Gabriel laughs. “Me too.”
I look up at him. It seems prudent to inject some cautious optimism into my thoughts. Just to hedge my bets. “This could be nothing, you know. They could decide it doesn’t translate from book to screen.”
Gabriel lowers himself so he’s balanced on the balls of his feet. He brushes hair from my face, his hand staying on the back of my neck. “Or, it could be something.”
I smile at him. My husband. “We’ll just see what Jill has to say and go from there.”
Gabriel offers me a hand and helps me stand. My belly bumps into the stack of packages closest to me, and the top three teeter and tumble down to the ground.
“I’m happy your talents are in such high demand, but I won’t be sorry when gift-giving season is over. I’m ready to have my home back.”
Gabriel is on the floor, retrieving the package that slid under the table. He hands it up to me. I’m placing it on the top of the stack when I see who it’s addressed to. Mr. & Mrs. Hudson Donahue. It’s a Phoenix address.
“Did you see this one?” I run a finger along the printed postage.
Gabriel reads where I’m pointing. “I didn’t notice it.”
“Me neither.” I’m the one who stuck the printed label on all these packages. I’d done so many I eventually stopped paying attention to names.
“How does that make you feel?” Gabriel wraps his arms around me and my belly.
I turn around. My stomach bumps against his. “Good. I want him to be happy.”
He brushes a kiss on my lips. “I want him to be happy too, as long as it’s not with my wife.”
I smile against his lips. “I love you.”
Gabriel carefully folds me into his arms. “I love you more than you will ever know.”
He’s wrong. I know how much he loves me.
How much we love each other.
Some people claim love makes a person weak, but I disagree. Real love forces a person to do the hard work. It will ask you to get uncomfortable, to expose the wound, to confront what hurts you most. That requires strength. Fortitude. And above all else, compassion.
I understand now why some marriages simply don’t make it. Living and loving through one another’s growing pains isn’t easy. It can seem insurmountable. It canbeinsurmountable.
But we did it. Through grace, or luck, or stubborn hearts, and maybe a little of all three, we wound up here.
Camryn recently asked me what I would do if I were handed a magic wand. Would I erase the fractured path Gabriel and I traveled to get to where we are today? The simple answer is, no. We may never have ended up in this place if we didn't go to war with our demons. I’ve embraced everything it took to get us here. So has Gabriel.
We are different the second time around. We are intentional. Careful. Considerate. Hard-won love is sweeter.
Gabriel leads me to our bed and tucks the extra pillow under my stomach. He climbs in behind me and kisses my shoulder.
Four weeks later, Nash Woodruff arrives quietly into the world. Corinne and Doug wait with my dad and Lara outside the delivery room, and Corinne sobs when we introduce her.
Later, when visiting hours are over and it’s dark outside, Gabriel climbs into the bed with me and the baby. The pad of his thumb rubs over the side of Nash’s tiny, dark head of hair.
“Thank you for naming him Nash,” Gabriel murmurs.
“There was no other name for him,” I whisper.
I close my eyes, and allow the happiness to seep into me. Life hasn’t been, and won’t be, perfect, but I’m going to hold on to the moments that are. I’m going to keep them close to my heart, where I can feel them always.
The End
