Epilogue
Two Months Later
Jake
“Okay, buddy, I’ve got something important to ask you.”
“Trucks?”
“Kinda.” I huffed out a laugh. “But also, not really.”
Saturday late-afternoon sunlight spilled through the windows in warm golden stripes, catching the disaster zone of toys currently taking over my living room.
Seren had taken one look at the mess earlier before post-season practice and muttered something about us being worse than the actual toddlers before kissing me goodbye anyway.
Cai had barely acknowledged her leaving because he’d been fully committed to driving a monster truck over my ribs at the time.
Now he sat cross-legged, opposite me in dinosaur pajamas, curls sticking up in every direction, clutching a toy pancake with a smiley face in one hand while I grabbed three of his favorite trucks from the pile scattered across the rug.
Red.
Blue.
Green.
I lined them up carefully between us.
He immediately dropped onto his stomach beside me, chin in his hands, completely invested now that vehicles had entered the conversation.
“Okay,” I said seriously. “I need you to focus for one minute, and I know you’re only two, so honestly this could go either way.”
Cai blinked up at me with complete confidence. “My three soon.”
“That’s right.” I smiled despite the nerves clawing at my ribs. “You’re gonna be three soon.”
He looked so damn proud of himself for that fact it nearly derailed me.
I tapped the red truck first. “Okay. This one is Jakey.”
Then the blue. “This one is Mommy.”
Then the green. “And this one is Cai.”
His face lit up instantly. “ME!”
“Yeah, buddy. That’s you.”
He snatched the green truck immediately, making engine noises under his breath before carefully parking himself back between me and Seren’s truck like even toy-version Cai needed to stay close to his mom.
My chest squeezed hard.
It still got me sometimes, how naturally he included me now. Like I’d always belonged here. Like there had never been a version of his world where I wasn’t part of it.
“Okay,” I said gently, nudging the red truck away a little. “Right now, Jakey lives at Jakey’s house, yeah?”
“Beach house.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “The house by the beach.”
He pointed at me proudly, then his stuffed toy. “Jakey pancakes.”
I laughed softly. “Yeah, buddy. Jakey loves pancakes too.”
God, I loved this kid.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat and tapped the blue and green trucks together. “And Mommy and Cai live over here.”
“Mommy cuddles,” he informed me.
“Yeah.” My voice came out rougher than I meant it to. “The best cuddles.”
I hesitated, filling my lungs with something other than nerves.
Which was ridiculous, considering I’d played in rugby games in front of thousands of people without blinking, but somehow, this felt infinitely bigger. More fragile. Like my entire future sat in the middle of this rug beside a toddler who still occasionally ate crayons.
This mattered in a way nothing else ever had.
Home had always seemed like something that belonged to other people. Something temporary. Something you got close to until eventually it disappeared again.
Until Seren and Cai.
“What if…” I moved the blue and green trucks slowly across the rug toward mine. “What if Mommy and Cai came to live at Jakey’s house?”
Cai frowned in concentration, staring at the trucks now all touching.
“Like…” I cleared my throat suddenly. “All together.”
The silence stretched for a second while his little brain visibly worked through it.
Then his entire face transformed.
“All trucks!”
I laughed helplessly. “Yeah, buddy. All trucks.”
“More beach?”
“Way more beach.”
“More pancakes?”
“So many more pancakes.”
“More bedtime stories?”
My heart damn near folded in on itself.
“Every night if you want.”
He considered that deeply, tiny fingers tapping against the green truck before his eyes lifted back to mine.
“Cai’s bed too?”
The question was innocent but full of weary question. Even at two years old, he needed to know there would still be space for him too.
I reached over and brushed his curls back gently. “Yeah, little man. Your bed too.”
His little shoulders loosened instantly.
“What do you think?” I asked quietly.
He looked down at the trucks one more time before carefully scooting the green truck firmly between mine and Seren’s himself, settling them side by side like there had never been another option.
“My love Mommy and Jakey.”
Jesus Christ.
Something inside me cracked wide open so fast my lungs seized.
Because nobody had ever really chosen me before without conditions attached to it. But this little boy did. And his mother did too.
Before I could say anything, Cai launched himself into my lap with all the grace of a flying bowling ball, giggling hysterically when I caught him against my chest.
“And we love you too,” I managed roughly, holding him tighter for a second. “More than anything in the whole world, buddy.”
He pressed a sticky kiss to my cheek.
I would never get tired of this.
***
The next morning, Cai and I woke up early and made pancakes together for Seren. It all seemed like a great idea, romantic even. I had a message I wanted to tell her. But I had massively miscalculated the fact that Cai loved to make mess more than pancakes.
There was flour on the counters. Flour on the floor.
Somehow, flour on the cookie jar that was literally above the fridge, which felt physically impossible, considering Cai’s height, even standing on his toddler stool, and I’d spent most of the morning trying to stop him from licking batter directly from the whisk.
My little sous-chef stood on the chair, said whisk in hand, pointing it toward the ceiling as he announced, “My am Pancake King!”
“You absolutely are,” I agreed with a chuckle.
