He was the one who brought the woman of my dreams into my life. He was the reason I had my wife and children.
Fate might have worked in strange ways, but I had to admit it got things right this time.
“Where are my niblings?” Zeno’s voice boomed through the house, making both of my kids squeal and run inside. Goya was close behind, tail wagging.
When I finished putting the flowers in a vase, I made my way out into the living room to find Zeno on the floor roughhousing with my son while my daughter looked for the art she’d made for her uncle amongst the pile of ones she’d made for everyone else in the family.
“You good?” I asked my brother, getting a thumbs-up as he got tackled.
“I’ll be back in a few hours.”
With that, I headed out and back to the hospital.
“How are you doing?” I asked her as she sat on the side of the bed in her going-home outfit, anxious to get out of the hospital.
“Well, I have ice in my underwear,” she said, shooting me a smile. “But good. Ready to go. They’re taking forever with the paperwork.”
“They always do. How’s he doing?” I asked, looking down at the baby in her arm.
“He’s got a set of lungs on him,” she said, shooting me a bemused, but tired, smile.
“Has he gotten the hang of latching?” I asked. We’d had the lactation nurse in three times since she delivered because he just didn’t seem to be getting the hang of it.
“Not really. Which might be why he is so grumpy. But when we get home, we can supplement with the bottle. Without the judgment,” she said with an eye roll for the lactation nurse who had been urging her not to use the bottle.
Of course, Blair wanted to nurse if at all possible. But we were also realists. And wanted what was best for the baby. Which wasfedby any means necessary. Because a fed babymeant a full belly and a nice, long nap. Which was good for all of us. Especially this go around when we had two other kids at home who needed us.
“The kids picked flowers for you,” I told her. “Well, one of them picked. The other trampled. I’ll leave you to decide who.”
“Those flowers are going crazy this year.”
Whatever Blair was about to say was cut off by the wail from our son who, yeah, had quite the lungs on him.
Luckily, his screaming seemed to hurry our discharge papers.
Somewhere in the distance, the news was on the TV, telling a quick story about an American family—wife, husband, and two sisters—who’d just gotten arrested in Argentina for an elaborate scam.
But we were too distracted with our growing family to notice.
Pretty soon, he was home sitting on our daughter’s lap who was sitting on my lap, his belly full from the bottle I’d fed him.
On the other couch, Blair was catching up on sleep while our son carefully lined his little dragons up around her to “keep her safe” while she slept.
And, fuck, it was one of those perfect moments where I realized I had everything—everything—I’d ever wanted.
Blair - 27 years
I ran my hand down my dress, my chest feeling like it was floating as Nico moved in at my side.
Our two youngest—at seventeen and fifteen—were still climbing out of the car, seeming both too adult and achingly young. One was in his adult suit and the other in a pretty A-line dress.
We’d tapped out at five.
Three boys, two girls.
It was the perfect combination for us.
“Full-circle moment, huh?” Nico asked, his hand rubbing my lower back as I looked up at the sign above the door.
