“I love you too, Troy.” I pull him up onto my lap and plant a kiss on his cheek.
“If you’re my mommy, can I call you that?”
Big, brown eyes peer up at me. “I would love it if you call me that.”
A lone tear escapes. I didn’t think this day could get any better, but it did. Infinitely so.
“Okay. Okay, we need a picture of this,” Mom calls out. “I want the four of you to squeeze together.”
Glancing up, the three of them are all teary-eyed, too.
Derek wraps an arm around me and pulls me close. Lydia hops up onto his lap and Troy puts his arm around his new sister.
“Sayone big happy familyon three!”
Derek kisses my cheek and I laugh right as we all shout, “one big happy family!”
“Beautiful,” Mom says, looking at the phone.
“Can we get ice cream?” Lydia asks, looking back at us.
“Yeah. I want some too,” Troy agrees.
“I think we can get some to celebrate,” Derek says. “But you need to eat some vegetables at dinner.”
“Not those weird green things.” Troy winces.
“What were the weird green things?” I ask, setting him down as we all link hands and walk out of the park.
“They looked like trees. I didn’t like them.”
“What if the weird green things were in ice cream?” Derek asks.
Troy’s eyes go wide. “Green ice cream? That’s weird.”
“So weird,” Lydia confirms.
“Are you ready for conversations like this for the rest of our lives?” I ask.
Derek smiles down at me. “Oh yeah. Bring it on.”
Epilogue
SUTTON - TWO MONTHS LATER
“Ican’t believe you’re getting married.”
Jameson quirks a brow at me. “Is it because I’m getting married before you?”
I swat at his light pink suit. Only Jameson could pull something off like this on his wedding day. It matches the simple dress I’m wearing with a sweetheart neckline. “No. It seems like you just got engaged a minute ago.”
“Sutton.” He stills my hand that’s pinning his boutonniere in place. “Gunnar is it for me. Why wait?”
“I’m really happy for you two. Gunnar is your perfect match.”
“I know.” He waggles his eyebrows at me. His face is perfectly made up for the big day. The small room we’re in does nothing to diminish how radiant he is. “I can’t wait until Derek pops the question to you and you’re the one getting married.”
“We need a little more time.”
