Epilogue - Adam
Ten years later
“Dad.” Poke. “Dad.” Poke, poke. “Daddy.” Foster puts all her ten-year-old might into shaking me.
I thought I was an early riser, but my girl has me beat. She gets me up every morning to watch the sunrise, and while I’ve been awake for the past five minutes waiting on her, I only pretend to sleep because I know she likes the idea that she’s the one waking me up.
“We’re going to miss the sunrise if you don’t get up.”
I fake a groan. “But I’m so tired.”
She giggles, giving me another shake. “No, you’re not. Come onnnnn. We do this every morning, Dad.”
That, we do. Just something for the two of us. Sitting up, I give her a smile. “Favorite way to start my day.”
“I’ll meet you in the kitchen. I’m going to start the kettle for the tea Aunt Cals got me.”
“Okay, sweetie, I’ll be right there.”
Waiting for her to run back to the bedroom, I fall back on the bed and roll over to my wife.
Mia snuggles deeper into me. “I can’t decide what I love more, hearing that interaction every morning or the fact that I get to sleep for another hour or so.”
I chuckle. “Want me to get Aiden in here with you?”
“Mm-hmm,” Mia hums.
With a kiss to her forehead, I roll out of bed and head down the hall to get our near-comatose five-year-old. He and his mother both sleep like the dead. His arm hangs weightless, mouth wide open as I carry him back to our room. His eyes never flutter until he hits our bed.
Once his eyes land on his momma, he rolls toward her, then he’s back out like a light. I place a kiss on both of their heads, then grab a sweatshirt from the closet before heading downstairs.
“Okay, this one’s yours.” Foster hands me a mug that says in all caps, my dad is way cooler than yours.
“Thanks, you ready?”
“Yeah, can we do the upstairs patio? I know it’s still a little chilly, but we can bring blankets.”
“That sounds great, sweetie.” Reaching for her mug, she gives me a knowing smile. “I’ll carry these, you grab the blankets.”
Making our way back up, we settle down in our chairs. Foster wraps her blanket tightly around her legs and lets out a shiver.
“Here, lean forward.” I stand and wrap the blanket she grabbed for me around her shoulders. “I’m not very cold.”
“How? I’m freezing. I thought I’d be fine since it’s May.”
“Your mom always says I’m a furnace.” I shrug, sitting back down next to her. “Your tea will help, too.”
“Thank you. I’m excited to spend the weekend with Aunt Cals and Uncle Will. They said we’d go to one of their new Spilled Tea locations. What are you and Mom doing again?”
“I’m taking her to Cape Cod for the weekend. She’s been working really hard, she deserves a weekend off.”
I may have retired a few years ago, but Mia has not slowed down. She’s continued to hold the Blues as the top valued MLB team for the past ten years, all while having Winedown become the top restaurant in Boston.
We discussed opening another location for a while, but she’s busy enough as is. And we’re happy. We don’t actually need more in our lives, well, other than more time with each other.
“I think it’s cool how much time you and Mom spend together. When I grow up, I want to marry my best friend too, and always do stuff together all the time.”
I squeeze her knee. “You know I hate the idea of you growing up.”
“Dad, not this again.” Foster groans.
“I’m kidding. I want that for you too, sweetie.”
Foster and I sit for another half hour talking about every thought she has under the rising sun. She hasn’t decided exactly what she’s going to do when she grows up, but I know it will have to be something with communication because my girl can talk.
When the sun is fully up and well into the sky, I hear the sliding door open behind us and loud footsteps race toward me.
“Daddy!” Aiden jumps in my lap.
“Hey, buddy. You have a good sleep with Mom?”
“Yes! She said she’s coming with more blankets.”
Foster sits up, holding the one around her shoulders tightly. “Dad said he wasn’t cold.”
“I didn’t say Dad was. I am, and Mommy wants one. You have two!” Aiden snaps back, and while eight times out of ten they love each other wholeheartedly…they are still siblings.
“Guys,” Mia warns with her mom voice, and all arguments cease fire.
Mia wraps one blanket around Aiden, then another around herself. Her eyes shut briefly, and I can tell she wasn’t quite ready to get out of bed yet.
“Good morning, honey.”
“Morning,” she mumbles with a sleepy smile but leans down for a kiss before taking her seat next to me. “What’ve I missed in the morning talk show?”
Foster doesn’t miss a beat. “Well, a lot, but the best one is that I’ve decided I want to have a relationship just like you and Dad have.”
Mia’s eyes light up at that and she reaches for my hand. “I can highly recommend that.” Then she leans over and whispers only to me, “We’ll talk about the unconventional order of it all later.”