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In the meantime, I grab the baby car seat with Willow, our six-month-old baby girl, in it. I rush outside and get her set in the back of my Jeep, making sure she is strapped in correctly, and that she has her pacifier handy. The kid sucks on that thing like she might inhale it. She’s a dead ringer for Maggie Simpson when she goes to town on it.
“Oh my god,” I hear Hunter behind me. The surprise in her voice tells me that the hell I went through to locate and buy my old Jeep back was worth every penny and second of frustration.
“Surprise!” I call over my shoulder before placing another kiss on Willow’s soft hair.
“Daddy got a surprise,” Jake is practically bouncing off the ground with excitement.
“I see that,” Hunter mumbles behind her hands that are now covering her mouth. “How?”
I run around the Jeep, grab Jake and throw him in the air. His giggles echo through the yard. Best sound ever. With practiced moves, I turn him around and slide him perfectly right into his car seat. I click all the latches closed before he has time to blink. He sometimes tends to be a little more dramatic and struggle out of there to get to Hunter. Not today, buddy.
Once that’s done, I finally turn to face my wife. I am so in love with this woman, more with each day that passes, I almost can’t speak.
“Zach, how did you do this?” she repeats her question.
“Lots of patience, and quite a bit of money,” I shrug and laugh.
I sold this Jeep out of spite when she broke up with me. Every time I looked at it, I saw her, and I couldn’t live like that. So I sold it and never looked back. Until I got Hunter back, that is. And from that point on, all I could think about was that I wanted us to cruise around in my old beat-up Jeep, her hair blowing in the wind and happiness filling the space.
“I can’t believe you found it,” she covers her eyes and starts sobbing.
“Mommy crying,” Jake’s voice comes from behind me, and I can tell that he is not very far off from starting to cry as well. That’ll get Willow crying, and before we know it, we got a complete circus going.
“Only because I’m happy, Jakey,” Hunter mumbles against my chest, and I let out a strangled laugh.
“She’s happy for sure,” I look at Jake and wink. That seems to calm him down. He picks up his water bottle and starts sucking on it while kicking at the back of the passenger seat. “Don’t do that, Jake,” I put my hand on his foot to stop him. “Daddy paid a lot of money for this piece of junk.”
“Junk,” he agrees, causing Hunter to snort laugh.
“Well, ready for a ride?” I clap my hands, rubbing them together in anticipation.
“Is it safe?”
“Baby,” I look at her in disappointment. “Would I attempt this if I didn’t think it was safe? I know it seems to be as rusted as it was twelve years ago, but I put a lot of money in the safety features. I just wanted it to look the same on the outside.”
“I trust you,” she knows I speak the truth, and gets in. I make sure she is situated before walking over to the driver’s side and getting in.
“It’ll be just a short drive,” I pat her on the leg once we’re moving.
“I love this, Zach, thank you.” She leans in to give me a quick kiss. “I wish Grams was here with us too.”
“Same,” I agree with a little bit of sadness.
Grams passed away three months before Willow was born. Her heart finally gave out after years and years of trying to find her all sorts of treatments. In the end, it was quick, and we were all grateful for it. She just dropped to the ground in her garden. A neighbor saw it happening, called nine-one-one, but it was too late. They said she was dead before she hit the ground.
“We should stop by my brother’s house. He’ll love to see Willow.”
“I wanna see Wogan,” Jake calls from the back, talking about his cousin, Logan. Levi plays with them too, but with Logan and Jake being the same age, they bonded a little more.
“We can do that,” I nod and change lanes to take us to Ridge and Brooke’s house.
“He said he’s got some news,” Hunter starts laughing out of nowhere.
“Ha, you think Brooke is…”
“I don’t know,” Hunter is cracking up, “but whatever it is, please don’t ruin it for him He still hasn’t forgiven Van over what happened when they were trying to announce they were pregnant with Logan.”
“In Van’s defense though, he was just as excited and looking forward to announce his own piece of news.” I feel obligated to defend my friend.
