We all chuckle, pulling our coats around us a little tighter.
“The perfect evening.” I kiss Dax’s lips, my cup of champagne still in the air. “I love you.”
“I love you,” he whispers against my lips.
I face our friends and family and grin. “Cheers.”
“Cheers!”
“Can I have some?” Jacob pulls on my arm and nods to the cup of champagne.
This causes another round of laughter from us. I shake my head, and my dad walks up with my mom. “For you, little guy, we have sparkling apple cider.” My dad holds up a cup as my mom fills it.
Jacob groans and begrudgingly accepts it. But when he takes a sip, his eyes widen in appreciation. “Okay, that’s good. We should have this every day.”
“Yes, sir.” My dad clinks his cup to Jacob’s.
A new round of tears wells in my eyes as I look around at our closest friends and family. When my gaze falls on Dax—my best friend, my fiancé—my heart flutters.
His grin is so wide and genuine that my throat is clogged with emotions.
“I know.” He kisses my forehead.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t have any words, either,” he whispers and places my hand over his chest. “But my wild heartbeat speaks for itself.”
I close my eyes and lean into him, listening to his heart thump beneath my hand.
It’s the best kind of music.
The best kind of truth.
It’s love.
Epilogue
Three years later…
Dax
I move the head of my stethoscope over her chest, listening to the soft sounds that comfort me in a way I never imagined possible.
I’ll never tire of this sound.
“What’re you doing?” Clara asks as she wraps her arms around my waist.
“I’m listening to her heartbeat.” I close my eyes as the soft beats mix with Clara’s happy sigh.
“Can I?”
I give Clara one ear tip, and we watch as small eyes gaze up at us.
“Our miracle baby,” Clara whispers.
With Clara’s head resting on my shoulder, we watch our baby daughter as we listen to her heartbeat.
“A miracle indeed.”
Clara had a miscarriage soon after our wedding. It was difficult to process, for both of us, but she’s strong. She kept us together.
Then, one morning, Clara threw up.
She threw up the morning after that and the one after that. She was wary and didn’t want to get her hopes up, not after the last time, but I convinced her to meet me at the hospital for a checkup.
With our fingers intertwined, gripping each other for support, we listened to the swooshing of an extra heartbeat echo through the room as the OBGYN told us she’s four weeks pregnant.
We were still cautious.
We remained silent on the way home from the ultrasound like we were holding our breath. Once we were inside our home, we both broke down with so much happiness we could’ve burst.
We took it one day at a time.
Now, as we watch our daughter, my heart is ready to explode again. She was born premature, but she’s healthy.
Full of personality already.
She completes our family.
I rest my forehead against Clara’s and close my eyes, breathing it all in.
We got married a few months after our engagement. It was a small and intimate ceremony at Andrew’s winery.
We drank.
We danced under the moonlight. Andrew taught us how to dance like they do in Greece, hand in hand, in a big circle. With our family surrounding us, we celebrated.
Then, we honeymooned in Lake Tahoe where our families used to vacation together when we were kids. But this time, we made new memories.
Different ones that brought us even closer.
Because that’s the thing about revisiting the past now. It’s there and adds to our story, but we’re rewriting the future. One where Clara isn’t just my friend anymore.
She’s my wife. A mother to our two kids. My whole world.
I’m busy at the hospital, but coming home to my family brightens even my darkest days.
“Ready to take her outside?” Clara wipes at her eyes, a wide grin on her face.
I kiss her lips, my body buzzing and ready to celebrate with our family and friends. Staci and Brooks are here. Willow and Zach are here with their own daughter too. They were finally chosen to adopt last year, and the sight of my sister with her new family felt right.
After everything we went through, everything’s fallen into place and only gets better from here.
Ava fusses as Clara pulls her out of her crib. It’s high-pitched and squeaky and the most adorable sound. “Okay, big girl. Everyone’s waiting. Your pregnant auntie Sienna is going to kill me. Between the hormones and her determination not to eat carbs, we’ve got problems, sister.” She giggles as Ava wraps her tiny hand around Clara’s finger.
I chuckle along with her. Sienna’s an even bigger handful now that she’s pregnant, but she keeps things interesting. She moved away from Sunnyville when she met her baby’s father, Evan, but they didn’t go far. Their house in Riverville is close enough for her to surprise visit us every other day, because she’s not convinced labor is as bad as they say.
Clara and I try to keep it light.
I kiss Ava on her head, sighing in contentment, then hold Clara’s hand. We meet Jacob in the hall. He’s gone finishing with Terry and me several times the last few years, and he’s getting better. When he’s old enough, he and I will share a whiskey neat, just like I imagined I would with my own dad. He’s becoming a young man Clara and I are both proud of.
He smiles and holds his hands out for his baby sister. As a family, we head downstairs together to celebrate Ava’s first birthday.
Our
