Page 171 of Heartstrings

“Whoa!” Jonah exclaims. “Cool knife, Dad!”

“Thanks. Never know when I’ll need to protect my loved ones from a deadly serpent.” A wink. “Or carve our family crest for all to behold.”

Jonah and I hold hands, watching as Walker starts carefully carving into the cottonwood tree trunk in front of us.

WR

+

SR

+

JR

4EVER

I think about the heart he drew on my ribs in sharpie under the Fourth of July fireworks. WR + SS 4ever, he wrote then.

This one’s got my new initials. This one’s got our whole family in it.

This one's permanent.

Jonah claps with delight as Walker starts drawing a big heart around the letters.

“Dad,” he says, “You’ve got to make the heart even bigger.”

“Why’s that, JoJo?”

He stares at him like it’s obvious. “To make room for the baby!”

Then his big green eyes turn to me, very serious. “There might be more than one in there, you know. It sounds crazy, but it’s true.”

Walker and I start laughing, and Jonah doesn't quite know why, but he starts laughing too.

I look at Walker over Jonah's head. He's already looking at me.

And that's all there is. That's everything.

Our family.