Epilogue #2
My eyebrows shot up because West was the antithesis of that.
He was former military, with a thick, muscular build.
He was gruff, rough around the edges, and had a beard.
I’d give her, he was good-looking, with intense green eyes that crinkled when he smiled, but he was about as masculine and virile as you could get.
“He’s your polar opposite,” I told her. Presley was wealthy, brilliant, and outgoing, while West was blue collar, brawny, and reserved.
Across the patio, West got a phone call and stepped away, letting himself out the gate on the lake side, probably so he could hear the call.
As the three of us made our way toward the food line, Holden came up behind Chloe and put his arms around her.
“Hey, Presley,” he said. “Glad you could make it.”
“I wouldn’t miss it, handsome.”
West came back to the patio, said something to Luke, then hurried out the other gate toward the parking lot.
“Where’s West going?” Chloe asked.
“No idea,” Holden said. “Probably something to do with his girls. I’m not sure what else would make him move like that.”
“I guess I won’t be meeting him tonight,” Presley said and shrugged. She took a longer drink of her cocktail. “So what’s your gut say, Rowan? Girl or boy?”
Chance
Life was funny. Not really in a haha way but more in a smack-you-upside-the-head-with-exactly-what-you-needed-even-if-you-couldn’t-see-you-needed-it way.
How had I ever thought I didn’t want this?
Rowan and I sat at one of the patio tables with Sam, her friend Kinsley, and several of our friends. I put my arm around Rowan and kissed her temple.
“Everyone’s done eating, Dad,” Sam said impatiently.
A glance at the food table told me it had, in fact, been demolished. Lots of our guests were standing, drinking, talking, no longer sitting at the tables.
“How long do we have to wait for cake, Mr. Cordova?” Kinsley asked.
“I think now’s good,” my daughter said.
While she wouldn’t argue with cake itself, I knew my daughter’s hurry was more about finding out whether she’d be getting a baby sister or brother.
Sam had made big strides in the past couple of months.
Her friendship with Kinsley was partly responsible, I was sure, but so was Rowan.
I’d always known, as much as I wanted to be both parents for Sam, there were areas I failed in.
I just hadn’t known what to do about it.
The answer turned out to be fall in love with a woman who loved my daughter too.
We’d been cautious about discussing adoption possibilities with Sam, as Rowan didn’t want to force herself on Sam as a mother figure too soon.
When we’d returned from our short honeymoon on the other side of the lake, holed up in a beautiful vacation rental on the shore, Sam had surprised us in the best possible way by asking outright if Rowan could adopt her and become her mom.
We’d wasted no time in starting the process, much to my wife’s sheer joy.
Sam was less sullen toward me now that she and Rowan could talk boys, hair, and clothing to their hearts’ content.
I was fine being left out of those conversations and thankful as hell the sweet side of my daughter had resurfaced.
She was set to finish her freshman year of high school with solid grades, a bestie in Kinsley, and a burgeoning business, as the two of them were starting a babysitting service this summer.
“Mama to be?” I said to Rowan. “Are you ready to find out what flavor kiddo we’ve got in there?”
Rowan shoved her chair back. “So ready. Let’s do this.”
“Yay!” Sam said, standing in a flash. “Come on, Dad.”
Olivia, who was sitting on the other side of Kinsley, tuned in to our conversation. “Reveal time?”
“Yep. As if you don’t know what it is,” Kinsley said to her.
“I’ll never tell though,” Olivia said, grinning.
Olivia, who worked at Sugar, was the only one besides the ultrasound tech who knew the gender of our baby.
The tech had written it down and sealed it in an envelope.
Rowan had handed that over to Olivia, who’d agreed to bake the special cake that was filled with either pink or blue.
She’d also baked the larger cake our guests would eat.
Rowan and I stood.
“Bring your drink. We’re going to toast,” I told my girls.
Sam practically dragged Rowan and me to the cake table.
The three of us had everyone’s attention in no time, as “Is it time?” was repeated from one side of the patio to the other.
“Hey, everyone,” I said. “It is time.”
A round of cheers rang out, and though I’d not immediately embraced the concept of this party, now I was glad we were sharing our moment of truth with our closest friends.
When they quieted, I repeated, “It’s time for the reveal. Well, almost time.”
“Cut the cake!” Max called out.
“I’ll get there, Coach Impatience.”
Rowan stood to my left, and Sam was on my right. I pulled them both closer.
“I want to thank every one of you for joining us tonight,” I said, as Rowan and I had agreed I’d do the talking.
“I mean that. While the three of us can’t wait to find out whether we’ll have a boy or a girl join our family, we know that most of you just wish us a healthy baby, regardless of gender.
But you came out because it’s important to my family. ”
“Plus the open bar,” Ben hollered, eliciting laughter.
“And the cake,” Presley said.
We laughed with the smart-asses, then I sobered.
“Some of you know I’m not close to my immediate family.
That bugged me for years as I tried to figure out what was wrong with me and what I could do to be closer to them.
I played with the decision to move away from St. Louis, where my parents still live, for a couple of years before doing it, worrying it would make us even more distant and maybe end our chances of ever feeling like part of a family. ”
My daughter leaned her head on my upper arm on one side. On the other, Rowan squeezed my arm, nestling in closer.
“No way could I have predicted that moving away would be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” I continued, “but that’s exactly what it was.
If Sammy and I hadn’t taken the risk of moving, I never would’ve met the woman of my dreams. Sam wouldn’t have met her bestie, Kinsley.
” I nodded at the teenager sitting at the closest table.
“We wouldn’t have learned that found family can mean a lot stronger binds than blood family.
” I paused for a second to swallow down the emotion threatening to overcome me.
“You all have become our family. The people who care. The people we love. So thank you.”
I raised my beer bottle in a toast. “To found family.”
“Here, here!”
“To found family!”
I clinked my bottle to Sam’s soda glass and Rowan’s water flute. We all drank a sip, then Sam stepped forward. We’d agreed she could do the honors of finding out what color was inside the cake.
She turned an empty glass upside down, hovered it over the small, all-white cake, then said, “Here goes nothing.”
Rowan and I held on to each other. My heart was pounding at the anticipation, even though I’d be happy with either gender as long as they were healthy.
The excitement in the air was tangible in the moments of silence as Sam pressed the glass down into the cake. Rowan gripped me as if her life depended on it, and I had the fleeting thought that supporting her through labor wouldn’t be a pain-free experience for me.
“It’s a”—Sam blocked our view, so we held our breath for her announcement, as planned—“girl!”
With a squeal of happiness, she held the glass full of cake and icing up high to show off the pink.
A round of cheers went up, along with random comments and jokes, as Rowan and I pulled Sam into a three-way hug. My daughter was bouncing on her toes as she dropped a brief hug on us, then went to hug Kinsley.
“She wanted a girl,” Rowan said, her grin splitting her face as I went in for a kiss. “So she can knit cute girl clothes.”
“And you?” I asked once I could pull my lips away from hers enough to speak.
She shook her head. “You know I don’t care. I just want your baby, whatever flavor.”
With my arms around her and our bodies as close as they could possibly be while still clothed, her baby bump pressed into me, I said, “You’ve got my baby. And my teenager. And me.”
“Sounds like the perfect family to me.”