“Dad?” Tucker’s voice carries down the stairwell.
Sibyl squeaks, tumbling off my lap, wrapping the blanket around herselfagain.
“Comin’, Bud.” I pull Sibyl down the hall with me. “I’ll get him settled in his room.”
“Okay.” Sibyl’s mouth splits in a yawn.
“Come on.” I scoop Tucker up into my arms.
“Is Sibby here?” he yawns into my shoulder.
“Yeah, Buddy. She’s still here.”
“I like it when she’s here.”
He snuggles in deeper, one hand tucking between his body and my chest.
“Me too, Tucker. Me too.”
Epilogue
Eli
There aremoments in our lives we know we will never forget—moments that change us, shape us. Moments like the day I married Lara, or when the doctor put Tucker on her chest. Every single first milestone of his. The phone call when police asked me to come identify Lara’s body. Turning around to see my best friend’s sister at a stranger photo session.
Moments like this: waking up to the warmth of the sun shining on my face, my two perfect people asleep in the bed next to me, tucked safe and sound into the room customized just for us.
Tucker with his unruly curls, Sibyl with her swollen belly—our baby due to arrive in just a few weeks. I’m already thinking about when we’ll have another. Seeing her pregnant, in the house we renovated together? It’s unleashed a whole other fantasy life I didn’t know I’d been craving.
She stretches like a cat, the rock on her finger reflecting the light from the window. We were planning to be married this fall, but with the baby coming, we pushed it back tonext spring. Sibyl wanted to skip it altogether and get married at the courthouse. But marrying Lara is one of my favorite memories with her.
I want that with Sibyl.
I want her in the white dress, with Chuck walking her down the aisle. I want Tucker as the ring bearer, and Kellan holding our baby next to me. I even talked Karen into the mother-son dance with me. I skipped it last time, opting for a cheesy, choreographed dance with Taylor and Kellan.
My parents haven’t been in my life since I moved out at sixteen. They weren’t at my first wedding, and they won’t be at this one, but it doesn’t make a difference to me. Everyone I love will be there. Sibyl even has a photo of Lara picked out to put at the end of the aisle.
It’s going to be everything.
Warm brown eyes peer over Tucker’s head, the corners softening when they meet mine. “Hey,” she whispers.
“Morning, Baby, how’d you sleep?”
“Good.” She covers a yawn. “What time did we fall asleep?”
“Youwracked out within the first three minutes of the movie. Tucker made it about halfway. I turned it off when I realized you both passed out.”
“He’s going to be pissed.” Sibyl rubs a hand down her stomach, smirking when the little one inside kicks it. “This kid is an asshole.”
“I’m gonna let you get away with that, for now, considering you’re the one with a baby kicking the shit out of you. But there’s no way that baby is an asshole, not with you as their mom.”
“And this is why I’m ninety-eight percent certain this is a girl. She’s already got you wrapped around her little fingers.”
“Nah.” I chuckle. “It’s a boy, has to be. I won’t survive being a girl dad.”
“Iffa gurl,” Tucker mutters, his face still turned into his pillow.
“Not you too!” I tickle him, relishing the giggles that start our mornings off.
