Page 136 of Waiting for Redemption

We spend the whole two hours in recovery sitting next to each other on her bed, staring at our beautiful son. Whether he’s nursing, or sleeping in his little blanket burrito, I can’t seem to take my eyes off of him. When we finally move to a bigger room, Ruby texts Lauren to let her know she can bring Hendrix back. We want him to be the first to meet his little brother, so everyone else is just going to have to wait.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Come in,” I instruct as Ruby sits up a little straighter in the bed. She’s changed from the hospital gown into some sweats and her favoriteBad BunniesT-shirt. I swear she must have five of those things because I wassureI hid the one I wanted to keep.

“Mommy! Daddy!” Hendrix whisper-shouts as he runs over to me, hugging my waist before moving slowly to the bed.

“What is it?” he asks innocently, looking down at the blanket-wrapped baby.

“It’s a little brother,” Ruby answers, making his eyes grow wider.

“Hey, brother.” Hendrix rubs his finger along Poe’s forehead gently, making tears well in both mine and Ruby’s eyes. And apparently, Lauren’s since I can hear her sniffling from behind me.

“Do you want to know his name?” I ask, sitting down beside them.

“Yeah!” he says excitedly, though he never takes his eyes off of his baby brother.

“His name is Poe.” He smiles, and then a look of realization comes across his face.

“Hey, like the poems you read every night.” He smiles at me and I nod. “I love you, Poe. You’re my best friend already.”

Rip my damn heart out why don’t you, son?

“Do you wanna hold him?” Ruby asks, making Hendrix nod his head excitedly.

“He washed his hands before we came in,” Lauren informs us.

Ruby lets him crawl up next to her and places Poe in his hands, supporting his hold to make sure he doesn’t let him roll away.

“So, I have some good news,” Lauren says, walking over to the bed. “They accepted your offer. You guys got the house.”

“Are you serious?” Ruby asks, looking over at me, grabbing my hand with her free one.

“Yep. We can go over details another time of course, but you got it. I’ll leave you guys alone for a bit.” She leans down to kiss Ruby’s cheek before walking back out to the waiting room.

“We got the house,” Ruby whispers, her big brown eyes set deeply on mine.

“We got the house,” I repeat, leaning in to kiss my wife. We look down at the boys,our boys,who are already two peas in a pod and my heart is overwhelmed with gratitude.

“Thank you, Honey.” I caress her cheek, making her look at me in confusion.

“For what?”

“For giving me the chance to build a life with you. I know our marriage happened somewhat urgently, and that you questioned things in the beginning, but I always knew you were meant to be mine. Thatthis–” I look down at the boys again, “was the ending we were always supposed to have.” I spin her wedding ring on her finger, bringing the purple stone back to the center. “That’s why I boughtthisone month into the six that we spent apart.” Her head snaps up, looking at me with wide eyes.

“Making you my wife was always my endgame. You’re the only one I see. It’s always been you for me, Honey.” Tears fall from her beautiful eyes, making me swipe them away with the pad of my thumb like always.

“Only and forever, right?”

“Only and forever.”

BONUS EPILOGUE

RUBY

Whoever thought movingwith a newborn was a good idea, had one single brain cell and used it improperly. It only took a couple of months to get our house sold and Tank has insisted on doing everything move-in related. Though I appreciate the effort he’s putting into making this as stress-free as possible for me, the man can’t organize a box to save his life—which is causing the stress he’s trying to avoid. I’m pretty sure I saw my favorite coffee mug, Hendrix’s soccer cleats, and some of Tank’s underwear all in one box. I don’t even want to know how those things ended up close enough to be thrown together, but I immediately made him stop packing and put him ontruck loading onlyduty.

“Last one Honey. We are officially-” he leans down to kiss me while I bounce Poe in my arms, “moved in.”

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