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Each year, our family grew.
There was Sophie, who came first, yet she wasn’t the oldest. We also added to our family two more siblings for Sophie to grow up with. Jaden was a fourteen-year-old boy who’d been in the foster system since he was a toddler. He had a heart of gold, and it felt like the biggest gift for me to be able to love him. The other day, while I was playing basketball with him, he told me he thought he’d never get this, a family.
Me too, kid. Me too.
Turned out sometimes wishes come true in tenfold.
Then there was Kai, a beautiful little girl of the age of eleven. She was a wild child whose soul felt safest whenever she was near the water. I’d spent so much time building the trust of that sweet little girl. She’d spent more days afraid than not, and she didn’t speak a word when she came to us at the age of eight. Now, it was almost impossible to get her and her siblings to be quiet.
I didn’t mind the noise of the house. It reminded me of my blessings each day.
I once lived within quiet walls, and I prayed I’d never find myself back there.
Then there was the next to come. Stella was currently two months pregnant, though the kids didn’t know another sibling was on their way to us. It was our secret for a little more time, and I couldn’t wait for the day to see my other children hold him or her as a newborn.
“Daddy, come in the water!” Sophie screamed as she splashed around with Kai, Jaden, and the sweetest dog ever, Milo. Each night, Milo slept next to Jaden after years of always being by my side.
The best kind of traitor. I was convinced that Jaden needed Milo more than I had. Maybe Milo needed him, too.
I’d join them in the water in a moment, yet for a few seconds, I stood back in awe as I watched my family, my world, dancing so freely within the waves. I studied their laughter. Stella’s chuckles being just as loud as the kids. Her sounds were still my favorite, and I was certain that would never change. But my children…
My children were my world.
Sure, they didn’t look like me. Some of their skin was darker, and some was light. Some had brown eyes, and others had green. None of that mattered to me because I saw it. I saw it every time I tucked them into bed at night. I saw it when I helped them with their homework. I saw it when they slammed their bedroom doors when I pissed them off. I saw it when they’d wrap their arms around me and hold on so tight.
I saw it in their eyes.
That was where I saw it the most.
It was within their eyes that I saw how their souls matched my own. It was in their eyes that I knew we were always destined to be a family. I wouldn’t change a thing about my life, either, if I knew it would lead me to them.
Those children were mine, and I was their father.
We were one, not by blood but by our entangled souls, which made it all that much more beautiful.
Stella and the kids were the beats that lived within my heart. They were my wishes and dreams all come true. My favorite universal blessings.
And that was more than enough.
Epilogue #2
Damian
Three Months Later
With the approaching holidays,I felt as if my life was in overdrive. Stella and I always had gone all out for the kids for Christmas, which meant we were always exhausted. Still, we loved it. Cooking blueberry scones on Christmas morning was our favorite tradition. Plus, over the years, we’d been able to add more and more traditions.
On Christmas Eve, I stayed a bit longer at the office than I’d hoped, but I was looking forward to the next two weeks in vacation mode with the wife and kids.
When I stood from my desk to head out, I made sure everything was in order. I exited the building, then began to lock the front door. I was surprised when I heard a voice calling out my name.
“Hey, Damian? Are you Damian Blackstone?” a stranger asked.
I turned around to meet his stare. I was thrown off as I looked into a set of eyes that seemed far too familiar.
“Yes, I am,” I replied, on high alert. I smoothed my hands over my peacoat. “Do I know you?”
He nervously chuckled as he brushed the palm of his hand against the back of his neck. “No, you don’t. Well, I mean, shit.” He muttered under his breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Honestly I didn’t even know you existed.”
