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I don't answer her right away because this last thing that I need to do definitely requires some dramatic flair. There, in front of everyone, I dropped down on one knee and pull a small velvet box out of my pocket. No one knew what I had planned, not even my secretary who lets out a little squeal of excitement. Tabitha clasps her hands over her mouth, and Teddie looks over curiously to see what I’m doing.
“I have loved you for far too long not to have acted on it before now,” I say as I look up at Tabitha and her tear-filled eyes. “I hope that finally you can forgive me for the time that it took me to come around and for letting you down in the past. But I promise you now, Tabitha, that I will never let you down again. You can count on me to be here for you, and our little family, and our unborn child, and to love all of you every minute, every day for the rest of my life. Won’t you please be my wife?”
“Yes! Yes, of course I will!” Tabitha says as she is overwhelmed with emotion.
I put the ring on her finger and stand up, just as she throws her arms around my neck and kisses me. Everyone in the conference room cheers and claps, even Archie with the help of Teddie.
A lavish wedding was planned in record time before the baby is born. It’s a pleasure to watch Tabatha be able to design the fairytale wedding of her dreams when money is no obstacle at all. And on the big day, with her swollen belly wrapped in white lace, Tabitha is the most beautiful bride that I have ever laid eyes on.
Jax is my best man at the wedding, and there isn’t a dry eye in the house when we exchange our vows. Teddie, of course, is the ringbearer with Archie as his wingman.
But the best part of the day is during the evening, after the reception is dying down and it’s just me, Tabitha, and Jax reminiscing together about how we got here. Teddie is asleep on the couch cushion with the new nanny rubbing his back with her wrinkled hands. And the three of us are sitting together just like old times, exceptnow, Tabitha is mywife, and everyone is done running away.
“Can you believe it?” Jax says, his cheeks warm with the flush of afterparty cocktails. “It’s about damn time I can finally stop having to play referee between you two. This is going to work out great for me—my sister and my best friend together,andI get to be an official uncle now.”
Tabitha laughs and makes a joke about how this was all an elaborate plot to test his patience.
“No seriously though,” he says with a nostalgic look in his eyes. “I’m really happy for you guys. This is how it was always meant to work out for your two. I always knew it.”
The three of us clink our glasses together in cheers to that sentiment before calling it a night. But Tabitha has one more surprise before I whisk her off to our wedding night bedroom.
“Hang on,” she says as she reaches down into the corset of her dress. “There’s something that I want to show you, something that I’ve been saving until tonight.”
She pulls out a small square black and white picture.
“Oh cool!” Jax says as he snatches it from her hand to look at. “It’s one of those baby pictures.”
“Yeah,” she laughs. “But it’s not justanyultrasound picture, it’s a very special one.”
“Special how?” he asks.
I reach over and pull the picture away from him so that I can take a look.
I manage to make out the head and nose, and what I think are little arms and legs. The picture is blurry, and the baby’s eyes make it look a little bit like an alien. But I’m not sure exactly what makes this picture so special.
Jax leans over and stares at it with me, both of us confused about what it is that we are looking at exactly while Tabitha giggles lightly from beside me.
“It’s notinthe picture,” she says, pointing to the white edge of the photograph where there are tiny words printed in black.
I turn the picture on its side so that I can read the words—Tabitha’s name, my name, the date, and—
For a moment, I just stare at the last word at the edge of the image and feel the tear sting the corner of my eye as I read it.
“I thought that our wedding day would be a good time for the gender reveal,” Tabitha smiles.
Chapter Fifteen
Tabitha
I can’t believe it’s been over a year already.
For years it seemed like time stood still while I wandered aimlessly trying to figure my life out and pined for a love that I thought I would never have. And now it’s as if time is flying by faster than I can hold onto it. Every minute is another page in my fairytale story, and I couldn’t be happier.
“You arethemost adorable big brother,” I say as I bend down to give Teddie a kiss on the cheek.
He is sitting over Emily, dangling Archie over his new little sister’s head as she grabs for it and smooshes the little bear against her face with squeals of delight.
I watch the two of them play for another minute or two before heading to my writing studio to work. Our new nanny is the sweetest woman, and she has become like the adopted grandma that I never had. She’s like part of the family now, and both Teddie and Emily love her dearly.
