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“What are you doing here?” I ask, staring at Delilah.

“There was a fire alarm at the spa, and by the time everything was all sorted, I didn’t feel like staying for my massage,” she explains. She dumps her car keys into the little dish on top of the cabinet near the front door.

“I didn’t expect you back for another hour.”

“Why do you sound like I’m causing a problem being here?” she asks, then raises her eyebrows at me, clearly trying to guess why I’m a little put out.

I hear the footsteps behind me and then Maddie’s sigh.

“You’re not supposed to be here yet!” she scolds.

“What’s going on? You both look really weird. And why are you dressed like that?” Delilah stares at Maddie, taking in the outfit she’s wearing. It’s one Delilah made for her. I remember Maddie laughing when she’d proclaimed she was blessed to always receive a Delilah original dress without having to pay the fees she usually charged.

“Auntie Delilah! Are you ready for the party?” Elliot asks, running down the long hallway and barrelling into Delilah.

She ruffles his hair and leans down to give him a kiss on the cheek and a hug with a little tickle under his arms, making him laugh loudly. The two of them have a special bond. Elliot knows that Delilah carried him, but there’s no confusion about who is who and what the roles are. He’ll refer to Maddie as his cousin, even though they’re half-siblings, and he’ll refer to me and Delilah as his aunt and uncle, the same way Maddie refers to Felix and Caleb as her uncles. We’re all close-knit. It doesn’t feel strange to anybody involved, even if it may seem complicated from the outside. It all feels special to me, even if sometimes it surprises me at how well everything settled down.

Delilah grins at me. “A party?”

“You only turn forty once, Delilah,” I point out.

“I take it with the surprise trip to the spa today that this was meant to be a surprise party and I ruined it?”

“You could never ruin anything,” I proclaim.

She smiles widely and lets Elliot out of the hug, stepping closer to me.

“I think this is amazing, and I never suspected a thing,” she states.

“Really?” I ask. The planning has been going on for ages, with all of us involved. Verity and Simon, Caleb and Felix, Jennifer and Cain, and Maddie.

“Not a clue,” she replies. She pushes up onto her tiptoes and gives me a kiss.

“Urgh. Come on, Elliot, we don’t want to watch this,” Maddie says with a groan.

“Yuck,” Elliot agrees. He and Maddie make a swift exit.

“You really didn’t know?” I ask.

“I did not.”

“I wanted to do something special for my wife,” I murmur.

I reach for her hand, giving it a squeeze and letting my fingers run over the most important rings I’ve ever purchased. The engagement ring that she sobbed over when I got down on one knee and presented it to her, crying so hard that I initially panicked that she hated it. The wedding ring that I slipped onto her finger in the church as she held back tears, having previously told me that she was not going to ruin her make-up.

“You always do,” she whispers.

“Because you are my choice, Delilah,” I remind her.

“I am yours, and you are mine.” She gives me another of her beautiful smiles.

The last eight years have been filled with smiles, even if there have been tears along the way. The first year after we reconnected was bumpy, and I’m sure at some points she wanted to call it quits, that she thought it would be easier to stop. There were heated arguments and stony silences, but early on when we reconnected, Caleb gave me some sound advice about how to best proceed: “Delilah is like Felix. They’re both prickly, but when they want to retreat and run, you have to toughen up and hold her close. Get stung and hold on. Take those barbs and stings, prove you’re stronger than the lashes, prove you’re there for the long haul. Don’t just tell her she’s safe. Show her. Prove it. Anything less and you'll lose her.”

There was scrutiny from my parents, being introduced to my new girlfriend, a woman who was carrying her friends’ baby and was also the mother of the grandchild they previously knew nothing about. My mother, though, was the first one to ease the tensions. She doted on Maddie, but more than that, she doted on Delilah. My mother had always wanted a large family, and being able to step somewhat into that mothering position with Delilah went a long way to them forming a deep bond. I know Delilah feels lucky that she has Verity, Jennifer, and my mother, who all love her like she’s their daughter.

My father relented when he saw how determined we were and how well we weathered the storms. There was a flurry of news reports when the news broke that I had a teenage daughter. It didn’t take too long for some stories to float to the surface to confirm that I did teach at Delilah’s school, but things quickly settled down. What really turned my dad’s opinion was Maddie. He loved getting to know her, and they bonded over their love of classic books, my dad often buying her special editions for her collection.

Even with smoothed-out connections with our families and friends, there were still arguments to navigate. For the first few months after we reconnected, every time there was a minor disagreement or issue that cropped up, I’m sure Delilah was braced for me to tell her it was over, or she was poised to tell me she was done. Our relationship was further complicated by me flying back and forth between the UK and the US for filming commitments, splitting myself between the need to complete the final film and my desire to be with her, and I knew how difficult it was for her to convince herself I was always going to come back.