“Promise?” he asked.
“We pinky promise.” Chase stuck out a pinky to him and Apollo stuck his out, and they wrapped them together.
“We’re going to head out. Parents are in town.” Max grabbed Apollo, holding him in his arms. They might not have been related, but they looked so closely like father and son. The same smolder look on their faces, blue eyes, but Apollo had blond hair, the only contrast.
“We’re going to do the same thing, let you two get some rest.” My mom reached down to give me a kiss as she shooed my dad out of the room. He stopped by to kiss my forehead before following my mother out.
“I’ll see you tomorrow to finish setting up the den.” Greg hugged Chase and Jack patted my leg from where he stood.
“Please get rest while you can.” Lilly smiled at me sweetly before Greg was pulling her out of the room with Jack not far behind. It only left Tabitha standing there watching us.
“You three look so perfect.”
She finally took a step toward us. It was great to have her here, but I knew it hurt Chase. When I found out I was pregnant he had contacted his whole family. Tabitha was on a boat, but got to us as soon as she was on land. His parents, though, ignored the fact I was having their grandchild. Even when we sent out the shower invitations, we received the RSVP back with not attending marked on it.
It had taken a lot of talking for Chase to finally tell me what had happened and that his father didn’t believe in his writing and if it was something he wanted to pursue, then he could do it without him. That included his mother too, because she was loyal to a fault to her husband. I had managed to get her on the phone one day to try to talk her into being in her grandchild’s life, but the first question out of her mouth was if I could get Chase to show up to a political rally the following weekend. I knew all hope was lost, but it didn’t seem to bother Chase.
“Tabs.” Chase reached for his sister and pulled her in for a hug.
“I’m sorry Mom and Dad aren’t here.”
“We aren’t,” I answered back for both of us. We had talked about it long and thoroughly, how not having his parents in our child’s life might be the best thing for her. The negativity they brought to the table was not something I wanted to cloud over her. I wanted Charlotte to grow up chasing her dreams, not worried about someone judging them.
“We are happy to have you here, though, Tabs.”
“I’m happy to be here. Can I hold her?”
I held out Charlotte to Tabitha, who wrapped her in her arms, and Chase was right, I was happy Tabitha was here. That she would have someone from his side of the family to love her as much as my parents did. But it wasn’t just that, it was that there was one more person we could add to her little family, because it wasn’t just us three. It was everyone in our lives who were a part of this family in some way.
It took us twenty-one years to finally get it all right, but it was damn well worth the wait.
