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Seven-ish months later
Lo
“Jase!” Lo screams, her voice sending chills down my spine.
Flashbacks of the day we lost Lilac thrum through my skull. Blood. So much blood.
I had been sitting in my office, finishing up my last contract. Everything else will be done from home and the rest will be on the shoulders of my employees, including Sally. After Lo and I had a conversation about what never happened, she talked to Sally herself. By the time their discussion was over, Lo came back to me and told me to promote Sally. She’s now the team leader, and taking on a lot of my work.
A lot has happened since that day. Lo and I have been in therapy, working out all the baggage and resentment. It’s a work in progress, but perfection only comes with time. She smiles now—all the time—and my kids seem better.
We got married again. It wasn’t a big ceremony, but a small one, at the beach with our family.
The first thing I promised my wife when we renewed our vows was to allow her to go to work while I stayed at home with our newest bundle. Our rainbow baby.
Now, I’m running down the hall, into the room, seeing her standing but shaking, the ground wet and her eyes full of terror.
“My water broke,” she cries, her lip wobbling with anxiety.
“Hey, beautiful,” I coo, walking to her, being as gentle as can be. “You’ve got this. We’ve got this. Let’s get the bag and head out.”
Inside, though, I’m freaking the fuck out, praying this doesn’t happen again. We couldn’t survive it. For the last few months, we’ve re-bonded. She moved to my mom’s, and every day, like when we were teens, I asked her to be mine.
It took time, just like before, and we built it up from there. Neither of us has seen or spoken with Toby since that day. He doesn’t even know she’s pregnant, and neither of us knows whose baby she’s giving birth to, not genetically at least. Either way, it’s mine.
We’re stronger, our love and bond growing and fixing every single day. Jazzy is happy, and Ace is... Ace.
Everything becomes a whirlwind of frantic activity. After six hours of labor, my wife pushes and pushes and pushes. She cries while I rub her forehead and kiss her, telling her she’s beautiful and strong and perfect.
When our baby comes, my heart is suspended in the air.
Then, there’s a scream.
Lo cries in relief, and I follow suit. We share a look, knowing that this time we did it. This time, we’re together.
“It’s a boy,” the doctor congratulates us, handing me the umbilical cord to snip.
“Leviathan Alder Collins,” Lo says immediately. I smile at her choice and nod to the doctor.
“Leviathan, it is.”
After I cut the cord, the baby’s crying until Lo coddles him to rest. While we both break down in tears of joy, I don’t let either of them go. It’s as if the world knows we need this moment, realizing we handled every bad thing, and every obstacle thrown our way, just to get to here.
Because even though we lost one another, she finally came back to me.
Just like she promised.
“Do you love me?” she questions, her eyes wet with emotion, all while holding our newest bundle to her chest.
“I fucking do,” I confess, lost in the moment with the love of my life.
The End
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