Page 104 of Haven

I clap his back. “I’m so fucking happy for you, brother.”

“Me too.” He smirks. “Now I’m going to go upstairs and take care of my very pregnant, very horny wife. I’ll see you at brunch tomorrow before we head back home.”

I stand there, looking out at the dance floor, trying to find Juliette when she pops up next to me with a glass of champagne in her hand. “Hey, cupcake.” I drop a kiss on her lips.

“Hey, Charming.” She sips her drink as the DJ announces the final song of the night, and Ashlyn and Brandon take the floor. “Look at them out there. They look so happy.”

“They do.” I dip my head so my lips skim up my wife’s neck and thoroughly enjoy the way she shivers in my arms. “You guys planned a great wedding, but I liked ours better.”

She sighs a pretty sigh. “It was a pretty great night.”

“One I’ll never forget.” My fingers skim over the cool skin of her bare back. “We’ve had a lot of great nights since.”

She turns in my arms and skims her lips over mine. “We really have. I love our life, Becks. I just hope Easton’s okay. I—”

I press a finger to her lips. “I know. But there’s nothing we can do right now. I know you want to fix this for him, but he’s a grown man, Juliette. We’ve got to give him space to work through this, and we need to make sure he knows we’re here for him.”

“What if it’s not enough?”

“It will be.” I take her hand and tug her out onto the dance floor, next to Ashlyn and Brandon and Lenny and Bash. “Come on. Let’s celebrate.”

My woman raises her hands above her head and jumps with Lenny and Ashlyn. The three of them sing completely off-key as the song winds down, and the DJ throws one more on for good measure.

“We Are Family” plays through the speakers, and this time everyone sings.

Somewhere, I hope my dad is looking down on this, seeing his legacy live on in this room.

EPILOGUE

Ashlyn

Iwake up to aching, leaking boobs and realize Raven slept through her feeding. That’s not like my baby girl. At a month old, this little girl hasn’t missed a meal yet. I reach over to Brandon, but he’s not there.

What the...?

I throw on my robe and pad down the hall to Raven’s room.

We moved into this house about a month before our girl decided she was tired of waiting to make her entrance. I thought I’d have another month, but Raven had other ideas. She was born at thirty-six weeks, blessedly healthy. A little jaundiced, but that was it. It took forever for my milk to come in, but once it did, I could feed a small village with the amount I’m producing.

When I get to her room, the door is cracked open, and the little butterfly nightlight is the only light in the room. Her daddy insisted on a pink room with butterflies. He loved the idea that we can all become something beautiful.

But there’s not many things as beautiful as the sight before me.

Brandon sits in the gray glider rocker, his feet resting on the ottoman in front of him. He’s bare-chested because there’s nothing this man loves more than feeling his baby girl’s tiny body against his chest. Pretty sure it’s her happy place too. Raven is curled in a ball, her little diapered bottom tucked into Brandon’s big hand as her head rests on his chest.

And he’s singing to her.

I wait until he’s done before I sneak in. “Hey, big guy.”

“Hey, baby.” He runs a hand down Raven’s back, and her little fist grabs at his chest hair. “Raven wanted to party, but I thought you could use a little more sleep.”

I open my robe and show Brandon my engorged breasts as they spill over the top of my nursing tank. “I appreciate it, but if I don’t feed her right now, I might explode.”

He stands so I can sit, then kisses Raven’s head before handing her to me, and my girl might have been happily sleeping on her daddy, but the minute she smells my milk, she starts rooting for my nipple and latches on like a little champ.

“I never knew I could be this happy, Ashlyn.” His words are like an answered prayer, whispered into the universe.

“I know,” I whisper back. “We have a lot to be grateful for.”

He drops his lips to the top of my head. “I’m going to go start the coffee.”

“Brandon...”

He stops and turns back. “I love you.”

“With every beat of my heart.”

The End

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