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Like I always will.
Every day for the rest of our lives.Extended EpilogueOne Year LaterSadieI can’t help but smile with heavenly contentment as I watch Aaron cradle, Lacey, to his chest, grinning over her head at me, his eyes widening as though in amazement. He came back from overseas last month, but he still looks downright stunned every time he cradles his niece.
“She’s got Mom’s eyes,” he mutters for about the hundredth time.
Not that I resent him for it.
I could hear that exact same sentence a million times and never tire of it.
We all sit in the living room—our living room.
It’s winter break again, only this time Celina – Saul’s mother – is here with her husband, Raymond. Fiona has brought along her new boyfriend, Kenny, and Lacey seems delighted to have her uncle here. At three months, she’s already one of the most expressive people I’ve ever met.
Every moment, every single millisecond with her is a gift.
“Who wants cocoa?” my husband calls from the door, standing there in his knight’s tabard, a wide grin on his face.
“Oh, Saul,” Celina says with a smile. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you in that silly old thing.”
“Believe it or not, Mother,” Saul says good-naturedly, carrying the tray into the room and placing it on the table, “this is not the exact same one I used to wear as a kid.”
I giggle and sink into his embrace as he sits next to me. Jasper stays where he is beneath Aaron and Lacey, curling up protectively beneath our daughter. It’s been the same ever since we brought her home from the hospital, Jasper standing vigil, Lacey delighting in pawing at his face and Jasper never begrudging her affection.
“I’m so proud of you,” Saul whispers in my ear as everybody else falls into their own private conversations, Aaron cooing at Lacey, Celina, and Raymond sharing a silent moment, Fiona seeming as love struck as I was last winter.
I can’t help but glow as his words smooth over me, making me feel warm and loved, and like I belong.
I really freaking belong.
“Not only are you the best mother in the world,” he goes on, his breath tickling me temptingly, “but you aced college this semester, just like I knew you would.”
I kiss him on the cheek, feeling the warmth of his skin, forcing myself to only kiss his cheek lest my husband’s heat and passion infects me and I get silly ideas into my head … ideas better left for later when we aren’t surrounded by other people.
He gives me that look, full of intense passion, and I just know he’s ready for later to come.
He looks so strong and sturdy and freaking husbandly as he sits there in the tabard, his thick arms tight in the undershirt, his strong jaw dotted black and silver with a light beard.
All through the pregnancy and after the birth, he’s never stopped giving me that look. I was shocked at first when I ballooned in size and my belly sprouted a watermelon.
“Nothing will ever stop me from being attracted to you,” he growled to me mid-pregnancy, his hand smoothing up between my legs, finding the wetness there. “I love you too much for that.”
Now, I lean across and bring my mouth to his ear, my heart thudding in anticipation for later.
“Saul,” I whisper.
“Hmm?”
“Do you think you could wear that to bed later?”
He smiles. “Just try and stop me, Sparkplug.”Extended EpilogueTen Years LaterSaul“I told you it wasn’t all fun and games,” Sadie says, standing over the children with her arms folded, an expression of pure maternal responsibility on her face.
I watch from the entrance of the enclosure, a big grin on my face as Lacey shovels up the muck, our determined daughter unwilling to let this task faze her. She wears her Sadie-blonde hair in a braid down her back, wearing the Gold Memorial Zoo T-shirt proudly.
I feel the same pride blooming in my chest every time I think about this zoo, built-in memory of her parents, and maintained to a standard that has won more awards than I can count.
Watching my wife grow into her dreams has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life.
“Look, Daddy, I’m a gorilla,” Zack sings gleefully, stomping up and down the enclosure with his hands held high.
Our five year old isn’t putting the same zeal into the task as his older sister, evidently.
“Come on, little man,” I smile, walking over and ruffling his dark hair. “We wouldn’t want to make our taskmaster angry, would we?”
I shoot Sadie a sly look and she gives me one right back, looking beautiful as she always does, even in her baggy T-shirt and working cargo pants and boots. Her hair is peeled back in a no-nonsense ponytail, but that only serves to highlight the cuteness of her face, the spunkiness of her Sparkplug eyes.
