Epilogue
Palmer
One Year Later
“Hurry!Hurry!”Haileysaidimpatiently as we spread out the pink and white quilt on the plush grass. Raleigh and I had made it ourselves for this special purpose.
“Okay, okay,” I said, smiling at the little girl’s excitement. She was practically vibrating with it.
When we finished laying down the corners, Hailey leapt on top of it. “My bag, please!” She held out an impatient hand.
“Got it,” I said, passing her the canvas tote.
Hailey grinned, getting more comfortable on the quilt before pulling out the framed picture of her mother. She leaned it carefully against the shining gravestone in front of her, and her grin grew into a smile so wide all her teeth showed—including the gap where she’d lost one last week.
I stood and backed up a few paces, giving her space.
We had been visiting Jessica’s grave at least once every few months since she had turned eight, and it had quickly become something Hailey looked forward to.
A warm body pressed against my back, and Roman wrapped his arms around me.
I sighed and leaned into him, tilting my face up toward the sun shining in the cloudless sky. Spring had come with an unseasonable warmth, and the rays soaked into my skin.
I wore a pink quarter-sleeve shirt, and the feel of the sun and air against my scars was still a strange sensation, though not an unpleasant one. I started gradually wearing things that showed more of my skin last summer, and I’d come to realize that the scars weren’t that ugly after all.
People rarely looked or asked about them.
And when they did, I wasn’t ashamed to talk about that night.
Roman rubbed a hand over the small swell of my stomach and pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot behind my ear, making me shiver.
“Oh my gosh,” we heard Hailey say as she launched into conversation with her mother. “Mom, I amsoexcited to talk to you.” She clapped her hands to her cheeks like she couldn’t contain herself.
“You know how I told you Palmer was gonna have a baby last time I was here?” She wiggled where she sat and squealed, “I’M GONNA HAVE A LITTLE SISTER!”
She practically shouted the words, and Roman shushed her.
“Be respectful, Hails,” he warned, though there was a hint of a chuckle in his voice.
She glanced back at us. “Sorry,” she said, before turning back to the picture.
“I cannotbelieve it! I mean, I would’ve been happy with a brother too, but a sister is just…so perfect!”
I placed my hands over Roman’s where they rested on my stomach, squeezing. I leaned my head back against his chest.
Hailey continued talking to her mother, catching her up on everything we’d done over the past few months.
A faint flutter stirred in my stomach, and I pressed Roman’s hand down over the spot.
“Did you feel that?” I whispered.
I was still a little stunned by the miracle of the life growing inside me. For as long as I had worked with other people’s children, I had never imagined having kids of my own.
But maybe that had been because I hadn’t met Roman yet.
He hummed softly against my ear.
“Maybe,” he said, though he sounded uncertain.
