Chapter 39
This was a first.
“Teddy read my bedtime book?” Sam asked Jessica as she buttoned up his blue pyjama top.
His hair was still wet from his shower, his cheeks flushed from the steam.
A new dinosaur—Teddy had argued that Sam deserved a little gift on her birthday too—was clutched in his fist. He’d very begrudgingly left it outside the shower, and it had been the first thing he’d picked up when he was done getting clean.
“We can ask him.”
Sam’s small features morphed into something solemn and cautious. “Teddy sleep here?”
Jessica pushed her hair out of her eyes. Sam wouldn’t understand this until he was much older, but whether Teddy stayed was his decision, not hers. “Is that okay with you?”
Sam nodded. “He can sleep in my room.”
Jessica used his towel to dry his hair again, rubbing vigorously and doing her best to get any leftover moisture from behind his ears before he realised. “What if he slept in my room?”
“Oh.” Sam sucked on his bottom lip. “Why?”
“Because my bed’s bigger.”
The bathroom door creaked as Blue sauntered into the room. She sniffed the air, eyeballed Jessica and swished over to where Sam’s shirt had been discarded. Blue settled herself in amongst the cotton and started purring.
“But my room’s more fun. I have toys. You don’t have any toys.”
Jessica would keep her expression neutral. She would. She would. She would. “Um.”
“I’m going to ask him.” Sam sprinted out of the room, his giggles floating down the hallway behind him and filling the house—their home—with the kind of love she’d always dreamt of.
When Jessica made it to the kitchen, Sam had climbed onto the counter and was swinging his legs while Teddy finished the dinner dishes. He’d insisted on getting her favourite Indian takeaway for her birthday and nudged her out of the kitchen when she automatically started cleaning up.
“You should sleep in my room because Mummy doesn’t have any toys,” Sam said. “Her room’s boring.”
“Is that so?” Teddy asked over the top of Sam’s head with a mischievous waggle of his eyebrows.
Sam clasped his hands together, a picture of pure innocence.
Teddy wiped his hands on a tea towel and then flicked it over his shoulder. His hair was loose, and there were a few dish bubbles stuck to one side. He looked good in her home.
“How about this?” Teddy gestured for Jessica to come closer, pulling her into his arms when she was within reach. “I sleep in Mum’s room tonight, but I’ll borrow Raff’s and Owen’s sleeping bags and we have a boys’ night in the treehouse very soon?”
Sam’s whole body wiggled with excitement as he cheered and pitched forward. Luckily, Teddy scooped him up before he could face plant, and Jessica looped her arms around her boys.
My boys.
This is it.
The beginning she’d been waiting for. Because every new beginning became its own story and this one was going to be her favourite. Jessica had lost count of how many stars she’d wished on for her life to look like this one day. She just needed to make sure everyone else saw it too.
“Sam was wondering if you’d like to read him a bedtime story tonight?” she asked.
“I’d love to.” Teddy tilted his head until his lips brushed her ear. “While I’m doing that, can you get your toys ready for us to play with?”