Aaliyah jumps off the couch and I say, “Be careful.”
She ignores me and her little hand wraps around Lana’s pointer and middle finger. “Can we eat outside?”
I wrap my arm around Lana, holding her to my side as Aaliyah and I help her toward the kitchen. “Of course we can,” Lana says.
“Lana, don’t push yourself.”
“I’m okay.” She gives me a peck on the cheek.
I open the back door and help Lana situate herself on a chair at the table outside. Aaliyah follows me to help grab our lunches, but she holds her nuggets especially close.
Outside, she struggles to reach the top of the table and Lana reaches to help her. I glare at my wife.
“Oh, stop. I’mfine,” she insists.
“You’re technically supposed to be on bed rest,” I remind her.
Lana rolls her eyes. “I’m sitting.”
“Daddy.” Aaliyah reaches up for me. “Help.”
After setting down the plates, I lift her and seat her down between Lana and me. Aaliyah is kicking her feet, dipping her nuggets in ketchup, and humming happily.
I huff and glance over at Lana. I rub her upper back as she takes a bite of her food. “Baby,” I whisper to her. “You okay?”
“Christian,” she warns through a mouth full of food.
“Are you?”
Lana smiles. Sweetly and lovingly.Happy. “Yes, Christian. I’m okay,” she assures me, wiping the corner of her mouth. “Are you?”
“I’m happy,” I say. “Very happy.”
“Yeah?” Lana sits back and leans behind our daughter. I stretch so she can reach me and she kisses my jaw. “This summer has been a really good one.”
“It has.” I smile and kiss the top of Aaliyah’s messy hair. “For the record, she messed up her own hair.”
Lana laughs, her hand cradling her swollen belly. Aaliyah chimes in to say, “It was the paint monster!”
Lana and I laugh together. “What about you, Aaliyah?” Lana asks. “Are you happy, sweetheart?”
“Yeah,” she says with her mouth full of nuggets and ketchup at the corner of her mouth.
I wipe it away with my thumb, grinning because I can’t help but smile when I look at either one of my girls. “I love you,” I tell my daughter. Then I look up at my wife. “And I love you.” I capture her chin in my hand and kiss her softly. “Thank you.”
She smiles against my lips. “For what?”
So much smiling these days. For the past five years.
“All of this,” I breathe. “I didn’t think I’d live to have any of it.”
“Stop that,” Lana says, her fingers scratching through the hair at my nape. “I don’t like to think of that. You’re here with us.”
“I’m here too!” Aaliyah giggles and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “I’m done, can I play?”
Lana chuckles. “Yes, but don’t go by the water. And no running or you’ll make yourself sick. Stay where I can see you.”
Aaliyah shimmies her way off the outdoor loveseat and toward the mini playground that I built her with help from the guys. I close up the empty space, sliding closer to my wife and wrapping my arm around her shoulder. She drops her head to my shoulder, her eyes watching Aaliyah going up and down the slide.
