Josie throws her head back and laughs loud and long. “I told you, you love my dad.”
“Not more than you,” I say. The itchiness is gone now. I only feel happy.
“I’m glad you love him. He loves you too, or he wouldn’t let you build a whole ass addition to the house so you could live with us. I’m not worried about you being a Rider. That’s your family, too.” She wriggles down until she’s on her own feet again and starts the walk back to the house.
“I’m going to start working on a construction crew after high school. Your dad thinks I could become a contractor after a few years,” I tell her. “I’ll still be with the Riders, but I’m going to need a legit job for when we have kids.”
“Oh, we’re having kids now, are we?” she jokes.
“Four of them.”
“Four?” she shouts.
“Three?”
“Two.”
“Three if the first two are boys?” I bargain.
“Maybe.”
“I gotta have a little girl, Josie. I didn’t read all those dinosaur books to Niki’s sister not to have my own little girl.”
“Okay,” she relents. “Three if the first two are boys.”
“What if the third one isn’t a girl?”
“It will be,” she says firmly. “I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. I caught you, after all, didn’t I?”
I nod and let her believe I’m some great catch. I’m not, but her belief in me will never be in vain. I love her enough to try to be the man she thinks I am, and who knows, maybe someday I truly will be that man. After all, she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to, including loving me.
Epilogue
MANY YEARS LATER
My husband has always thought I could accomplish anything. I loved that he has always seen me that way. The man has it twisted. I have never seen a person work as hard as him. He puts everything into what he does. It’s one of the many attributes I love about him.
First, he started his own construction company that is booming, while still maintaining a connection to the Riders. He will also help Niki from time to time with his security firm, offering to cover random events when they need a hands-on person. The two of them have always been a good team.
However, what my husband excels at the most is being a family man. Bam knows how to be a husband, father, and even a son to my father. Even now after a busy day at work, he came home and snagged the boys up to go get ice cream to give me an hour alone to finish working on research I’ve been doing for my latest project. I honestly couldn’t love that man any more than I do.
I rest my hand on the small baby bump that has already formed. I’m only sixteen weeks along. I remember with my first pregnancy it took forever to form. The second time I was pregnant, it hadn’t taken as long for it to come, but this time, Iswear I saw the two pink lines on the test, and the bump popped right out. Our little baby girl is already making herself known.
Not to be smug, but I’d been right. Two boys, and now I’m pregnant with what should be our last, a baby girl. I thought men got excited over having a boy, and Bam was, but when he found out for sure it was a girl, he was over the freaking moon.
I send out a few emails and updates to my assistant before dropping my files into the Dropbox. The good thing about being a writer is that you can do it at home. Since my father has now retired and is living with us in his own quarters, which are connected to the house by a walkway, there are always hands available to help with the kids. We didn’t have to do daycare. My dad is a wonderful father, but he’s killing it at being a grandpa. My boys adore him, and seeing him with them warms my heart.
I still do articles here and there for a few places, but not as much as I once did. Times have changed, and with that, so has how people consume information. People aren’t going only to the local news to get information; they’re getting it from everywhere. Social media had changed the landscape when it came to that front. Everything is so much more accessible at the tap of a button or swipe of a finger.
I started my own podcast and YouTube. I hadn’t known how much it would blow up. I do it differently than a lot of people. I dig up all the information I could with a couple of researchers I have on staff and pull the story together, and that’s how I feed it to the public. Not as a straightforward reporting of the details. I tell the story more like a narrator moving through the events as they unfold. People eat it up because they feel as though they are a part of something.
I push back from my desk when I hear the chime alert for the front door, knowing they are back. I make my way downstairs, my boys rushing to me.
“We got you ice cream,” our oldest, Maverick, says.
“I added sprinkles and gummy bears.” Beckham smiles up at me, revealing his two missing front teeth. We love the local ice cream shop. They have many sugar-free items that work for me, but I can still indulge from time to time. Sprinkles never killed anyone.
“You boys are too good to me.” I lean down and give them both a kiss on the head. Bam stands behind them waiting for his kisses too. He’s holding two to-go bowls.