“More eggs,” he shouted, more than likely alerting Seren that chaos was afoot.
The Valkyries won their game yesterday, and since it was Seren’s first one back on pitch since the accident, it gave her a confidence boost she needed.
But also she deserved to rest this morning since she’s been non-stop fighting with Nate about her helping him.
It was a long road still, and I wanted to make sure my girl knew we’ve got her back.
“Buddy, we already used the eggs.”
He gasped dramatically. “All eggs?”
“Every single egg in California.”
Which was correct, and I was pretty sure there was more shell than actual egg in the pancakes stacked at a worrying angle beside the stove. Truly, that was the least of my worries at this point.
“Okay, we need to find the strawberries,” I said, clapping my hands together. I checked the counter for them and came up blank.
“Strawberries in my tummy.” Cai laughed, rubbing his cute little stomach.
“All of them?”
He nodded, licking his lips.
“Okay.” I exhaled. “That’s okay, bud. We can work with syrup.”
I didn’t even hear her come into the kitchen.
“You guys have been busy.”
Seren stood in the doorway in one of my hoodies, hair messy from sleep, arms folded loosely across her chest while she took in the absolute destruction surrounding us.
“Mommy!” he shouted instantly. “I Pancake King!”
“I can see that.” She laughed brightly.
Her eyes moved to me then, taking in the flour across my chest and the smear of batter I could feel crusting near my jaw before her smile widened.
“And are you also a pancake king?”
“The management structure in this kitchen is extremely aggressive. I am whatever he says I am.”
Her nose wrinkled when she smiled and ran her hand over Cai’s hair before pressing a kiss there.
“Mama, eat pancakes!” Cai demanded, picking one up and all but shoving it into her lips.
Seren spluttered but managed to intercept before it went fully into her mouth. “Okay, baby, let’s sit down first.”
When we sat down at the table, the pancakes looked terrible.
Cai looked incredibly proud of himself.
Seren looked beautiful.
And I suddenly couldn’t wait anymore.
I watched her cut up pancakes for Cai while he kicked his little legs against the chair, rambling about syrup and strawberries, and absolutely none of it felt scary anymore. My plan was already all over the place, so it made sense to me when I blurted, “I want to come home to this every day.”
Seren paused, looking up at me, knife and fork stilling.
“You’re sure?”
“Without a doubt.”
Her head tilted. “Even when it’s chaos and there’s flour glued to countertops and Cai’s eaten all the fruit before breakfast?” she asked.
“Especially then.”
“I did strawberries,” Cai informed us proudly.
“You sure did, buddy.” Warmth bloomed in my chest at his little self and how much I loved him.
Seren’s mouth twitched, but her eyes were shining.
“I know this is probably supposed to be some huge romantic speech,” I said, laughing softly at myself. “And I had plans, actually. Better plans than this. There were supposed to be strawberries involved and grand gestures.”
She snuffled a watery laugh.
“But I love you,” I said simply. “And I love him. And someday, I’m gonna marry you and steal your last name because I want to be a family together.”
Her face crumpled slightly at that, emotion hitting her all at once.
“But for now,” I continued more gently, “I want you to move in with me. I want us together properly. No back-and-forth. No pretending this isn’t already a family.”
She looked at me, then at Cai, then around the kitchen madness surrounding us.
“You want all of this?” she whispered.
I looked at the mess again. Syrup on the table. Flour on the floor. Tiny fingerprints on my shirt. Cai currently trying to feed a pancake to his toy truck.
Every single piece of it.
“More than anything,” I admitted.
Cai frowned. “Mommy crying?”
Seren laughed through it immediately, wiping under her eyes. “Happy crying, baby.”
I moved closer to her, resting my hand against the side of her face while my thumb caught another tear before it could fall.
Seren made this broken little sound between a laugh and a sob, covering her mouth. God, I loved her. Loved the way she felt everything so fully even when she tried not to.
Then Cai climbed directly into her lap, syrupy hands and all.
“No crying, Mommy,” he informed her solemnly, patting her cheek and leaving an imprint. “Jakey make pancakes.”
She laughed again and looked at me over Cai’s head. I watched the exact second it settled inside her that I meant it. The chaos. The sleepless nights. The responsibility. Her. Cai. The whole beautifully messy package deal.
“You’re serious aren’t you?” she asked again. I wondered how many times she would check to make sure.
“Seren,” I said, smiling. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. You are both the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I am so lucky to be loved by you.”
Her eyes filled again.
“I want to be together for the mornings and the messes and the hard days too. I want Cai’s trucks in the living room, and your shampoo in my shower, and both of your shoes by the door.
I want the boring stuff, the tired stuff, the stuff nobody writes songs about unless they’ve really loved somebody.
” My throat pulled tight, but I kept smiling. “I want it all. Exactly as you are.”
Her mouth trembled as she smiled through the emotion. “I want all of that, too.”
Playing house was one thing, but there was nothing pretend about what I wanted for our future, nothing imagined about the life I could already feel settling into place around us. I was going to keep them forever.
***
Thank you for reading Jake & Seren's story.