Epilogue #2
“And you think I do?” Winnie laughed and threaded their fingers, holding him tight, sharing not only her own uncertainty, but her conviction and her strength. “We’ll figure it out together.”
Back in the chopper, Tyler scrubs his palms over his face. He can’t miss this. He needs to be there for her, for them both.
When the chopper lands at the hospital, he jumps out as soon as the pilots give the okay and races inside.
A coordinator is there waiting, and while he usually loathes special treatment, he just won the city a championship and if they want to give him the VIP treatment, then that’s a-okay with him, especially if it means getting to Winnie faster.
The man leads him to a special elevator.
When they hit the correct floor, Tyler asks for the room number and takes off running. He hears her voice before he sees her.
“Don’t be shy! We used to take baths together.”
“Yeah.” Alex scoffs. “When we were two.”
“It’s my hour of need. You can’t say no.”
“Yes I can, you weirdo. I am not helping you with this.”
“Why not?” she whines, and a grin pulls at Tyler’s lips. He expected her to be pissed off and out of her mind. A foot-stomping level of frustration is much easier to manage. But Alex’s response has him frowning.
“I’m not talking about sex with my sister!”
What? Tyler stops outside the door, too curious to interrupt. They’re still in the delivery room and the coordinator told him she’s just in early labor. A few seconds won’t matter.
“Oh my god. Look at me right now, Alex. I’m about to literally pop with your best friend’s child. I think we’re old enough to move past that.”
“Not me. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the Virgin Mary.”
She snorts. Outside the door, Tyler does the same. Sorry, bro. I can fully confirm she is one-hundred-percent not a virgin, many, many times over.
“Please, please, pleaaaaaase! Don’t think about the fact that it’s a sex scene. Just take your shirt off, pick up my duffel, turn that way, and clench your jaw. There’s something I’m not getting quite right about this muscle tone and I can’t tell what it is. I need you.”
Tyler grins. He suddenly understands exactly what is going on, and as he pushes open the door to find his best friend practically growling as he poses with a furious expression on his face, the truth is only confirmed.
Winnie doesn’t even notice him walk in. She’s too focused on the tablet on her lap, gaze darting quickly between her brother and the artwork she’s almost finished creating.
“That’s actually perfect,” she comments softly. “The hero is a werewolf and you’re totally giving me pissed-off alpha vibes right now.”
“I don’t know,” Tyler quips, stepping fully into the room. “I’ve always thought of him as more of a beta.”
“You’re here!” Winnie turns to him with a grin. “Congratulations! You were amazing! And I’m going to give you a big kiss, I promise, but first, could you stand over there too, because this scene is actually a threesome and I could use you—”
“No,” Alex interrupts. “Just—no.” He turns to Tyler in accusation. “You actually do this for her all the time?”
Tyler shrugs. “If you think I’ve never cosplayed a dragon shifter before, you clearly don’t know your sister.”
“He did it last night without complaint,” Winnie murmurs, tossing a burning glance in his direction. Tyler smirks knowingly back.
“Ewwwww!” Alex interjects. “Ew! I did not need to know that!”
“Stop being such a baby.” Winnie rolls her eyes. “You— Fuck! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
“What’s happening?” Tyler runs to her side. Alex is right there too.
“Contraction,” he explains, clearly having been through this before.
“Push on my back,” she wheezes, eyes squeezed tight.
Tyler immediately launches into action, remembering the moves they practiced in those classes.
He digs his fingers into her lower back, massaging her hips and her spine, trying to locate the pressure points the Lamaze coach mentioned.
Winnie leans to one side to give him more room to work and grabs at her brother’s hands as a hiss of pain escapes her.
“Ow! Shit, Win,” Alex moans. “You’re going to break my fucking hand!”
“Consider it payback for all the times you farted directly onto my face, you asshole,” she says through gritted teeth.
Alex flares his nostrils but doesn’t say anything else as they all fight through this thing together. When it passes, Winnie drops back against the pillow with a heavy sigh, then grabs her tablet.
