What If… Elizabeth and Fallon
Four Years Later
Flinging my cap high up into the clear, blue sky, I cheer along with everyone else as the stadium filled with family and friends erupts into raucous clapping and shrill whistles.
We did it. I did it! I can’t freaking believe it.
I am officially a college graduate of Carolina University.
Even though I don’t know the girl next to me, we hug each other enthusiastically anyway.
“Momma! Momma!”
I immediately turn around when I hear his voice and my smile is a mile wide when I see Jayden’s cherubic little face and mop of dark brown hair.
Hailey has him sitting on her shoulders so he can see over everyone’s heads.
I make my way over to where they are. Jayden lets go of Hailey’s hair and reaches his little arms out to me.
I promptly take him before he does a somersault over her head to get to me.
“Congrats, big sis,” she tells me with pride while rubbing the top of her head. “Little guy has tentacles for hands,” she mumbles.
I kiss her cheek, and then I kiss Jayden’s face all over until he squeals with tiny giggles and throws his arms around my neck.
“Momma!” He starts to play with my long hair and babbles excitedly. My kid loves to grab long hair.
“Let’s go find Daddy,” I tell him, looking around the crowd. At the mention of Daddy, Jayden goes nuts and starts chanting “dada” loudly while tugging on my hair even harder.
As if summoned by his son’s words, Jayson appears from the crowd of new graduates, Julien right beside him. I put Jayden down and he takes off toward his father and uncle.
It still amazes me every single day how much Jayden is Jayson’s identical mini-me.
I chuckle at that. The twins have a miniature twin of their own.
As soon as Jayden’s silver eyes met mine when I held him for the first time after giving birth, it was clear who the father was.
As Jayden gets older, the resemblance just amplifies.
Same dark brown hair with a slight curl to it.
Same smile. Same beautiful gray eyes. My one night with Jayson when I got my memories back gave me the greatest gift of my life.
With a humungous smile, Jayson picks up his son and tosses him high in the air.
“That right there pulls my freaking heart strings,” Hailey says, looping an arm around my shoulders as I wrap an arm around her waist.
I tilt my head to rest it on her shoulder. “He’s such a great father.” We both sigh at the same time as we watch. My head suddenly pops up. “Where’s Ryder?”
I’m picked up from behind at that very moment by two strong, familiar arms. Ryder twirls me around, much like Jayson is doing with Jayden right now. When my feet touch the ground again, I turn around in Ryder’s arms and we hold each other for a long time.
I am so damn thankful every day that he’s here. He had a long, slow recovery for about a year after the bone marrow transplant. He’s been in remission and cancer-free, but the worry of the ALL or a secondary cancer coming back still haunts me.
Because of his recovery, Ryder decided not to come to CU with us, and instead he went to work fulltime with his dad at the garage. Ryder is now co-owner of Randy’s Custom Auto and I’ve never seen him happier.
“Love you,” he says in that deep, baritone voice that still makes me weak in the knees. He kisses my forehead. “I’m so proud of you.”
“I love you, too,” I reply, tears in my eyes because I’m just so grateful that he’s alive and healthy and able to share today with us. The year of his battle with cancer changed me. It changed all of us.
“Hey! No cuddling with my woman! That’s my job.”
Ryder laughs and releases me, and I’m once again picked up and hugged within an inch of my life.
I get a second to gaze into the pale blue eyes of the man I love, before he kisses the daylights out of me.
“Get a room,” Meredith and Trevor both say behind us, and Fallon growls against my lips, making me giggle.
A little ball of tiny human comes barreling into my legs, trying to climb me like a tree. Fallon picks Jayden up and snuggles him close.
“How’s my big guy?” Fallon asks him.
“Kiss,” Jayden demands, clapping his hands to Fallon’s face
This is a game they play together. Fallon puckers his lips to look like a fish’s mouth and zerberts Jayden’s cheek until he’s laughing so hard, he snorts.
Daniel, his long-time girlfriend, Pamela, Elijah, Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery, the Jamesons, the Cuttons, and Cassi walk up to join our huddle. I look around at everyone. This is my family. I kiss my fingers and gaze skyward, lifting my hand. I love you Mom and Dad.
A lot has happened since Jayden came into the world.
I guess the big things are that I came to CU with Fallon, Jayson, Julien, Meredith, and Trevor.
Hailey followed a year later after she graduated from Highland High.
Elijah went to Stanford, but he and Julien stayed together despite the distance, and they are now engaged to be married.
Ryder, Jayson, and I definitely did come full circle just as I had been musing while standing on the beach right before I went into labor.
Despite the roller coaster ride of our unique relationships with one another—or love quadrangle as Julien used to call it—that core bond of friendship only became stronger as we grew older.
I will never regret a moment I had with either Jayson or Ryder.
They were my first loves. They were my first everything.
They made me into the woman I am today. I will love them with every beat of my heart until the day I die.
But my future belongs to the man beside me.
The man who saved me. The man who challenges me to reach for my dreams and settle for nothing less.
As I press my body into Fallon’s side, I watch as Ryder takes Cassi into his arms and kisses her softly on the lips.
She has been so good for him. She and I met at the hospital the afternoon Ryder was officially released to go home.
Cassi was also a cancer patient there. She and Ryder became fast friends once I introduced them.
It made sense. They both shared an experience that the rest of us couldn’t relate to in the way they could with one another.
They started dating a year ago. Jayson has dated on and off over the years, but nothing serious.
His heart and soul are his son, and his focus is with helping me raise Jayden.
“Secret for a secret,” Fallon whispers in my ear. I look up at him and my stomach flipflops at the abundance of love I see shining in his eyes.
We’re supposed to tell each other one of our fears. Not today. “I love you, Fallon Parker Montgomery.”
He touches his forehead to mine and brings my left hand up to his lips, pressing a kiss to the engagement ring on my finger. “Not as much as I love you, soon-to-be Mrs. Elizabeth Penelope Fairchild Montgomery.”