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And when my parents brought Cam to visit later that night, and he curled up on the narrow bed beside me, my bliss was complete.
“This is your sister, Emma,” I told him. “Do you want to hold her?”
He nodded, his jaw slack in amazement, and Eric helped to show Cam how to support her head.
Ten years ago, I’d been alone and afraid, devastated by everything I had lost. I never could’ve imagined the future, being here with Eric, building a life and a family together. Now, I knew better than to guess what the future held in store for us, but it was sure to be amazing.
24
Eric
Years Later
Icroucheddown,fingertipson the ground, looking left and right for an opening. “Eric Van Leer is in fine form tonight, looking to bring home a win for the Comets,” I said in my commentator voice, and Winnie giggled from the change table, watching me with her deep blue eyes so much like her omega father’s.
Bobbing up, I shuffled a few steps to the right, then bent my arm back and launched the rolled-up diaper at the bin in the far corner. A perfect spiral. The diaper gave a satisfying thunk as it went straight in without touching the rim. “Yep, I still got it.”
Winnie was too young to clap, but I liked to believe she would have if she’d had the motor skills. Instead, she kicked her legs in excitement, cooing. Who could’ve guessed I would be putting my football skills to good use in throwing out diapers and dodging toys on the floor?
Just as I scooped Winnie up, there was a round of applause behind me, and I looked over my shoulder at Jasper. “Very nice,” he said, teasing but still somehow making me warm all over. It probably had something to do with the way his eyes were roaming down my body, lingering in all the right spots. “The only thing that’s missing are the tight pants.”
“I’ll wear those for you later, if you’d like,” I said, giving him a little wink.
With Winnie tucked in one arm, I reached for Jasper with the other, but he stepped back and held a finger up in warning. “Nuh-uh, mister. I know how you work. You distract me by being all sexy, and then the next thing you know, I’m pregnant. But I’m putting my foot down. You hear me? No. More. Babies.” He enunciated it carefully, but he was also smiling coyly. I wasn’t very good at interpreting these mixed messages.
“You hear that, Winnie?” I asked her, tickling her belly. “You’re the last baby.” It was hard not to want a dozen more when they were this damn cute, but the four kids we had were more than enough. We had thought we were done at three, but Winnie was a bit of a surprise, which was only fitting since we’d started with a surprise baby too.
We were interrupted by a chorus of dogs barking, our senior dog Bento teaching our new puppy Shadow the art of overreacting to someone at the door.
“Daaaaaad! Paaaapaaaa!” Emma shouted from across the house, her voice extra loud to be heard over the barking. “Cam is here!”
Jasper rubbed a hand over his face. “What is it with kids and yelling across the house?”
I stuck my head out into the hall and yelled back, “Hey, Cam! Can you check on dinner? There’s lasagna in the oven.”
“Okay!” Cam yelled, adding to the din.
When I turned back to Jasper, he had his arms crossed over his chest, giving me an unimpressed look. “What?” I asked. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Right?”
“I give up,” he said with a sigh. “You deal with the chaos. I have to go get dressed or we’re going to be late.”
I watched my husband head toward the bedroom, and I took a moment to thank my lucky stars that things worked out for us, because I couldn’t imagine my life without him. We’d now had just as much time together than we did those ten years apart, and while we kept changing who we were, reinventing ourselves with each new job, each new addition to our family, we were more in love today than we’d ever been.
Tonight was our 20thhigh school reunion, and Jasper and I were both looking forward to a night out. Jasper, especially, needed a break. He’d been pulling a lot of late nights at the lab lately, because he felt like his team was close to a breakthrough on a new treatment for breast cancer, and it was his ultimate goal. I was so proud of him for everything he’d achieved. He might not have been the surgeon he had dreamed about being 20 years ago, but the way he lit up when discussing the science behind his research, I knew it was where he belonged.
As for me, I had my hands full. Between coaching the high school football team, two little league soccer teams, and raising all these kids, I was looking forward to a whole weekend with just my husband. Cam was staying over to watch his sisters for us. I knew he missed them like crazy now that he was living back on campus. Plus, I suspected he was dying to eat some real food. His dorm room only had a microwave, and baking skills like his were going to waste without an oven.
Sure enough, when I rounded the corner into the kitchen, I found Cam buried in the fridge up to his waist. “Help yourself,” I said over his back.
He emerged, grinning, a carton of eggs in one hand, milk jug in the other. “Hey, Papa. Thanks for stocking the fridge for me. I promise I’ll fill your freezer with muffins and cookies.” Cameron was taller than I was, and I could tell he’d put on more muscle mass since his football camp over the summer. He was definitely earning that scholarship. His hair had gotten longer too and was now flopping over his ears, matching his scruffy cheeks for an overall unkempt appearance.
The dogs, with their second sense for when food might be dropped on the floor, had crowded into the kitchen, bumping into the backs of my legs.
Winnie squirmed in my arms trying to get to her favorite big brother. “Hey, big girl,” Cam said, putting his ingredients down on the counter to take her from me. “I’ve seen Emma and Winnie, but where’s Ray?”
Rachel was our little mischief maker. At six years old, she was small enough to fit into or behind anything, but tall enough to reach all the good stuff—especially with a chair. I groaned, and we all began the search.
I checked all her favorite spots first—Winnie’s crib, the back of Emma’s closet, and the hanging bench on the porch we’d had screened in last summer. I was just heading back inside when Cam whispered, “I found her,” holding his finger to his lips. I followed him to the living room, where he pointed down to the pair of feet sticking out from behind the couch. Ray had made a little blanket nest back there and had fallen asleep for a late nap.
