Page 94 of Crash

“Because he’s the most handsome,” Sandy says, smiling tiredly as us.

“What’s his name, son? I don’t have a namesake yet,” our father says.

“Jackson Joseph Clark. Jackson because we love that name, and Joseph after Dee’s father.” This time, it’s Mrs. Etienne who cries as she cradles her new grandson.

“Don’t worry, creator,” I say, throwing an arm around my father. “I’ll give you a namesake.” I wink at Vivi as I say it, and she rolls her eyes at me.

An hour later, we decide to give the new parents some time with their newborn, promising to be back this evening with dinner.

“He’s so perfect,” Vivi says, as we step into the hallway. “So beautiful. Did you see the happy parents, Luke? They’re glowing.” To my shock, her eyes fill with tears. “I want that. I want that with you, Lucas Clark,” she begins, but I cut her off.

“Don’t you dare, Vivienne! You are not going to take this away from me. I haven’t even practiced my speech yet.”

“I don’t need a speech. I already know how you feel about me. Do it before I do!” she threatens.

“Marry me.”

She bites her bottom lip as she pretends to mull my question over, then nods as the tears start to fall. I pull her to me and kiss her lips.

“Let’s go home, love.”

EPILOGUE

LUKE

“She’s been hogging the baby since we got back from the church,” Vivi complains to me, Tash, and Chris as we watch Mrs. Etienne take the baby from Jake. Jake looks over at us, smirks, and walks away.

“She did the same thing when I had the twins,” Tash says.

“I have five bucks that say she starts crying again in under five minutes,” Chris says.

“None of us are stupid enough to take that bet, Christopher,” Tash says. Sure enough, we see her wipe the tears from her eyes a few minutes later as she looks down adoringly at Jackson Joseph Clark, who was baptized only a few hours ago.

After church, we had a reception at Jake and Sandy’s new house. Most of the guests have left, leaving just the close family. I reach over and brush some hair off Vivi’s face before leaning over and kissing her cheek.

“You look beautiful, love,” I whisper in her ear. She smiles at me and lays her head on my chest. “You want me to get you something to eat. You hardly ate anything.”

“Maybe I’ll have a salad a little later. My stomach is kind of upset.”

“Hmmm,” I say, looking at her. She pulls away from my body and stands up.

“Don’t start that again,” she says. “I already told you it’s not that.”

I hold up both hands, unwilling to have this discussion in front of an audience.

“Hey, guys,” Sandy says as she walks over to us, Jake following behind. “How about we all watch a movie?”

“We can’t turn our backs on your mother, Dee. She’s going to kidnap our baby,” Jake says. We all look over and Mrs. Etienne is rocking the baby to sleep. She gets up and walks towards his nursery.

“Where is she going to take him? She refuses to drive,” Sandy says.

“I still don’t understand why Alex and I aren’t the godparents,” JD says as he and his wife walk into the room, both of them with a piece of cake. JD’s holding Addison who is practically fighting with him to get her hands on his cake.

“This family needs new blood. We’re already Addy’s godparents. We were each other’s best men. We need to branch out,” Jake says.

“No new people!” my mother yells from across the room.

Everyone laughs and the conversation changes to plans for the upcoming holidays. When my dad approaches, he says, “Clarks? How about some football tonight at the house?”

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