The word “Mommy” still filled me with giddy excitement, even three years after the adoption. Rory had started calling me that naturally, long before the legal paperwork was finalized. The first time she’d said it, Drew had gotten tears in his eyes, and I’d had to excuse myself to cry in the bathroom for ten minutes. To this day, it never got old.
“Hey, baby girl,” I said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “How was school?”
“Good! We learned about fractions and I told Mrs. Bennett that Daddy already taught me about thirds because of hockey periods and she said I was very smart.” She beamed up at me with pride. “And then Bodie James threw up during lunch but not on me, just near me, which was still gross but not as gross as it could have been.”
I bit back a laugh and then said, “Let’s go find Daddy.”
Drew and Liam were in the kitchen, where the scene was exactly as chaotic as I’d imagined. Drew was standing at the stove with a spatula in one hand, attempting to flip what looked like a unicorn-shaped pancake while Liam provided unhelpful commentary from his seat at our kitchen island.
“Hey, beautiful,” Drew said, abandoning his pancake duties to kiss me hello. It was the same kiss he’d given me every day for the past five years—and it never failed to make butterflies take flight in my stomach. “How was work?”
“It was great. I had a breakthrough with one of my clients today.”
“No shit. Really?” Drew’s face lit up with genuine excitement, then he caught Rory’s stern look. “Sorry. No way. Really?”
“Nice try, Daddy. That’s still a dollar in the swear jar,” Rory informed him with the authority of someone who took her job as family swear police very seriously.
Although no one paid into that swear jar more than Liam.
“Hey, Li, you staying for dinner?”
“No, I’ve gotta head home. Just wanted to stop by to pick up those tickets from Drew.”
Drew got two tickets to every home game, and whenever we couldn’t go, we gave them to our friends. Liam gave us all quick hugs before he was on his way.
As we ate our unicorn-shaped pancakes—which really looked more like a cucumber with a horn—around our kitchen table, I listened to Rory chatter about her day and felt that familiar sense of contentment settle over me. This was everything I’d never known I wanted and now couldn’t imagine living without.
After dinner and homework, Rory settled at the pianoto practice her recital piece. I sat beside her on the bench, helping her work through the trickier passages while Drew cleaned up the kitchen.
“This part is hard,” Rory said, frowning at a particularly complex measure of her simplified Chopin piece.
“It is hard,” I agreed. “But remember what we always say about hard things?”
“They’re worth doing because they make us stronger,” she recited, then immediately launched back into the passage with renewed determination.
Later, after Rory was tucked into bed with her current favorite book and at least three stuffed animals, Drew and I collapsed onto our couch with glasses of wine.
“So,” he said, settling back against the cushions and pulling me against his side. “You said you had a good day?”
“Really good day,” I confirmed, curling up against his warmth. “I got some interesting news.”
“Oh, yeah?”
I took a breath, suddenly nervous. “Dr. Richardson at the children’s hospital called. They offered me the music therapy director position.”
Drew went still. We’d talked about this possibility for months—the chance to expand my practice to include hospitalized children and build a program from the ground up.
“What did you tell them?”
“I told them I needed to talk to my family first,” I said. “It would mean longer hours sometimes, possibly some evening or weekend work. I know we’ve got a good balance now with Rory’s schedule?—”
“Harper,” Drew interrupted, his voice gentle but firm. “This is yourdream job.”
“It’sadream job,” I corrected. “But my actual dreams are right here in this house.”
“You can have both,” he said, pulling me closer. “We’ll make it work. We always do. But I don’t want you to ever sacrifice your dreams.”
I let out a sigh of relief and thought about how far we’d come—from enemies to lovers to parents, building this life one day at a time. Drew was right. We’d figured out how to make everything work so far. We wanted more kids eventually, but we were still young, and I really did want to build this program. It could help so many people.
