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“If only I was twenty, no, fifteen years younger!” Mrs. Peters warns Jasmine with affection. “You’d have a fight on your hands for that man. They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore,” she gushes, and as Jasmine agrees, I listen to the old lady reflect on how simple things used to be.
How decent people used to be to one another.
About a time when family was everything, and anything else simply wasn’t worth worrying about.
“Are you paying attention, Max?” I whisper to my little man, cradling his tiny body in my palm, marveling at how big he’s getting.
He started the world early, beating Jasmine and me to the altar by a few weeks. Almost two months.
That meant a scary ride for us, but our little family was already rock-solid once Max’s health was given the all-clear.
His mom and I learned just how much love we could cram into one day, into one solitary minute with our son and with each other.
I guess that’s the family my Papa wanted for us all, but it became about other things instead.
But his values of family first, honor, and respect are all still the backbone of what Jasmine, Max, and I have now.
Plus, the missing ingredient that nobody ever took the time to tell me about.
That one little word that took me so long to say out loud, long before I could learn what it truly means.
Love.
“My boy…my little baby boy,” I tell Max, acutely aware that he’s actively listening to me, even if he can’t understand me yet.
“If you do one thing in this life, it’s tofind love. I don’t care where or how it happens. I just hope you do. And when you do, shout it to the world. Tell yourself as much as you tell everyone else how much you love something. That way, you’ll never forget. And you’ll never go a day without saying what matters most.”
I lean down and kiss his baby-soft skin. I feel the familiar warmth of his Mama coming up behind me.
Making sure we’re all doing okay.
“You alright, Rocco?” Jasmine asks, taking Max from me and giving him a big hug.
I sniff, then rub at my eye.
“I think, just got some powder in my eye,” I tell her, a crooked smile quivering with emotion as I follow her lead.
I hug her tight, and Max too.
Thanking her when I tell her how much I love her, how much having her as my wife and little Max as our son means to me.
“I love you both so much,” I remind her, almost feeling bad when she starts to cry, but when I press her, she explains.
“Could you love an extra Martinelli just as much?” she asks, putting my hand on her belly.
Nodding when I ask if she’s saying what I think she is.
“I am,” she whispers. “You’re gonna make the best dad who changes two babies at once in the world. I can feel it,” she smiles, and we both sniff a little before we kiss.
Must be something in that baby powder…
EPILOGUE
FIVE YEARS LATER
Jasmine
“Oh, I’m sorry. But I think that’s my suitcase,” I inform the woman ahead of me, picking up my luggage from the carousel.
