Page 79 of I Found You
I peeled myself off him and hurried downstairs to my waiting and very upset little girl.
Epilogue
Seven months later
“She’s just a baby. I don’t think she’ll really care.” Maeve gave Jackson an irritated scowl.
“She’s not a baby anymore. She’s officially a toddler now. And it’s a birthday party, Jackson. You’re supposed to wrap the presents for a birthday party, especially a kids party.”
“Seriously? It’s not like she can unwrap it. At least this way, she’ll be able to open this present on her own,” Jackson said. He thought he was making a smart argument; I could see it on his face. Before he riled Maeve up even more, I stepped in.
“Take my dad’s stuff out of his gift bag and just use that.”
“What! No. Absolutely not. Charlie is not going to look like he couldn’t be bothered to put a gift together when, in reality, it was Jackson. He’ll just have to look like a fool.” She shot him another glare.
I nodded at Jackson, essentially releasing him from Maeve’s wrath so he could put his gift bag together. He wasn’t wrong, in my opinion. But I wasn’t about to say that to her.
“My father wrapped all of the presents and then put the wrapped packages into a gift bag. Fancy paper stuff and all.”
“Tissue paper,” Maeve responded, eyes shining like I’d just told her my father had rescued a litter of puppies from aburning building. Hormones were making her emotions go wild.
I chucked quietly and wrapped my arms around her middle from behind. We were standing on the back porch of our yard. The sun was shining brightly over the small party we were throwing for Jane’s first birthday.
“I can’t believe she’s already one year old.”
“I can’t believe she’s almost ours,” I replied. The adoption hearing was scheduled for later this week. A little behind schedule from what we were hoping for, but otherwise, it was pretty smooth so far.
“Should we talk about her name?” Maeve asked.
“Yeah. I was thinking she should take my name. That way, when you take my name, we wouldn’t have to go back to change her name again.” We had been talking about the future, about marriage, for a while. I still hadn’t put a ring on it, but that was going to change. Today. She just didn’t know that yet.
“I meant her first name.”
“Why would we change the name Jane?”
“Because you hate that name. Right from the beginning, you told me that her name wasn’t Jane because she didn’t even look like a Jane.”
Faking outrage, I lied, “What are you even talking about? I would never say that. Of course she’s Jane.”
Maeve spun around, mouth agape at my blatant lie. I remembered when I told her that. I’d meant it at the time. But now… now I couldn’t picture a better name for her. She was Jane. My Jane. Plus, I hadn’t expected Maeve to remember that.
I placed a quick kiss on her forehead. She wasjust so damn cute. “Seriously though. Doyouwant to keep her name?”
“Yeah. Not only because she already knows her name and I don’t want to confuse her but also because it’s just who she is. She’s Jane Sunshine, soon to be Wilder.”
I held back my groan at that. Maeve wanted to keep a nod to her origins. Something about not erasing where she came from. I understood that, even though I really did hate that name. If Maeve wanted it, that was fine with me.
On the other side of the yard, Reid was sulking alone. Across from me, Luke must have noticed, too, because we both started making our way toward him at the same time.
I handed him the can of soda I brought over. With a raised brow, he looked at the can and then back to me. “You got anything stronger?”
“Nope. It’s a fucking baby’s birthday party. We didn’t exactly break out the hard liquor.”
“I’m not in the fucking mood, Wyatt,” he grumbled.
“Stop sulking at your niece’s birthday party,” Luke said. “Put a smile on your face and just pretend for one afternoon. We know you hurt that she’s gone. But she was only here temporarily to work on the Delano Library project. You knew she wasn’t here for the long term.”
“Fuck off, Luke. Just because your marriage is shit doesn’t mean we can all ‘just pretend,’” Reid spat out. “Go find your wife and be miserable with her. Just leave me alone.”