“Okay, where were we? I really want to finish this piece before the baby comes. It’s my last commission before I start maternity leave.”
Alex just shakes his head. “I’m out.”
“What?” Her lower lip pouts.
“Don’t even give me that, Win. Ty’s here. He’s the one who did this to you. I’m going to find Mom and Dad.”
“But—but—”
“Good luck.” On his way out, Alex pats Tyler on the shoulder, then leans close to mutter. “You’re going to need it.”
Then he’s gone.
“Maybe we should put a little pause on work?” Tyler murmurs hesitantly. “Just until, I don’t know, you’re not in labor anymore?”
Winnie frowns. “I need the distraction.”
“I know, but—”
“Get over there and hold the bag.”
“Win.”
“Get over there and hold the bag,” she repeats, her eyes blazing.
And—yup—angry pregnant Winnie strikes again.
Tyler gets in position without another word.
He admires her dedication. In the past five years, she’s built a massive business for herself, with a waitlist of clients and a horde of loyal followers.
Their bookshelves are lined with covers she’s designed, special editions filled with her artwork, and various other bookish goodies she’s crafted for subscription boxes and her own solo shop.
But maybe, just this once, they could put work on hold for a moment to finish the small, minuscule, not-at-all-lifechanging task of having their first child.
They go back and forth like this for as long as they can.
Winnie doesn’t quite finish the painting, but eventually her contractions become too painful and too frequent to work through.
Tyler is there the whole time, fetching her ice chips, pushing on her back, letting her squeeze the life out of his hands because he already won the championship and he won’t need them for a few months anyway.
The nurses and doctors come and go with so little sense of urgency Tyler wants to rip their heads off, because he’s damn near close to losing his mind.
They just smile and laugh and tell him to hang in there, Dad.
The epidural helps when Winnie is finally able to get one, but then it’s time for her to push, and holy shit, nothing could have prepared him for this.
Tyler wraps his arm around Winnie’s thigh, bracing her leg as she screams bloody murder.
All sense of time vanishes. The world narrows down to burning muscles and gritty praises and guttural moans, the doctor telling her to push.
Then suddenly, there’s hair, and a head, and a full-on baby.
The nurse hands him a pair of scissors, and a cry pierces the air.
It’s the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard.
He grabs Winnie’s hand as the nurses clean the baby.
“You did it, babe,” he murmurs, pressing his forehead to hers, completely overwhelmed. “You did it. He’s here. He’s so perfect. You’re amazing. I love you. I love you so much.”
Tears stream down her cheeks as the nurse places their son against her chest, and he turns his tiny head, searching for her skin.
He calms down the moment his cheek finds her breast, his little chin quivering as his cries still, and he falls fast asleep in the comfort of her arms. For the first time in Tyler’s life, a word comes to him unprompted, without struggle—mine.
He places his large hand over his son’s small body, holding him there against his mother’s chest, as this new feeling burns to life in his soul, a love unlike anything he’s ever known.
He can already see them bringing the baby home, walking circles around the kitchen island as they desperately try to rock him to sleep, cheering him on as he finds the courage to take that first big step, buying him his first tiny pair of skates, finding his face in a crowd of thousands as he cheers for his old man, seeing him circle the ice in his own jersey, watching him fall hard for the girl he’ll one day make his wife.
The scenes flash, one by one, like a movie in fast-forward, each more spectacular than the last.
A thick plug clogs Tyler’s throat.
He will never understand why the dream of him wasn’t enough for his parents, but he makes a silent promise right then that his own son will always know how cherished he is, how important, how loved.
He can’t change the past, but he can forge his own future.
And that future is the woman in his arms, the boy cradled against her chest, and the children yet to come.
He will spend the rest of his life making sure they understand they’re his everything.
“Chin up, Briggs,” Winnie whispers with a sparkle in her eye, as if she can sense the sudden heaviness to his heart. “We’ve got this.”
He presses a loving kiss to her lips. “Always.”