Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
I’ve got our newest addition, little Amelia, making soft noises as she sleeps.
Have you gotten lost? I text Della, using a laughing emoji.
She replies. I still can’t get used to you and this emoji thing.
I grin, sending dozens of laugh emojis.
I’ll be there soon. Love you.
Love you too.
Della took Rosalee to get ice cream. She’s our firstborn, and the moment Della cradled her in her arms, she whispered her name.
It was her mother’s middle name, Della’s grandmother’s name, and Della just knew it was the right fit.
I place my phone away, conscious of how carried away it’s possible to get, especially when everything we have, everything we’ve built, started with a text.
I smile as Jaxton shoots another hoop. He turns, catching my eye, and I give him two big thumbs up. I’d usually clap and call over, but he knows I can’t with Amelia sleeping next to me.
His grin gets even wider, and he returns my thumbs up.
I turn as Tina walks into the park, her two sons at her side, twin six-year-olds. They look so much like Hudson, with their brown hair, and they look a little like our kids, too, the little touches passed down from Hudson and Della’s parents.
Hudson carries Parker over. “I think this one’s a little tired.”
I grin up at my brother-in-law and business partner.
After starting as a trainer, Hudson threw himself into every task with commitment. He had the idea to branch out and franchise. He handled all the logistics, leaving me to make more money on the market and fund his projects.
It worked, and now we’re equal partners.
It makes me proud of how far we’ve all come.
He lowers Parker down, sitting him next to me.
Parker grins up at me, putting his finger to his lips. “Shush, Daddy.”
I reach down, gently ruffling his black hair. Dad often says he’s the one who looks most like I did at that age.
Tina sits, smiling over at me.
“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” she says, keeping her voice quiet.
I smile. “It is. Della’s going for ice cream. Would your boys like anything?”
“Yeah, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“The usual?”
Tina nods, grinning. “You know my boys.”
I take out my phone. Would you be able to get the twins something too?
Sure, she replies. I’ve got my best little helper here. The usual?
Yeah. See you soon, angel.
I sit back, watching as the boys all wrestle Hudson to the ground.
I smile over at him, thinking how lucky I am to have the choice of so many amazing things.
I can sit with my daughter, watching her perfect sleeping face, or I can clap Jax on the back and tell him well done for all those three-pointers. Or I could go over there and wrestle with the boys.
“Life’s good, isn’t it?” Tina says, fiddling with her wedding ring with a dreamy smile on her face as she watches her husband.
I turn, looking past her, down the lane as my wife and daughter come walking down it.
The same smile touches my lips as I see Rosa carrying the ice cream holder, a plastic tray with cone-shaped holes in it.
Della is carrying one of her own.
She looks so beautiful, her hair grown long, her body curvy and tempting, made more gorgeous by her pregnancies.
But it’s more than her physical looks.
It’s how she carries herself, the confidence of a seasoned counselor, an angelic mother…or a fierce tigress if she needs to be.
Suddenly, I’m struck again, just like the first time I saw her.
Passing me on a bus.
I knew I had to have her.
And now I do.
She looks up, catching my eye, and smiling.