Chapter 18 #2
Xander approached the bassinet and leaned in to press a kiss to Junior’s forehead.
“Aht!” Rylee said softly. “You wake him up, and he’s yours for the night.”
Xander straightened, resting a hand gently against Junior’s head as he slept.
“Your pops will gladly stay up with you all night, little guy,” he whispered, eyes locked on his son. “Ain’t that right? Mmm-hmm…”
Rylee smiled at the sight of them. Xander in dad mode would always be her favorite thing to watch.
“LJ and Nova better not look to me to do any of that wrestling stuff with them,” she joked. “I can barely carry myself with all this baby weight.”
“Aw, baby,” he said, getting on the floor in front of her and moving in for a kiss. “I love this weight on you. You look good, girl.”
She snickered, then swallowed the last of her humor in an attempt to keep it down.
Xander’s eyes moved to her braids. “What you got going on here? You should be sleeping when the baby’s sleeping, mama.”
Xander had been great and an excellent partner.
Taking turns with Rylee to get up and tend to the baby at night, even after he completed 24-hour shifts in Brooklyn.
He took off three weeks after the birth to be home with Rylee and Junior and was true to his word when he said this would be the easiest time for her compared to the others.
She smiled tiredly, feeling the burn in her eyes, but reasoning she’d get through it.
“I waited too long to take these out.” She shrugged, removing the braiding hair and adding it to the growing pile by her thigh. “My mama is driving out here tomorrow to do my hair and I want to be ready for her.”
He nodded. “Aight, slide over then and I’ll help you out.”
She laughed. “Baby, what you know about taking braids down?”
“Nothing.” He took a seat behind her and moved her in front of him, between his splayed legs. “But how hard can it be?” He pressed a kiss to her neck. “Plus, you know I’ll do anything for my baby.”
She giggled as she positioned herself in front of him and Xander went right to work, singling out a braid just as Rylee did, and undoing it with ease behind her.
She smiled to herself as he removed one braid, then another.
“What’s this spray bottle for?”
“To wet the hair and get the buildup out,” she answered. “My mother will get the rest when she washes it tomorrow.”
“Cool.” He extended his hand for it. “Send it back here.”
Rylee did as requested, smiling to herself as she worked, finding it hard to stay composed at how excited she felt in that moment.
It was more than Xander helping her with her hair. It was that there was nothing he ever felt he couldn’t do, especially if Rylee needed it.
She still wasn’t over him delivering their son.
She’d known Xander the man, but to see how he handled himself in a crisis?
It just did something so good to her.
Rylee was more in love with him than she ever had been.
He whistled as he pinched and removed the undone braiding hair from Rylee’s strand of natural hair. “Baby, your hair is mad long, huh?”
“Because I don’t do anything with it,” she said with a giggle. “I’d slap those braids back on if my mother would let me.”
He chuckled, his voice traveling around the room.
“Shh,” she shushed, her eyes moving to the bassinet. “You’re gonna wake the baby.”
Xander kissed the back of her neck, and his lips on her sent a chill down her back.
He pressed another kiss to her shoulder and left his lips there.
They sat there for a moment, in silence, Xander’s arms wrapping around her waist briefly.
“This is exactly what I imagined when I closed on this house.”
Rylee said nothing, just continued listening.
“Maybe not here taking my woman’s braids out…”
She released a soft laugh.
“But here, together,” he clarified. “Comfortable, enjoying each other’s company. Kids comfortable in their rooms, baby boy asleep in his crib in his room… but we’re still working on that portion of the vision.”
Rylee smiled, turning to look at him over her shoulder.
He leaned in close and kissed her, letting his lips linger there as he wrapped his arm even tighter around her waist.
“Damn I’m lucky,” he said on her lips before kissing her again. “I’d hate my guts if I wasn’t me.”
Rylee snorted a laugh and turned in her seat to face him, moving to his lap and straddling him.
“The only thing missing now,” he added. “Is a wedding band under that diamond rock on your left finger.”
Rylee smiled, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck.
He licked his lips, sliding her closer. “But I’m sure we can do something about that.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Rylee said with a nod, moving in closer to peck him once, then twice, parting his lips with hers.
And for the first time, in her life, Rylee wasn’t chasing away doubts and worries.
She was simply enjoying peace.
What a journey it had been—through grief, hesitation, and hard choices—all leading here… a new chapter in a new corner of New York.
Her children were happy.
Xander was too, as he so deserved.
And Rylee… she was finally beginning to see this place as her sanctuary.
She wasn’t just surviving anymore.
She was living.
Greene Gardens wasn’t just a fresh start. It was their home now.
Nova already had a favorite reading nook by the window, and LJ had claimed the garage for his science projects.
They had found comfort in the new and were evolving. Healing.
Rylee hadn’t forgotten Lennox, like she feared.
And she never would.
This new life didn’t feel like it was erasing him…
It felt like it was honoring what he’d taught her about love.
And Xander… he had made a home in Rylee’s world. Not as a replacement for Lennox, but as something new.
Something that was hers.
Her peace.
Her partner.
Her next chapter.
One she was finally ready to step into, fearlessly.