Epilogue
Six Months Later
Iheard Carter opening the door of our beachside bungalow-style home.
Our own secluded New Zealand paradise was perfect in every way, his wedding present to me.
I hummed at the thought as our son suckled on my breast almost as greedily as his father did.
I caressed his bald head with my hand while Carter sat on the large wicker couch swing we had on our large wooden deck.
He had a beer in hand and looked handsome in his khaki shorts and sandals.
“Enjoying the sight?” He asked, as he looked towards the sun setting on the horizon.
“How can I not?” I asked, chuckling. “Joe decided to have an early dinner.” I gently adjusted our three-month-old baby.
“Look at him go,” Carter praised, leaning forward to place a kiss on our son’s head. “He knows what’s good in life, doesn’t he?”
“Takes after his father, for sure.”
Carter laughed. I loved how often he laughed now.
My soul felt light and blissful. Since we left the facility, since he asked me to marry him, life was all but perfect.
I exhaled, satisfied. I was a little horny, like I always was next to Carter, but especially breastfeeding.
We would have plenty of time to enjoy each other once Joe was asleep.
I just had to be patient. Carter had proved over and over again, we had no time limit.
We had each other forever. Then I remembered.
“Oh right, Wren and Susan will be dropping by with the twins later today,” I informed.
“They’re back from the States?”
“Yeah. Got back a day ago, but Wren was exhausted. It’s a seven-hour flight from Vermont to Dubai and another fourteen from Dubai here.”
“Plus a couple hours’ drive from Wellington.” Carter nodded. “I’ll ask the cook to make us something nice.”
“I already talked to her. I just wanted to let you know.”
He leaned forward to kiss me. I expected one kiss, but he treated me to two, a tease of his tongue, then drew back just enough so he could speak against my lips. “What would I do without my beautiful wife?”
“I don’t know, but you wouldn’t have this beautiful baby boy, would you?”
Carter smiled; the sweet smile of a man without burdens. “No. I would not.”
He took a drink of his beer and stared out at the ocean, lost in thought. I could see the gears in his head turning. I knew what he was going to ask before he spoke.
“Maybe we should consider giving Joe a sister. Not right now, but when he’s about a year old?”
“I think that would be great,” I agreed softly. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and have our own set of twins?”
Carter smiled. “Yes. Maybe we can. That’ll take a lot of practice.” He looked me over. “A lot of work making twins.”
“That’s something we can both handle,” I teased with a wink.
Joe stopped suckling for a moment, and I settled him against my breast, his face against my collar bone, to burp him.
As Carter got up to get a small towel, I thought about all the turns and twists my life had taken.
Then I smiled at my sleepy son and thought about how, in a strange way, he and Carter were both bonded to me so deeply, so intensely.
Carter wiped Joe’s face and the thought solidified.
All the love, happiness, and sense of fulfillment I had with my son and my husband started with one thing:
Milk.