son. Even if it’s the tiny one for newborns, there’s just nothing like it.
“Here, this one is better,” Henley says.
We were having a hard stretch with Gracie. She was teething and miserable. One night we were so exhausted from being up with her several nights in a row, and she’d been crying off and on for hours. She finally fell asleep only to wake up again, but she was quiet before we reached her room, and when we walked inside, Audrey had crawled into the crib with Gracie. She held her hand and sang to her and it was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.
Siblings might fight like crazy, but their love for each other is like no other relationship. Best friends, co-conspirators, the next generation of memory keepers…
~Henley
He smiles when I look up at him.
“You really don’t regret having three kids, do you?” I ask.
“Not for even a millisecond,” he says.
“You could always enjoy being married first,” Penn says.
“Have you set a date?” Bowie asks.
“I’d marry her tomorrow if she said yes…I’ll keep you posted on that,” I say.
“When are you gonna start adding to the book?” Henley asks, pointing to the notebook on the table.
“Me? You think I’m ready?”
“You’ve been in the trenches for over a year. Hell, yeah, you’re ready,” Rhodes says.
“I’ve convinced Sam to stop drinking Cokes every chance he gets, and his stomach and dentist are a lot happier,” Penn says, leaning his elbows on his knees.
We all look at Penn and grin.
“That’s great, man. When are we gonna meet this guy? I feel like I know him already,” I say.
Penn looks shy for a second. “He’s seemed happier lately. He’s in a different foster home and likes it a lot better. I actually got permission to bring him to the family event Easter weekend.”
“That’s less than a month away,” Henley says, pounding Penn’s back. “Can’t wait to meet him.”
“I can’t either,” the rest of us chime in.
I take a sip of my now-cold coffee and stretch before standing. “All this talk about babies has made me want to go have sex with my fiancée...”
“Everything makes you want to have sex with your fiancée.” Rhodes points at me.
I point back. “You’re not wrong.”
I tap the table. “Thanks for all the words of wisdom.”
“The constipation one is what’s gonna stick though, isn’t it?” Rhodes asks.
I snort. “It’s right up there, yeah.”
He grins, entirely too pleased with my answer.
I put my hand in the center of the table and they pile their hands on top.
When we pull back and I start to walk away, Henley holds up the notebook.
“Don’t forget this,” he says.
I take it from him and return his smirk. “You guys have set the bar high.”
“You know that’s right,” Rhodes agrees.
I lift my hand and move into the other room, grinning at the way our kids are all playing together. Henley’s girls have everyone doing crafts. It’s actually a sight to behold, watching the little guys try to keep up with the girls.
“Hi, Weston,” Becca calls. “Do you like my picture?”
She holds up her picture and I grin. “I love it.”
Everyone else shows me their pictures and Caleb runs over to show me his scribbles.
“Great job,” I say, ruffling his hair. “It’s time to go home, son.”
“See Mama?” he asks.
“Yeah, let’s go see your mama. Should we pick up some flowers for her on the way?”
“Flowers!” he yells.
“Good plan. I like the way you think.”