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“Yep.” Wyatt reached for the remote control. “I heard about this one from a guy at the office. He swore up and down that it’s the scariest movie you’ll ever watch.”

“Ooo,” Tasha said, rolling her eyes as she got up to get the lights. “I’m so scared now.”

“You will be,” he muttered. “None of us are sleeping tonight. Guaranteed.”

Tasha scoffed, flipping the switch before moving back to her chair. As Alicia leaned into me and the movie started playing, Wyatt and Tasha kept arguing quietly about whether the protagonist was going to die, but honestly, I didn’t even know which character they were talking about.

With my wife in my arms and the soft warmth of her pressed up against me, the exhaustion of grilling approximately seven thousand hotdogs was catching up. I leaned my head back against the couch, my eyes sliding shut until I felt her cheek shift against my shoulder.

“Should we tell them?” she whispered when I cracked open an eye to find her staring up at me. “About the you-know-what.”

I did know what. For the last few days, the result of that pregnancy test had been the only thing I’d been able to think about. For safety’s sake, I’d gone out the morning after to buy a few more. Just in case. But they’d all come back with the same result.

Alicia and I were definitely having a baby.

Smiling as I leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead, I whispered, “Let’s wait. I like having something that’s just ours for now.”

Across the room, Wyatt was laughing at Tasha, who was providing rapid-fire commentary on a plot hole she’d apparently uncovered, both of them completely unaware that there was another little person in the room with us right now.

Part of me was dying to tell my brother. Seriously. I’d never been one for gossip, but this wasn’t that and I genuinely wanted to share the good news with him. For now, however, Alicia and I hadn’t even been to the doctor yet.

Just for a couple more weeks at least, I was perfectly happy basking in the joy of our little secret without sharing it with anyone else. She smiled back at me and rested her head against my shoulder again.

“Okay,” she whispered as she settled in, the faint traces of that smile still on her lips. “I like it too, so let’s wait.”

She tucked herself closer against me and I kissed the top of her head, tightening my grip on her fingers when she slid them between mine. The movie kept playing, Wyatt laughing whenever someone got chased by the killer and Tasha occasionally throwing popcorn she’d sworn to pick up herself at him.

Since I hadn’t been following the movie, I let my mind wander to what Alicia had spoken to me about a couple of days ago. She wanted to fund reading corners in community centers across the city, bringing books to kids who couldn’t always get to a library. While she was at it, she was going to volunteer her time at those reading corners, teaching kids who were struggling to read and bringing her passion for her former job directly to those who needed it most.

It had gotten me thinking about how I used to believe that wealth made people greedy, snobbish, and excluding of others. But together, she and I could use our wealth to leave the world a little better than we’d found it.

Along with the fact that we were starting a family, the future we’d been talking about was something I was genuinely looking forward to. It was crazy.

All my life, I’d judged people who claimed to be as happy as I was right now. I’d thought love was for suckers and kids for people interested in enduring cruel and unusual torture for at least eighteen years. But I’d also never thought I could actually have it.

Alicia had proven to me that I could. She’d shown me what it was like to be loved despite the darkness inside. She’d taught me the greatest thing I could leave behind wasn’t money or a name. It was the family we were going to build.

A growth chart carved directly into the wood. Pictures of memories we’d created together. A home built on love, warmth, and all that other shit I never used to believe in.

Frankly, sometimes, it felt like I’d had a personality transplant, but then I’d realized it hadn’t been that. Alicia had simply melted the ice I’d spent my entire life hiding behind.

EPILOGUE

ALICIA

It was late November, and although we were still a couple days away from the calendar officially bringing us to winter, fall was firmly in our rearview mirror. Snowflakes drifted lazily past the kitchen windows, already collecting along the back steps and turning the garden white.

While it wasn’t enough yet to stick everywhere, it had settled on the bare branches of the trees and dusted the porch railing, making Holden itch to start decorating for Christmas. I’d made him promise to wait until December first, but he was raring to go.

Which meant he was now climbing the walls and practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as he watched me fill out the final part of my application. I sat at the kitchen island with my laptop open, one hand resting against my stomach while I stared at the heading of the page.

Master of Library and Information Science.

I’d already filled out almost everything, providing information on my education, employment history, and references. I’d uploaded a personal statement. All I had left to do was this one section, but Holden stood so close behind me that I could feel his breath ghosting across the back of my neck.

“You know, there’s still time to reconsider,” he murmured, both hands sliding onto my hips and tugging me back until I was firmly fitted against him. “Give yourself a break until after the baby gets here.”

I glanced up at him, leaning my cheek against his chin as I fought the shiver of desire that wanted to race through me now that he was touching me like this. “I’m aware, but it’s been almost two months at home for me and that’s enough. I can’t take it anymore. I need to do something.”