EPILOGUE
NINA
“Moooooom!”
Nina and Theo exchanged a smile at the call from the next room. They were working on dinner while Jack and baby Annabel, now nine months old, played in the living room.
“Coming!” Nina followed Jack’s voice and found him sitting on the floor in front of Annabel’s bouncer.
“She just said my name!” Jack said excitedly.
“That’s great.” Of course, at nine months old, chances were very low that Annabel had actually saidJack,but there was no way Nina would ruin their growing bond. Instead, she ruffled Jack’s hair, and he moved away indignantly.
“Hey! I’m seven now. You’ve gotta stop doing that.”
“Sorry,” Nina held up her hands with a smile, “but I’ll always remember when you were that small.”
“I must have been pretty cute.” Jack beamed as he picked up the chapter book he’d been reading aloud to Annabel. Annabel gave Nina a gummy smile.
“Aah!” She reached out to Nina, who kissed her baby-powder-scented forehead.
“Hi, sweetie.”
“Aah!” she said again.
“See! She said Jack!” Jack beamed. “I’m your favorite brother, aren’t I? Now, I was just telling you about how the boy traveled back in time…” He started to read from the book again, and Annabel bounced and opened and closed her hands as she listened.
Smiling fondly at the siblings, Nina went back into the kitchen.
“Apparently, Annabel said Jack’s name,” she said.
“Sure,” Theo raised his eyebrows, “I bet.”
They shared a smile, then Theo took the pot of pasta off the stove. The two of them had started cooking together, and Theo was getting to be a decent chef — at least when they cooked together, which was most of the time.
Since the night of the concert, Theo had changed his schedule to take more time at home, including a generous paternity leave. The slack was easily taken up by his trusted employees and members of the C-suite and, to Theo’s joy, Epsilon could almost run independently. He was only needed for the most high-level decisions and his favorite projects, not for every tiny detail that he’d previously tried to micromanage.
Now, both Theo and Nina worked a little, Theo at Epsilon and Nina on graphic design. Jack attended Holyoke Academy, and baby Annabel was almost always with one of her parents, being held and played with. It was the kind of dream life Nina wouldn’t even have been able to imagine two years ago.
“Smells great,” Theo kissed Nina on the cheek. One of his hands found her waist, and she leaned against his firm chest.
“Thanks,” she gestured to the sauce with her spoon, “it’s your mom’s recipe.”
They’d also made more effort to spend time with Theo’s mom and Nina’s parents. Nina adored Theo’s mom, and her parents were overjoyed that she was able to make more frequent trips to Seattle now that money wasn’t an issue. Plus, it was great for the kids to be able to get to know their grandparents.
“She’d be proud.” Theo kissed Nina’s cheek again. “You look beautiful.”
She waved him off with the spoon. “I don’t. I’m in yoga pants, my hair’s all messy, and I probably have spit-up on me somewhere…” She twisted to see if she could spot it, but Theo put his hand gently on her cheek.
“I mean it, Nina. You look more beautiful today than ever. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.” Nina put the spoon down and turned fully towards him. “Can you believe this is really our life?”
“No,” Theo admitted, “and if you’d told me two years ago that I’d be with such an amazing woman and father to two children, I would have laughed you out of my office.”
“Same here. Except without the office,” Nina chuckled. “After Jack’s father left, I was sure I’d never trust any man again, yet here we are. And I’ve never been happier.”
“Me neither.” Theo kissed her cheek again, his lips warm and soft. Nina turned to kiss him on the mouth, and for a few minutes, they were lost to the world as Theo wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. It was amazing that, even after more than eighteen months together, Theo could still make her sigh and weaken her knees with a simple kiss. When he held her, she felt like a teenager having her first kiss, every single time.
