Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
“How’s the prodigy doing?” I ask.
Giorgia smiles at my nickname for Lauren. Ever since hiring a room at Giorgia’s studio, my wife’s popularity has exploded. Her client list is growing, so now she is able to select the pieces which excite her most…or the highest paying.
“I know you’ll always support me,” she said the other night, sitting in my lap, her arms wrapped around my shoulders. “But I want to help. I want to contribute.”
“She’s finishing up with a client,” Giorgia tells me. “But she should be done soon. Would you like a drink?”
“No, thanks, though.”
I walk over to the seating area, sit down, and raise my hands to take Everly’s. She squeezes on even as she sleeps, as if taking comfort from our closeness.
It’s nothing like the way she holds on when Lauren does the same. Some of my warmest memories are watching Everly and Lauren right after the pregnancy, the way Everly would latch on.
Even now, it’s difficult for Lauren to spend a few hours a day focusing on work, but she agreed when I reworked my schedule so I could be with Everly during that time.
Even if it’s a case of having her in the office, Buster sleeping near her crib, protecting her as she sleeps.
Soon, my woman walks out, her sleeves rolled up and her hair tied back. She’s wearing her work gear, a checkered shirt, and torn jeans, but nothing can stop me from admiring her body, each curve, each tempting gradation.
And no amount of tiredness can stop me from lingering on her gorgeous face, her wide eyes, and her kissable lips.
She leans over Everly’s sleeping head, placing a gentle kiss on my cheek. Then she kisses Everly, being careful not to wake her.
“She’s so cute with her little earmuffs,” Lauren says, her voice breaking like it often does when she’s reunited with our daughter, even after a few hours. “How long has she been asleep?”
“The whole journey here. She didn’t even wake up when I put her in the harness. She’s pooped from all the mayhem last night.”
Lauren smiles tiredly, beautifully, when I reference Everly’s next-level crying.
“Thanks for getting up the second time,” Lauren says.
“Always,” I reply. “I love helping. I love her. I love you. I love this.”
She laughs when I wave a hand at her.
“A tired wife in scruffy clothes?”
“A beautiful wife, pursuing her dream and kicking butt at motherhood at the same time. That’s what I see.”
She smiles as I expand my arms, pulling her into a gentle hug, careful not to wake Everly as the three of us share the embrace.
EPILOGUE
NINE YEARS LATER
Lauren
“That’s it,” Silas cheers as Everly flies down the water slide on her belly, laughing like crazy when she gets to the bottom.
I stand off to the side with Buster at my feet, the old boy curled up and seemingly asleep… except for every time one of the kids reaches the bottom of the slide, and then he opens one eye as though wanting to make sure they’re safe.
Our twin boys, Ethan and Carter, come down next, Ethan on his belly and Carter on his back, both of them yelling with all the enthusiasm six-year-olds can muster.
Our four-year-old comes down next. Mona is sitting between Dad’s legs, her hands raised as Dad slides down with her.
We’re in our yard, but the water slide looks like something straight out of a theme park, rising into the air.
It’s all to celebrate the bump growing in my belly, the introduction of a new life.
Jimmy strolls over, still making me do a double-take even to this day. I expect to find a shy kid, but he’s grown tall and wide, and has become a football player with an easy smirk and a casual attitude.
“I’m so happy for you, sis,” he says, sitting next to me.
I smile, my hand resting on my belly as we watch Mom come down the slide next, screeching and ending up next to Dad and Mona.
The three of them lie there, Mona making Mom laugh with something she says.
I don’t even hear it, but it’s enough to sit here in our giant yard, with thoughts of work seeming far away.
I love work and adore my career of high-profile tattooing, all of it starting with a gravestone full of meaning on my man’s back.
But nothing can beat moments like these, the joy of being with my family swelling inside of me, the feeling of a new life growing within me.
“Mommy, did you see?” Carter comes rushing over, his hair black like Silas’ was before he turned silver, like Dad’s was until very recently.
I can see aspects of them both in my son, shades of Dad and Silas, and it reminds me that as the years have passed, their friendship has only grown stronger.
Even now, they’re laughing together, and the kids are crowded around them.