“I love you, Samantha.”

“I love you too.”

“Can I hug too?”

I lifted Pax up and we all held each other.

“Aren’t they lovely?” Mrs. Tillis said.

“Yes. I’ve brought the champagne,” Knightly said.

“You planned all this?” Samantha asked.

I nodded. “Since the night you gave me another chance... well, not a chance. We do it or we don’t. So we’re doing it, right?”

“Yes. We’re doing it.”

I popped the cork on the champagne and served us all, Samantha, me, Knightly, Mrs. Tillis, and Caroline a glass. Pax got apple juice. We celebrated becoming a family. My house was finally going to be a home. It hadn’t felt like home since Victoria moved out when she went to college.

We had dinner together, and for the first time, dining at home felt like a family affair, not a state dinner. So many firsts in my life. I hated that I’d wasted so much time.

After dinner, Samantha and I played with Pax until it was time for bed.

"Aw, but I don't wanna go to bed yet,” Pax whined around a yawn.

“We have a busy day tomorrow moving you back into your room and planning the wedding,” I said, carrying him to bed. “Do you like your room? Because we can change it.”

“Can we have dinosaurs?” he asked as I helped him put his pajamas on.

“Yep. Whatever you want.” Once his pajamas were on and his teeth were brushed, we both tucked Pax into bed.

“I thought you said sometimes mommies and daddies don’t live together?” Pax asked as I pulled his blankets up.

“Sometimes they don’t,” Samantha said.

“But we do. Goodnight, Son.”

“Goodnight, Daddy. Goodnight, Mommy.”

“Goodnight, Pax.” With a final kiss on his forehead, she met me at the door of Pax’s room, closing it behind her.

Unable to wait, I pulled her close. “Tell me you’re happy.”

She looped her arms around me. “The happiest ever.”

I brushed her hair back from her face. “I was such a coward to have pushed you away. I hate that I hurt you. I plan to spend my life making it up to you.”

“How will you do that?” she teased.

“Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

“All I want is you, Henry. You and Pax. It was all I ever wanted.”

Guilt burned deep in my gut. “You thought when I invited you to the Hamptons five years ago that I was going to say something different, didn’t you?”

She nodded. “I was young and in love and naïve.”

I shook my head. “I did love you then. I wanted all this even then. I just—”