Epilogue
Six years later
“I can walkin by myself, Mommy,” Emma insists.
Jamie laughs. “Too cool for Mom and Dad, huh?”
Emma just rolls her eyes. “No. But I’m six and a quarter, and I can walk into the first day of first grade by myself.” She holds up her arms. “But you can give me a kissy, though.”
“Oh, we can, can we?” Jamie scoops her up and gives her kisses until she’s squealing and thrashing. “There—is that enough kisses?”
Emma pats his cheeks with both hands. “I think that’s about fifty thousandy hundred too many,Daddy.” She nuzzles his cheek. “But I love you, so it’s okay.”
Jamie extends his hand to her after he’s put her on her feet again. “Can I walk you in? I mean, Iamthe principal.”
She shakes her head resolutely. “No. You can go in after me. Besides, Mommy is going to cry, so she’ll need you to give her kisses, too.”
I laugh, trying to pretend like I’m not already choked up. “I am not!”
Emma just gives me her patented eye-roll. “You’re already almost crying and I haven’t even gone in yet.”
I sigh. “Fine. I’m going to cry. But you’re my baby girl, and I’m allowed.”
“Do you cry this much on Aiden’s first day of school?”
I nod seriously. “Every year.”
“Even this year?”
I nod again. “First day of high school? You bet I did. Like a baby. Didn’t I, dear?” I say, addressing Jamie.
“She sobbed. It was pathetic.” Jamie winks at me, teasing. “Mom’s a crier, babe, so you better get used to it.”
Emma shakes her head. “You’re silly, Mommy.” She wraps her arms around my hips, and I squat down to give her a long, squeezing hug. “Okay, okay, you’re gonna squish me, Mom.”
I let her wriggle free, take two steps away, and then I yank her back for kisses. Finally, I actually let her go. “Have a good day, Emma. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mommy.” She points a finger at Jamie. “Give her extra kisses, Daddy.”
Jamie pulls me into his arms and dips me backward, kissing me passionately, dramatically. Teachers cheer through open windows, children make grossed-out sounds, and I…well…I kiss him back and work on restraining myself from ripping his tie off and dragging him back home for round two.
Because round one happened around five this morning, before anyone was awake. Even little Cora, our two-year-old daughter stayed asleep, miraculously. Right now, she’s babbling up a storm and smacking the tray of her stroller, trying to get Emma’s attention.
I call Emma back. “Em, wait! Cora wants you to say goodbye to her, too!”
Emma runs back, backpack bouncing noisily, and gives Cora half a dozen kisses. “Bye, Cora! Be good for Mommy! Don’t break any of my toys!”
A futile reminder—Cora has been in full Destructor mode lately, crushing, shredding, ripping, stomping on, and otherwise destroying anything and everything she gets her hands on. Definitely living up to her namesake’s reputation, I’d say.
Although, come to think of it, Cora’s mellowed out since she married Lewis Calhoun. She’s a few feet away from me, walking their son Alexander inside for the first day of preschool. Lewis quit dealing pot and did eventually start selling his junk art. But then, that’s a story for another time.
Jamie kisses me once more, softly, tenderly, and then kisses Cora and snuggles her close, and then follows Emma in to the school at a distance.
At that moment, my phone beeps with a text from Aiden:Give Emma and Cora hugs for me. Have a good day, Mom! ILY!
God, what a sweet boy. What fourteen-year-old is so open and loving? One with all the love in the world around him, that’s who.
I watch Jamie head into school, broad shoulders swinging. He greets children with crouching hugs, listens to stories of weekend highlights, high fives the janitor, and vanishes into the school, where he’ll shine as the best principal…pretty much ever.
When I saw him across the bar that day, I’d never have guessed that six years later, we’d have two children together, and have been married for five years.
Or that we’d have another baby on the way.
Butssshhhh, he doesn’t know yet.
The End
