“Love you, too!”
Seconds later, the back door opened and closed, and he was gone. I went over and scooped Roscoe into my arms and carried him over to the sofa. I turned him to face me as I said, “Guess what! Your daddy and I are gettin’ married.”
Roscoe cocked his head to the side like he understood me.
“Yeah, I know. Crazy, right?”
He cocked his head to the other side.
“We’ve got a good thing here. Better than I ever thought possible.”
Roscoe wiggled in my lap and barked in agreement.
“I know. I really love him, and he loves me.” I leaned down and gave him a kiss on the tip of his nose. “And we love you, too. Even when you knock over the Christmas tree.”
He gave me another little bark, and I pulled him in for a big hug, and tears filled my eyes as I told him, “Looks like I’m getting my happy ending after all.”
EPILOGUE
Q
Three Years Later
“Did you grab the diaper bag?”
“It’s already in the car.”
“What about extra bottles? And what about Bella’s pacy?”
“Got them, too.”
Jules unlatched Bella’s car seat, then lifted it from its carrier and slipped her arm under the handle. Bella was only five months old, and we were both very protective of her. And rightly so. Jules had a difficult pregnancy, and I almost lost them both during her delivery.
We’d only taken her out a couple of times, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled about taking her out today. Unfortunately, there was no way around it. Mia was about to have her first kid, and there was no way we were going to miss it. Jules inhaled a deep breath before saying, “We’re all set.”
“Are you sure about this?” I looked down at Bella, all nestled in her car seat, and it was all I could do to keep from putting her right back in the car. Even though I knew she wouldn’t go for it, I suggested, “You could always wait in the car, or I could stay while you took Bella back home.”
“No, Quinton. We’re staying.”
“Okay, but she stays in the seat, and we’re keeping a blanket over her.”
“You don’t think you’re being just a little overprotective?”
“Absolutely not,” I lied. “I’m just looking out for our girl.”
I reached into the backseat for the diaper bag, then took the carrier from her hand. Once we had everything, I closed the door, and we headed inside the hospital. When we finally made our way up to the waiting room, I wasn’t surprised to find that it was packed. It was just my luck that every brother and their ol’ lady had come to show Mia and her parents their support.
We were still standing in the doorway when Cotton and Cass came over. Cotton knelt to peek at Bella as he said, “I wasn’t expecting to see you guys here, especially with the little one.”
“We went back and forth on it a bit, but I couldn’t miss the birth of Stitch’s first grandkid.”
“Yeah, he could use the support.” Cotton motioned his head over at Stitch. “He’s been kind of a mess. Been pacing back and forth for the last hour.”
Wyatt stepped up next to me as he told us, “Yeah, he’s worse today than he was when Mia was born.”
“Surprised you remember that.”
“No way I could forget it. The man was a total basket case.” Wyatt chuckled as he told us, “He’s always so together and has everything planned out, but all that went out the window when Mom’s water broke. He lost it.”