Page 120 of Reluctantly Ever After

I lead them down the hall to what used to be my office. Now it's all Summit's. The mountain mural I painted takes up one wall, with the pine tree shelves I built loaded with all the stuff people kept giving us. The crib I designed stands opposite, with the mobile of stars and mountains hanging above it.

"Dude," Banks whistles. "You built all this?"

"Most of it." I try to sound casual, but the pride comes through anyway. "I had to do something with all that nervous energy."

Navy runs her hand over the changing table, eyebrows raised. "This is some serious nesting, James. Didn't know you had it in you."

"Neither did I." It's true. Never thought I'd be the guy obsessing over crib safety ratings or non-toxic paint. Yet I did it, building the furniture myself because it needed to be perfect.

While everyone pokes around, I notice Reed and Navy standing off by themselves, heads close together in what looks like a heated argument in whispers.

"What's with them?" I ask Banks.

He follows my gaze and smirks. "No idea, but they've been like that all week. Ever since Navy mentioned she's donating eggs for her sister's IVF treatment."

"And Reed's involved because...?"

"He's the doctor handling the procedure. They've got ‘differing opinions’ on the pre-donation protocol."

I raise an eyebrow. "You're using air quotes, which means there's more to the story."

"There's definitely more." Banks grins. "You should’ve seen them at dinner last night. It was intense.”

Before I can dig deeper, Kieran calls out, "Did you seriously make a poop emergency checklist and laminate it?" he asks, holding up the color-coded card.

"Ranked by disaster level, with response protocols," I say, not giving a shit what they think. "I got tired of Wren laughing at me when I'd panic over normal baby shit. Literally. The first one isblack,dude. It’s not right."

Everyone laughs, and I use the distraction to slip out. I find Wren exactly where I left her, but now Summit's attached to her breast, working on his lunch.

"They having fun with the tour?" she asks without looking up.

"Yeah." I drop down beside her, arm going around her shoulders and my body relaxing a little. "Kieran found the laminated list.”

"You're ridiculous."

"It's practical."

She leans into me, warm and soft. "How much longer until we can kick them out?"

"Another twenty minutes, tops. Then we claim exhaustion."

"It’s not a lie. I'm running on fumes here."

I press my lips to her temple. "As soon as he’s done, you're napping while I take him."

"Bold assumption that I can sleep on command."

"Wren. You passed out mid-sentence last night telling me about Kieran's new filing system."

"That's because his filing system is boring as hell." But she smiles, eyes already drooping. "Fine. I’ll take a quick nap. Wake me if he needs anything."

"Deal."

I look down at our son, still nursing, his tiny hand pressed against Wren's breast. Something hits me square in the chest - this feeling I can't put words to. Love, fear, pride, exhaustion - all of it mixing together into something too big to contain.

I never thought I'd have this. Never thought I deserved it. But here we are, and somehow it feels right in a way nothing else ever has.

"To Summit William James," I whisper, holding up my beer bottle in the dim light of our kitchen. "The best mistake we ever made."

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