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“Me too, Miles. Me too.”
We wove our hands together and walked toward our next adventure.
Hopefully in love.
Epilogue
Miles
Three Years Later
I righted the cap on Reed’s head and straightened the dangling tassel, trying my damnedest not to weep. But god damn was it a losing game.
“You look good, kid,” I choked out.
He laughed at me right to my face. “I knew you were going to cry.”
“Yeah, well, crying is just a physical release of emotion. Am I not allowed to be emotional about my boy graduating high school?”
Looking away, he scrubbed his mouth with his hand and shrugged. “It’s all right I guess.” The thickness of his voice hadn’t gotten past me. There was a time, not too long ago, he didn’t think he’d get to this day. “I’m the one who has to go out there and walk across the stage. Don’t try to make me cry with you.”
“Then I suggest you not look at your sister,” I murmured.
Of course, we both did at the same time.
Daisy had just come down the steps and caught sight of us. One hand cupped her bowling ball belly, the other was pressed to her cheek—a sure sign of imminent tears.
Reed shielded his eyes. “No. Not you too.”
She waved her hand in front of her face. “I’m trying, but you just look so cute in your cap and gown, and this creature inside me is pressing directly on my heart bones. I have no control over myself at the moment.”
“There’s no such thing as heart bones,” Reed chided.
She put her fists on her hips. “Then explain what I’m feeling inside right now.” She paused, waiting for either of us to say anything. We did not. We knew better by now.
“That’s what I thought.” She padded across the living room of the house we bought soon after moving to Sacramento, barreling directly into Reed. He caught her easily and took all her weight, wrapping his arms around her gingerly. Since she’d gotten pregnant, he’d basically tiptoed around her, nervous to jostle or startle her.
It was cute as hell, and I loved seeing him care so deeply for his sister and future nephew.
She was seven months pregnant, and with her small stature and delicate frame, she truly looked like she’d swallowed a watermelon. I found it hard to believe her belly could get any bigger, but I never doubted Daisy could do anything she set her mind to, including carry my massive son to term.
“I love you, Reed. I couldn’t be prouder of you,” she said against his chest.
He gently patted his sister’s back, looking at me with a slight panic. Not because of the hug. Hugs were commonplace around here. But because Daisy had let loose a sob to end all sobs.
“Love you too, Daze.”
He passed my crying wife to me and skedaddled out of the living room. Probably to text his girlfriend about his guardians traumatizing him with their great big love for him.
I took Daisy to the couch and let her cry against me, splaying my hand on her belly. We had time before the ceremony and the descent of the Dunhams and Aldrichs to get some tears out.
The last three years had been the easiest of my life. Not at first, of course. We’d all been off-kilter when we’d arrived, and Daisy and I had been watching Reed like a hawk. We’d gotten him in therapy right away, but the thing that made the biggest difference had been starting school and getting to be a regular kid. Still quirky, but he’d found his people who’d enjoyed what he did, sat with him at lunch, and invited him out on the weekends.
Once he was settled, Daisy and I had been able to breathe and fall in love all over again. We hadn’t had to wait for the next shoe to drop or look over our shoulders. No exes or crazy mothers showing up on our doorsteps. No one gasped when we said our last names. We could just be Daisy and Miles with our boy Reed. Because that was what he became. Not our son, but something more than a brother. Our boy.
He’d helped me plan my proposal when we’d been here for three months, and when Daisy and I had gotten married on the one-year anniversary of our first meeting, he’d stood up for me along with Weston.
Funny thing was, somewhere along the way, West and Elise had taken to Reed too. We’d hosted them at our place just as often as we’d been back to visit them. At least, until their son, Elias, had been born last year. Now, we’d been crashing with them much more frequently to get that baby fix.
