He looked down at the baby in my arms, then mumbled his name. “Killian Ashborne.”
It fit perfectly. It sounded right. Strong but not overly aggressive, unique but not ridiculous.
“Yes,” he said. “Killian it is.”
I smiled at our son, “Welcome to the world, Killian.”
Mal leaned down carefully and kissed my forehead with infinite gentleness. Then kissed the baby’s tiny head. “Welcome to the world, my son. We are so unbelievably happy you are finally here.”
I was queen now. Wife. Mother. Three titles I never in my wildest dreams thought I would hold. Three roles I never could have imagined for myself when I was just running a struggling bookstore and trying to make rent each month.
But looking at my son, at my husband, at this completely insane life I’d accidentally stumbled into through a poorly executed Halloween spell, I could totally say I was happy. Genuinely, completely, overwhelmingly happy.
I sent a silent thought out to my grandparents, wherever they were.“I’m okay. I made it. I’m happy. And guess what? You’re great-grandparents now. How incredibly cool is that?”
I imagined they were proud and smiling down at me. Imagined they knew somehow that I’d finally found my place in the world. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness at the thought of them missing such a big milestone in my life, but I knew that as long as I kept them in my heart, they would always be with me.
So I took a deep breath and smiled through my tears, looking at the new family I had. A mate, a brother-in-law, a mother-in-law, and my friends back home. They were my family now, and I wouldn’t change them for anything in the world.Shit.My friends were going to freak out when they found out I’d had the baby.
I couldn’t wait to introduce him to them.
This…This wasn’t the life I’d planned. It wasn’t the life I’d expected. But it was exactly the life I was meant to have. And I genuinely couldn’t ask for anything more.
THE END
