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“Off how?” Liam asked, concerned.
“Just… off. I decided to visit the doctor to make sure everything was alright and…” Sam turned to Max and took his little hands in hers. “Max, how would you feel about being a big brother?”
My mouth dropped open. “You’re—”
Max threw his hands up and cheered, “Big brother!”
“How far along are you?” Charlie asked, his eyes full of wonder.
“The doctor said about four weeks.”
“And do you know who…” Adam didn’t finish the question, probably for Max’s sake, but we all understood what he was asking.
Sam shrugged. “There’s no way to tell until the baby gets here. Unless we do a test.”
Liam took her hand and gave her fingers a squeeze. “Doesn’t matter. We’re here for you. All of you.”
I nodded, looking around at my little family. We had everything we needed right here.
Epilogue
Sam
“Okay,” Charlie said, tapping the tip of his pencil against the edge of the table. “What’s your answer, sugar?”
I rubbed my belly, reviewing the practice question over and over again. So far, I’d been passing my mock LSAT exams with flying colors, but this one had me stumped. “Uh… C?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes?”
“Reallysure?”
I huffed a laugh. “Oh, stop it. Yes, I’m sure. The answer is C.”
Charlie nodded. “Yeah, you got it. I was just teasing you.”
“You’re a menace.”
“You love me.”
“You know for a fact that I —oh!”
Charlie was half out of his seat already. “What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”
I shook my head. “She just gave me a really big kick, that’s all.”
He vacated his seat and made his way over, circling around the table to crouch down next to me. He placed a gentle hand on my swollen belly and smiled. “Billie’s going to be a soccer player when she grows up, I can tell.” After placing a sweet kiss on my cheek, he said, “I think we should take a break. Can I grab you anything from the café?”
“I’d love a chocolate chip muffin. She’s been making me crave sweets all morning.”
He winked at me. “For my two favorite girls, anything. Be right back.”
I watched his broad back disappear around the corner of his bookshop, smiling at our surroundings with a great deal of pride. It was only seven months in, and Charlie’s bookstore was flourishing against all odds. Despite what all the supposed “experts” thought about the book industry shifting toward online retailers and e-books, there was something undeniably wonderful about finding yourself a literary trailer that you could hold in your hands.
The exposed brick walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves, a carefully curated collection of old classics and new releases arranged in neat, colorful rows. The adjoining café near the back of the bookstore made the whole place smell of buttery pastries and freshly brewed coffee, and with the warm noonday sun streaming in through the storefront’s massive window, all I wanted to do was curl up in one of the many available reading nooks with a good book.
I was proud of Charlie. He’d achieved his dream of a quiet life. Seeing him so happy made me happy in return, and with our little one on the way, the future was all things bright and exciting.
