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Epilogue
Thane
“I love it here,” Faye says to me, walking out into the huge backyard of our new home.
We moved in about a month ago, and it’s been a lot of work getting settled: with the new baby, and a spur of the moment wedding, and moving the five of us into one house, but having my family now all in a place of our own has been worth the wait.
“I love it, too,” I tell her and flip the meat on the grill.
She holds me from behind, her arms shrouding around me as she pulls me into a tight embrace. I take a swig of my beer, and she takes it from my hand, taking a drink herself.
“Oh shit, you drinking tonight?” I ask her, and she nods, glancing inside at Benjamin, our three-month-old son laying calmly on the floor.
“I pumped earlier, so he’s set for the night.”
“Fuck yeah! Does that mean I’ll get lucky, too?” I whisper into her ear, and she nods. I grab a handful of her ass holding her close to me. Jesus Christ, I love this woman and everything about her.
“Hey, little man,” Braxley says, playing inside with his little brother as he anxiously waits for Jack to get home. Char and I settled our divorce not long after we got back from Disneyland and both agreed to joint custody.
I have to admit as much as I hate being without him, he loves his time with Char. And she’s done really great herself, somehow still not shopping, and she’s even got a good steady job. But most importantly, she’s wonderful with Jack, which is all that truly matters to me.
I turn the grill down and follow Faye inside. She asks Braxley, “Do you want to feed him?”
He nods knowing it’s not often he can feed little Benjamin with a bottle. But whenever he can, he jumps at the opportunity.
Faye lifts him off the floor, leaving the blanket of Ben’s t-shirts on the ground. I had them made into a blanket for her soon after we picked out the baby’s name. I thought it was fitting that if he was going to be named after Ben, he’d grow up with memories around him too.
I know I didn’t know Ben, but I can’t help feeling like I did, and one thing I want to be sure of is that his memory always stays alive in our home, especially for Braxley.
Faye places the baby in Braxley’s arms and comes into the kitchen to heat up a bottle. “You want wine?” I ask her.
“Is that even a question?” she says.
I smirk filling her a huge glass, just as Jack and Char walk in through the front door. Jack rushes to my side and gives me a hug. I hold him back, loving having him home.
“How are you, buddy?”
“Good, I missed you guys.” Faye rubs his hair as she walks off giving Braxley the bottle.
“How was he?” I ask Char as she sets his backpack down by the door.
“He was good, we worked on his swing this weekend at the field by my house, and he hit a home run.”
Jack is now by Braxley, adoring his brother, and I holler over to him, “You hit a home run, bud?”
“Yeah, Dad, it was so sick.”
I chuckle at the slang rolling off his tongue, and Char shrugs her shoulders, going over to see the baby too.
“You want a glass of wine?” I ask her, knowing she’ll likely stay and visit for a while.
“No, Wellington has dinner plans for us.”
“Even more of a reason to drink,” I tease her and get the evil eye. As much as I give her a hard time about her new boyfriend, I really like the guy and so does Jack. “I’m sure he’ll be taking you out for some Beef Wellington.”
“Thane!” Faye scolds me, and I hand her the glass of wine. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” I tell her before I go out to flip the food on the grill.
“Bye, Thane,” Char calls, and I give her a wave.
Closing the grill again, our food is about done. I turn to head back inside, but the sight of my family stops me. Engraving into my memory. Braxley is holding Benjamin, while Jack is sitting to his right feeding the baby his bottle, and my gorgeous Faye is taking in the sight too, sitting on the other side of Braxley. As Faye laughs at something they say, her eyes meet mine.
“I love you,” I mouth the words to her, and she says them back to me, my heart stammering from every silent syllable. I don’t care how long we’re together, I’ll never, ever, get tired of those words.
