Epilogue
Palmer
One Year Later
“Hurry! Hurry!” Hailey said impatiently as we spread out the pink and white quilt on the plush grass. Raleigh and I had made it ourselves for this special purpose.
“Okay, okay,” I said, smiling at the little girl’s excitement. She was practically vibrating with it.
When we finished laying down the corners, Hailey leapt on top of it. “My bag, please!” She held out an impatient hand.
“Got it,” I said, passing her the canvas tote.
Hailey grinned, getting more comfortable on the quilt before pulling out the framed picture of her mother. She leaned it carefully against the shining gravestone in front of her, and her grin grew into a smile so wide all her teeth showed—including the gap where she’d lost one last week.
I stood and backed up a few paces, giving her space.
We had been visiting Jessica’s grave at least once every few months since she had turned eight, and it had quickly become something Hailey looked forward to.
A warm body pressed against my back, and Roman wrapped his arms around me.
I sighed and leaned into him, tilting my face up toward the sun shining in the cloudless sky. Spring had come with an unseasonable warmth, and the rays soaked into my skin.
I wore a pink quarter-sleeve shirt, and the feel of the sun and air against my scars was still a strange sensation, though not an unpleasant one. I started gradually wearing things that showed more of my skin last summer, and I’d come to realize that the scars weren’t that ugly after all.
People rarely looked or asked about them.
And when they did, I wasn’t ashamed to talk about that night.
Roman rubbed a hand over the small swell of my stomach and pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot behind my ear, making me shiver.
“Oh my gosh,” we heard Hailey say as she launched into conversation with her mother. “Mom, I am so excited to talk to you.” She clapped her hands to her cheeks like she couldn’t contain herself.
“You know how I told you Palmer was gonna have a baby last time I was here?” She wiggled where she sat and squealed, “I’M GONNA HAVE A LITTLE SISTER!”
She practically shouted the words, and Roman shushed her.
“Be respectful, Hails,” he warned, though there was a hint of a chuckle in his voice.
She glanced back at us. “Sorry,” she said, before turning back to the picture.
“I can not believe it! I mean, I would’ve been happy with a brother too, but a sister is just…so perfect!”
I placed my hands over Roman’s where they rested on my stomach, squeezing. I leaned my head back against his chest.
Hailey continued talking to her mother, catching her up on everything we’d done over the past few months.
A faint flutter stirred in my stomach, and I pressed Roman’s hand down over the spot.
“Did you feel that?” I whispered.
I was still a little stunned by the miracle of the life growing inside me. For as long as I had worked with other people’s children, I had never imagined having kids of my own.
But maybe that had been because I hadn’t met Roman yet.
He hummed softly against my ear.
“Maybe,” he said, though he sounded uncertain.
“It’s still early.” I shrugged. “There’s plenty of time for you to feel her.”
Roman nodded toward Hailey, who was still speaking animatedly to her mother. “I think she’s excited about having a sister.”
I grinned.
I was beyond grateful that Hailey was happy about the baby. For a while, I’d been afraid to tell her. She had been Roman’s only child for so long.
“I’m glad,” I said softly. “I love them both so much.”
Roman’s arms tightened around me.
“I love all of you,” he said, his voice suddenly thick. “So much it hurts.”
I twisted my neck to look up at him. His slate-blue eyes were bright and shining in the sunlight.
“Hurts in a good way?” I raised a brow.
His mouth quirked. “In a way that fills me up so completely, it almost consumes me,” he said. “It hurts in a way that makes me think my heart might explode because it couldn’t possibly hold any more love…but then it somehow does.”
My stomach fluttered, and I didn’t think it was just the baby.
I lifted my hand and pressed my palm to his cheek.
“I love you, Roman,” I said, pouring everything I felt into the words.
“I love you, too,” he said.
Then he kissed me, his lips soft and warm.
Hailey’s laughter carried across the grass as she kept talking, her small voice full of life. The breeze stirred around us, lifting strands of my hair and rustling the quilt’s edges. I felt warm, and whole, and perfectly content.
I leaned into Roman, his arms steady around me, and let myself breathe it all in.
For the first time, I wasn’t bracing myself for goodbyes. This family was mine, and I would hold them close for the rest of my life.
I wasn’t afraid of being discarded or forgotten…because I finally knew where I belonged.