“Hi, baby,” she said, tugging Avery’s dress down.
I nodded at her coworker, who said a quick hello before heading off somewhere else on set.
Once we were alone, I pulled her into my arms. “Hey, Hollywood,” I said with a grin.
“Hi,” she murmured.
Dipping my head down, I pressed a kiss to my wife’s lips.
“How’s your day?”
“Better now.” She buried her nose in our daughter’s hair, inhaling. “It’s always better with my two favorite people.”
I could agree with that. “So, are you done for the day?”
She interlaced her fingers with mine. “Almost. I think there’s just one more shot the director wanted to get. And then I’m all yours.”
“Mmm.” I rested my forehead against hers, turning so Avery was in the middle of us. “I always like the sound of that. Mine. Can’t wait to take my girls home.”
Tessa’s face lit up. I knew she was excited to be back in Portland with her brother and their kids. There was nothing better than watching them all grow up together. Noelle and I had been close as cousins, but our kids would be even closer. I loved that.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Tessa whispered in my ear, her arm wrapped around my waist as I held her tight with one arm, the other holding Avery to my hip.
“Hm?”
“I’m pregnant.”
My heart stopped. “You are?”
She nodded. “I took a test this morning but didn’t want to tell you until we could celebrate.”
Taking Avery from her arms, I kissed her softly. “Go finish your work, and then we will, baby.”
“I love you,” she whispered against my lips.
Fuck, but I loved her. And as Avery and I watched Tessa work, all of the emotions running through her, all I could think was that I was so damn lucky that this was my life. That she was mine. That they were mine.
Forever.
Extended Epilogue
TESSA
There was something magical about Portland in the fall. Maybe part of it was because this was the time of year when Oliver and I had fallen in love, but I loved it up here.
“Do you have everything?” I asked Oliver again as he unbuckled Amelia out of her carseat, cradling her against his chest.
She was a month old, and it was her first trip to Portland.
“Yes, honey,” he said, pressing a kiss to our baby girl’s head. “For the seventeenth time, we got everything.”
I let out a breath, knowing it was just the anxiety of traveling with a newborn. One I desperately needed snuggles with, considering it had been a long day of driving. We’d had to stop more times than normal since I was nursing, and it was hard on all of us.
But when I looked up at our house—the one we’d bought here, because we were constantly traveling back and forth—I couldn’t help but smile. We were home.
I was taking an indefinite hiatus from acting. Not because I didn’t love it, but because I loved my little family, and I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible.
Our girls. My husband. And our dog, the little toy poodle that Oliver had surprised me with before we found out I was pregnant with Amelia. Princess, who had the misfortune of being named by our toddler. She looked like a little teddy bear, and I was completely smitten.
