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“I know, I know. Delaney knows best.”
“Yes she does,” she says, beaming as we slide into the front of the car and meet in the middle for a soft kiss.
“Have I told you how much I love you today?” I murmur, my heart still thundering whenever I so much as get near her. She is quite certainly the reason my blood continues to pump in my veins. I never understood what it was to be alive until I met her that day in the coffee house. Since then, my path became clear, and I have walked sure and true, hand in hand with my love. And if it’s at all possible, I’ve fallen further and deeper for her in the meantime.
“You have. But I always want to hear it.”
“I love you, Delaney.”
“I love you, too.”
Most guys I know say that the best part of being married is the lead up to the wedding. But for me, getting married was just the start. After a somewhat tumultuous beginning, Delaney and I settled into married life at what we thought would be the height of our love for each other. But then we just kept living at that height, feeling obsessed with each other, possessed by the need to be together. And my love grew. Then she fell pregnant with our first and my heart expanded to fit more in, then more, and more, until I realized that when you’ve found your soulmate, your ability to love is infinite. The point of being together is because you’re a completion of each other, a complement to each other. So of course it works, because you belong.
“Are you ready to go?” Delaney says, buckling herself in. “We’ve not got long until our tiniest munchkin wakes up and wants food. I’m hoping we’ll be there before that happens so I’m not feeding roadside.”
“In that case,” I say, starting up the car. “It’s Oakwood Falls, here we come!”
DELANEY
A very muscular young man named Sven takes the keys and offers to park our car when we arrive at Aunty Joan’s estate. “He’s new,” Nate says, as we collect the kids and our overnight bags then head inside.
I giggle as I watch him drive to the garages in our car. “She does enjoy collecting,” I muse, loving that Aunty Joan actually did what she said she would and replaced her entire staff with muscular men. Some are ex-strippers, some are models, but all of them are candy for the sweet lady, and I swear that’s how she stays so young.
“Happy 100thbirthday, Aunty Joan!” I sing-song when we get inside and find her sitting in the entry hall speaking with Tony and Lucy about the size of the guest list. Seems the muscular man she charged with party preparations went through every telephone and address book she’s ever kept and invited them all. And after 100 years on this earth, there are a lot of people Aunty Joan has connected with. So it’s quite a turn out.
“I thought this was supposed to be a surprise party?” Nate says as we say quick hellos to Tony, Lucy, and their now-teenaged kids. Despite our early issues with Tony, we’ve come to hold each other in higher regard in the years since. He’s apologized many times for snooping the way he did, and by now we’ve definitely forgiven him. “What are you doing sitting in the entry hall like a queen receiving her people?” That last part is directed to Aunty Joan as he presses a kiss to her rouge-covered cheek.
“Oh, it was supposed to be a big surprise,” she says. “But I’m not so old that my brain quit working. I figured it out when Tommy asked where I keep my address book. I mean, honestly, what other reason could the man have for wanting it in the year I hit the century. One and one equals two and all that.” She nods her head proudly, always loving that no one has ever been able to pull the wool over her eyes on anything.
“Sharp as a tack, Aunty Joan,” I say as I press a kiss to her other cheek. Callum gives her a vigorous hug, and Suki just sleeps. But she’ll be awake and wanting food before long. “Tonight is going to be spectacular. I just know it.”
“Oh, of course. I’m getting some of these housemen to do a dance for us. PG of course, don’t want to damage the children.” She cackles and holds out her hand, a brunette man, who I think is called Roy, quickly comes to her aid and helps her into the next room where I can hear more chatter from guests. “Come and get something to drink. It’s a party.”
“We’ll just drop our things off in our room and feed the baby, then we’ll be down,” I say, accepting the offer when Lucy offers to watch Callum for us so he can go and see Tommy and Tarryn and their kids who are still ten and eight, so a bit more fun for a three-year-old boy to play with.
“Looks like we’re in for a big night,” Nate says as he hoists the baby carrier onto the big bed.
“Well, Aunty Joan never does things by halves,” I say as I coo at Suki and lift her from her carrier for a feed before I change her. Oh, have I mentioned howgorgeousNate is when looking after our children? I’ve never seen a man who dotes on his kids the way my man does. Somehow, just seeing such a huge, strong man be so incredibly gentle with a tiny human just turns me into a big puddle of mush. If I wasn’t already head over heels for him at the get-go, this fatherhood stuff would have been the clincher. He’s a dream, and I’m so proud of the person he’s become.
When we finished up our Christmas cruise, we spent the time between Christmas and New Year holed up together, just taking some one on one time. It gave him the chance to work out what he wanted to do next in life. Of course, we had our wedding to plan, but most important for Nate’s peace of mind was finding somewhere to shift his professional focus. He didn’t want to be a man of leisure, despite what the trust and my company could afford us and acting would always be a big part of who he is. So, he turned to teaching.
At first, he wasn’t too sure how much he’d enjoy it. But once he had the chance to mentor and share his own love for the arts with others, he realized it was exactly what he’d been looking for.
Every facet of our lives seemed complete. We had each other, our careers, and it wasn’t long until our own little family came along to add to our joy. And now, five years later, life is good. It’s great, in fact. In each other, we have everything we’d ever want.
There hasn’t been a moment over the last five years where I’ve had a moment of regret over how we started or how far we’ve come. Nate and I connected from the start, and we’ll continue to be connected, completing each other from now until the day we take our last breaths, filled with years and years of happy memories. Because as Aunty Joan says, that’s all that really matters—the happy moments. And I’ll be forever grateful to her for providing the catalyst that helped me to find my happiest of moments in meeting the love of my life. Nate might have started out as a Band-Aid to fix a problem, but he very quickly became the salve that healed all of my wounds. With him by my side, there’s nothing we can’t do. He completes me. He’s mine. And I am his. For always.
