Two years later…
Sweet blue eyes stared up at Liv as she finished buttoning up the onesie with the cute Koala’s on the feet. “Keep looking at me like that, Luca, and I’ll never be able to say no to you.” She kissed his little nose and then swaddled him back up in the blanket. “Come on, my little buddy, everyone’s waiting on you downstairs.”
“Not only waiting on Luca.” Liv glanced toward the door, finding Miles leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. “They’re waiting for my beautiful wife too.”
“Okay, you better stop,” Liv said with a smile. “If I get any happier, you might actually make me explode.”
He chuckled and met her halfway, dropping a soft kiss on her mouth. “If you explode from happiness then I’ll die happy, right alongside you.” He leaned away to place a gentle kiss on Luca’s head. “Get ready, my boy, you’ve got a room full of women who want to love you.” He slid Luca onto his arm like a football and took Liv’s hand.
They left the nursery, which had been Miles’s home office for the first year of their marriage and headed down the staircase.
The voices coming from the backyard hit Liv before they even made it out onto the patio. She got one foot out the door and spotted her father standing next to her mother, who sipped her wine in her wheelchair. Then her gaze fell to Aubrey, Benjamin, Grace, and Kendall, all with their significant others, when suddenly there were squeals of happiness and a rush of women overwhelmed her.
“Oh, my goodness, we flipped a coin, I get to hold him first,” Presley said, scooping Luca up from Miles’s arms.
Miles laughed softly. “I’m surprised you’re all being so civilized and taking turns.”
Cora rolled her eyes at Miles. “Of course we’re being civilized. We’re not going to maul your baby.”
Kenzie grabbed a wine glass off the tray and snorted. “Don’t believe a word she says. Before the coin toss, I swore there might be some hair pulling.” She nudged Liv’s arm with hers. “And not the good kind of hair pulling either.”
“Lies,” Presley cooed at Luca. “All lies. You sweet baby. Oh, my goodness, he’s so alert.”
“I swear he came out like that,” Liv said. “But he also sleeps seven hours at night.”
“Yes, you’re lucky,” said Allie, striding out the back door with a bottle of red wine. She kissed Liv on the cheek and said to Presley, “Damion slept three hours tops as a newborn.” Damion was Allie and Micah’s six-month-old, who was currently bouncing in his father’s arms as he came through the back door. Damion belonged on a baby food jar label with his dark hair and big, bright blue eyes.
“Well, enjoy the quiet as long as you’ve got it,” Ella said, with a soft smile. “I had one just like this. All quiet and sweet.” She pointed to her five-year-old running around the yard, along with Dmitri and Presley’s two little children, chasing Romeo and Juliet, Liv and Miles’s yellow Labrador Retrievers. “Now look at him.”
Liv laughed. Maybe a little bit harder as Ella suddenly took off running after him when he began chasing after a bird, heading toward the waterfront. Her husband, Kyler, got there first, scooping their son up sending him squealing in laughter.
It was a good life. One Liv wasn’t sure she’d ever have, but one that she felt blessed had become hers. All the fears she’d had that they couldn’t make this work were for nothing. Miles saw his friends often. They came out to San Francisco, as much as Liv and Miles went out to visit Las Vegas…and Club Sin.
Warmth surrounded her as Miles sidled up to her, offering her some fruity cocktail. She took a sip. “Yum. Who made this?”
“I did,” he said.
She took a better look at it, the drink had three different colors. “I didn’t even know you knew how to make cocktails. Even after two years, you’re still surprising me.”
“Don’t be too impressed. I actually don’t know how to make cocktails.” He gestured to the drink. “You don’t remember that specific drink?”
She took another sip. “Nope. Should I?”
“That’s the drink you ordered when I first saw you on the cruise.”
“It is not?”
He nodded and smiled.
She glanced back at the drink, remembering that first night on the cruise when she thought Miles was a figment of her imagination. “Oh, my god, you’re right. I ordered a Miami Vice. How did you remember that?”
“Don’t you know what today is?”
The answer hit her. “Today is the two-year anniversary of the cruise, isn’t it?”
He slid an arm around her, bringing her in close, and brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “Any regrets about staying on that cruise with me?”
She glanced out at her parents, watched as Presley handed off Luca to a smiling Aubrey, with Carter next to her, and all of their other friends circling around them. She smiled at Miles. “Not a single one.” She angled her chin, standing up on her tiptoes. “I love you, Miles, and the life we have.”
“My heart is now, and is always, yours, Liv.”