Page 137 of Who's Playing You
All will be revealed…
EPILOGUE
SCOTTIE ANDERSON - 4 MONTHS LATER
Much like her daddy, Freyja Joy Soba, did things on her own terms and timeline. She burst into the world two weeks early, right after my spring semester ended. A head full of blonde hair, just like mom, and steely grey eyes, just like dad. She was beautiful.
A gift.
Nick and I were absolutely living our very best lives as we took in every minute with Freyja in our home - our sanctuary.
After the Super Bowl, it had taken some time to come down from it all: the build-up, the game, the outcome. To say that it had been a busy time in our lives was an understatement. But once all of that had died down, Nicholas had been home most of the time and made me his entire focus.
Well, me and baby bean.
Nik and Nic along with Valentina and Noelle had come up to visit us in New Hope a few times. We’d all also taken a trip and met up in Philly. It was in Philly that we learned that Nicholas and I weren’t the only ones who were expecting.
It was after that Philly trip when Nicholas and I were laying together on the couch, watching a movie. I lay half on top of him as he alternated between rubbing my back and playingwith my hair when he said, “What do you think about Freyja for baby bean’s name?”
“Freyja? Like from Norse mythology?”
“Well yeah, but also, Freyja was the goddess of love, beauty, fertility and war. Somehow that feels perfect for us, and for her. If it weren’t for our love we wouldn’t be here. Plus, you’re beautiful,” he said and I felt his chest rumble with laughter underneath me.
I picked my head up to look at him. “Funny,” I deadpanned. “What about fertility and war?”
“Fertility because she’s just the beginning of our brood. Baby bean will be the start of our very own football team. She’s a symbol of our love and fertility.” He said that and looked so proud of himself.
“Slow your roll, mister. I do not plan on giving birth to a dozen kids!”
“Honey, you are a fertile Myrtle and I’ll keep knocking you up for as long as you allow me.”
“Knowing you, you would too. If you had your way, we’d probably get our own TV show on TLC or something, it’d be called something ridiculous likeTouchdowns and Toddlers.”
“I’ll call my agent and have him reach out to TLC.”
I swatted his chest. “Don’t you dare. But back to the name. What about war? How does that factor in?”
“War because I had to wage a war to get us here.”
I leaned my chin on my folded hands on his chest and looked deep in his eyes. “I think it’s perfect.”
Nicholas smiled like I’d never seen him smile before. I quickly broke our moment because laying on my side like I was, with my top half draped over his chest was really uncomfortable with my big baby belly.
Once I managed to sit up I looked at him once more, “What about Joy for her middle name?”
“Freyja Joy. Honey, I love that. It’s perfect. Joy because she’s the biggest joy of our lives.”
And just like that, we had our daughter’s name picked out.
Since Freyja was born, we’d kept ourselves busy and hadn’t left our house too much. It had truly become our private sanctuary.
Nicholas had indeed bought his parents a house here in New Hope, and after Freyja was born, they spent a lot of time with us. Unlike some parents or inlaws, Nicholas and I loved having them around. There was an open door policy at our house, and both Natasha and Nathan would usually stop by once a day to help with Freyja and give us a little break, or they’d run to the grocery store for us, or whatever they wanted to do.
We were one big, happy family. I finally had the family that I had always desperately desired.
Freyja was a lucky little girl because she had the best daddy in the world, one who was totally enamored and obsessed with her. She also had two aunties who adored her and vowed to spoil her rotten. Meanwhile she had a grandma and grandpa who were so over the moon about her, and were absolutely living their best lives in their grandparent era.
Freyja was showered with so much love and attention from Natasha and Nathan that my adoptive parents’ absence would never be a factor. For Freyja, or for me. Natasha and Nathan had welcomed me into their family with open arms. Natasha even told me that I completed the Soba family, and that she was so overjoyed to be able to call me her daughter.
