This is where I’m meant to be.
This is home.
This is love. Loud, messy, complete.
This is my family now.
Chapter Thirty-Three
LET THE BUMPING BEGIN
KENNA-PRESENT
It’s beena month since Cole and I got married, and I still wake up every morning with a quiet, stunned sort of disbelief, like I’ve stumbled into someone else’s dream. But no—it’s ours. This life, this home, this family are all real.
The house feels different now. Not just because of the wedding, but because of what it represents: a new chapter. There’s more warmth in the walls, more laughter echoing through the rooms, and more life in the small, ordinary moments, like tonight.
We’re sitting on the living room floor, the soft glow of the lamp casting a golden hue over everything. There are rolls of wrapping paper scattered like fallen dominoes around us, and empty boxes that once held secrets now lie in cheerful disarray. Ribbons curl at our feet like question marks.
Cole’s beside me, bent forward with the same care and precision he brings to everything. He’s wrapping the Nintendo Switch, the last gift for Cohen. His brow furrows slightly as he smooths a corner of the wrapping paper and places the tape with practiced gentleness.
I watch him, feeling something inside me catch and settle all at once. He’s so focused. So present. So tender in the smallest ofthings. That quiet concentration, the way his hands move with a kind of reverence, makes it clear he knows even this small act is meaningful.
“I can’t believe we got him everything he wanted,” I say softly, glancing at all the gifts. “A 3D printer, a boat, and the Switch. He’s going to freak out tomorrow.”
Cole looks over at me, his eyes lighting up with that warm, steady affection that always makes my breath catch a little.
“I just want his first birthday as my son to be a good one,” he says, his voice sincere. “To show him how much we love him.”
My throat tightens. There it is again, that quiet way he roots himself in us. Not through grand gestures or loud declarations, but through steady truth. With intention. With a love that doesn’t waver, but shows up, again and again.
I feel a wave of emotion crash over me, thick and warm. My throat tightens, and I have to blink back tears. How did I get so lucky, to find someone who loves not only me but our son with such fierce devotion?
“You’re too good for us, you know that?” My voice wavers slightly, thick with unshed emotion. I don’t sayyou saved us, but I feel it in every breath.
Cole leans back, his hands resting on his knees, and he grins at me. “Well, you guys are stuck with me. Forever.”
Before I can even find a witty comeback, he’s leaning in, kissing me. It’s soft, lingering, the kiss that makes my chest feel like it’s swelling with a million unsaid words. In that kiss, I feel our whole life. The past, present, and the infinite future folding around us like a warm blanket. I close my eyes, savoring every second.
“I’m the lucky one,” I whisper when the kiss breaks.
Cole chuckles softly and returns to wrapping the gift. “We both are, Sunshine.”
The next morning, Cohen is up before the sun. I hear him from down the hall, the quick patter of his feet echoing like a starting gun. Then—thump, thump, thump—the bed dipsbeneath his weight as he launches himself onto it. Laughter spills from him like it can’t be contained.
“Wake up, wake up, Mom and Dad! It’s my birthday!”
And just like that, sleep slips away, replaced by the joy only a child can summon so effortlessly.
I groggily open my eyes and look over at Cole, who’s already half awake, a smirk on his face. “You’re up early,” I mumble.
“Birthday energy,” Cole says with a yawn. “It’s a real thing.”
Before I can pull myself upright, Cohen’s already grabbing at Cole’s hand, trying to drag him out of bed with more strength than a nine-year-old should have.
“Come on! Pancakes!” he shouts, his joy contagious.
Cole laughs, rolling out of bed without resistance. He throws me a wink over his shoulder before disappearing with Cohen down the hallway.
