EPILOGUE — #everything
Rhys
Song: “She’s My Kind of Rain” by Tim McGraw
“HOW ARE YOU feeling now, mia bella,” I asked.
“The same. Like a damn walrus about to explode.”
I laughed to myself. Riley’s sailor mouth always came out whenever she was angry or in pain, and she was definitely in pain with our overdue baby in her belly and her labor getting worse.
“I have a bottle of Josh Cellars sauvignon blanc hidden in my purse. Want me to open it?” Macie asked Riley, winking.
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Or, you could just get the epidural and stop going through this nonsense.”
“I don’t want one.”
“Rhys, my BFF has officially moved above your level of stubbornness,” Macie said, chuckling.
Then Noah, my brother, Rachel, my parents, The Martins, and Riley’s grandpa did. This labor room was packed, and we were having a birth party, so to speak, with lots of snacks and drinks as Riley’s OB/GYN came and went, checking her dilation while everyone looked away except for me.
Three hours later, Riley was fully dilated and in the delivery room. I was beside her in full scrubs and a mask, anxious to see our miracle. He was born with a headful of white-blond hair and blue eyes and weighed 10 pounds and 4 ounces. He was big, long, and perfect—and Riley and I were in heaven.
“God gave me what I prayed for,” she said, smiling at me through her tears as she held Rhett Michael Silverman in her arms.
“Me too.”
“Rhett is going to have so much fun with his double-cousin, Ellie.”
“They’re sure to stir up some double trouble when they get older.”
“Gosh, I hope they do!”
“Between your family’s genetics and mine, it’ll happen.”
“I love you so much, Rhys.”
“I love you too. Thank you for giving me a child to love and spoil the shit out of.”
Riley giggled. “I had some help with that. When would you like to make another one?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yep. I want a houseful of our beautiful babies.”
“Then I’m going to need to either add onto our house or buy one that’s bigger.”
“I want to stay at the lake house. It’s so you and me.”
“Yeah…it is. You heal up, and I’ll work on adding a couple more bedrooms and a bathroom, and then we’ll add to our family.”
“Deal.”
Our daughter, Remi Dawn, was born a year and a half later. She weighed 9 pounds and 10 ounces, had a headful of black hair like Riley’s, emerald eyes, and a little button nose. She was my baby girl, and I was smitten with her like Riley was with Rhett—her baby boy. Everything was as it should’ve been, and I couldn’t have asked God for more.
~THE HAPPY EAST TEXAS END~
Love this author? Read her other romance novels Twisted Roots, Fall Into Me, Ocean of Stars, and La Lune today.