“Hey, what’s wrong?” Ali asked lightly. “Everything worked out, right?” She reached over and stroked my cheek.
“You’re a little touchy thing, aren’t you?” I joked, squeezing her wrist.
The cutest upside-down smile appeared on her face.
“We have a home in Chicago, eh? Fuck.” I wiped my eye. “Wanna head back?”
A little laugh popped out of her. “Sure.” Her eyes were watery too. “But JP…”
I cleared my throat, trying to hold back my emotions. “Yeah?”
“My home is wherever you are.”
I leaned over and kissed her deeply, not caring about my shoulder or anything else in this world, because we finally got our happy ending.
OVERTIME
EPILOGUE
JP – APRIL 1ST
Ali’s eyes were heavy with exhaustion as she looked down at our daughter in her arms. “What do you think? What does she look like?”
“Beautiful,” I said, leaning forward to kiss Ali. “They're beautiful, you’re beautiful.”
“We can’t just name them beautiful,” she said with an amused grin.
“I could.” I nodded, looking down at the beautiful bundle in my arms.
“Oh my goodness,” Ali said with a little laugh. “Be serious, JP. We have to figure this out.” She struggled to fight off a yawn.
“Maybe you should get some sleep first. I can keep watch.” We rushed to the hospital around midnight and she didn’t deliver the babies until mid-morning. She was running on no sleep after a whole night of intense labor.
Ali squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. “Nope. I won’t be able to fully rest until we have names. Besides, Annie and our parents are on the way.” She frowned. “We can’t just introduce them as baby one and baby two. They deserve names.”
I smirked. “Our group chat’s been exploding with name suggestions.”
Ali’s ears perked up. “Any good ones?”
I scoffed. “No. Kappy suggested Jo and Lou to pay tribute to the Joe Louis in Detroit.” I rolled my eyes.
Ali laughed. “They’re cute names, but maybe Kappy should save that idea for himself and Piper.”
“That’s what I said!” I laughed. “Piper responded with ‘over my dead body.’”
Ali laughed again before wincing. She struggled to find a good position before settling her head back against the pillows.
Sympathy bloomed in my chest. She had to be in a ton of pain. “You should really sleep while the babies are sleeping.”
“I can’t.” A distressed look crossed her face. “They need names.”
I nodded. “Okay, they do.” The sleeping baby on my shoulder weighed just over six pounds. I was more grateful than ever for my shoulder surgery because I would’ve missed the birth had I been playing with my team. Colt was currently on a road trip in Pittsburgh. I made a full recovery and I’d be suiting up with my team again next week, right on time to help in the playoffs.
“I have an idea,” Ali said, biting her lip. She touched the teeny bit of fluff on baby one’s head.
“I think she looks like”—she pulled back to study the baby—“a Jamie.”
My body stilled as the baby in her lap let out a little squawk of a yawn.
