“We’re having a daughter,” Dylan says

When I look at him, his eyes are full of tears—just like mine.

“Are you happy?” I ask.

“Are you kidding?” He pulls me close. “We’re going to have a beautiful little girl just like her momma.”

“Don’t you dare put that curse on us,” I joke. “I hope she isn’t as much of a handful as I was.”

He pauses the video for a second. “I need you to know something.”

“Are you finally going to tell me you’re a serial killer?”

“Damn, you figured me out.” He smiles. “I need you to know that I will always be here for you and this baby. No matter what’s going on between us, I’ll never leave. I’ll never walk out. I’ll always be the best father I can be.”

“What if—”

“Nothing that you can say next will change what I said. I’ll never leave.”

My tears start to flow again.

“Leah, baby, what’s wrong?”

“I’m just really glad that after all the assholes in my life, I finally found a good man. I’m having a baby with the man I wished my dad would have been. That makes me really happy.”

“You make me really happy.”

I grab the remote from him. “Now, let’s watch our daughter’s first home movie again.”

thirty-five

Goth Barbie

Dylan

One week later.

20 weeks pregnant

“I just don’t get it,” Leah says as I pause the movie at the end credits.

“What don’t you get?” I ask.

“He’s a doll who’s killing people. Sure, serial killers are scary, but he’s only like two feet tall. Shouldn’t it be easy to take him out?”

I laugh. “Well, maybe he’s got super strength because he’s possessed by a serial killer.”

She takes a bite of a Twizzler. “Eh, I don’t buy it. I’d drop that mother fucker.”

Oh, I don’t doubt it.

“So, you don’t like it?” I ask.

“No, I loved it. Let’s watch the second one.”

Not able to contain my smile, I stand up to put in the next movie.

She adjusts herself on the couch. “I know I’ve given up on wearing pants around here, but how would you feel if I took the same stance on bras?”