I blinked rapidly, trying to keep my eyes open. “I just…don’t want to waste any time with you….”
Laura giggled and kissed my temple. “Go to sleep and don’t be silly. We’re still going to be here when you wake up. It’s okay.”
“Mm.” My eyes closed as she continued to run her fingers through my hair. “Can I get that in writing?”
I could hear her laugh, and then I felt her slide into my arms and rest her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her, holding onto her tightly. Laura probably wasn’t tired and would slip away while I was asleep, starting her day, but for now, she was staying with me and letting me hold her, and that was all that mattered to me.
“Leaving you…was the worst,” I mumbled. “Leaving Drew, though…was new. I expected the pain of leaving you would crush me. Didn’t expect…how hard it’d be…leaving him. Love that kid so much already…” I yawned again. “I wanna…get to know him.”
“You will,” Laura whispered. “But I wouldn’t judge on what the worst pain is just yet. After all, your parents said that they want to meet their grandchild.”
I could hear the sarcasm in her voice and I chuckled, the joke carrying me off finally to slumber.
I dreamed of the three of us on the lake front, playing in the waves.
Epilogue: Laura
When I had been pregnant with Drew, I’d marveled at the difference a year could make. How I had gone from a young woman with a boyfriend and plans for college, to a single mother, holding her baby in the hospital, all my dreams shattered and then forced to be rearranged.
Now, it was the opposite. I had gone from a single working mother, who owned her own business, to a happily married woman with a successful career.
Drew’s tenth birthday party was also a lot better than the one he’d had last year. Cade had begged me to let him spoil Drew, and I’d finally said yes, just for this one day. I didn’t want my son growing up spoiled, and I didn’t want Cade to be the cool new parent who was only there to give treats and toys. I wanted Drew to respect him as an authority figure.
Cade was good about it, although I knew that it was a struggle for him to not give Drew every toy in existence, his guilt for missing out the first nine years eating at him. We were working on it, though. Drew had lived a happy nine years. And now he was living another happy year, and more, with a father that he loved and who loved him back. It had all worked out.
We’d set everything up at the lake house, with all of Drew’s friends and our families. There was a bouncy castle, entertainers, a big buffet…the works. Kids were running around all over the lawn and playing in the lake, Drew was with them laughing and having a ball.
Being hopped up on birthday cake and ice cream had hopped up their energy levels. I was glad that they were all outside instead of tearing through the house.
Caitlyn was everywhere, taking photographs, which I knew was a huge favor, since she was doing it for free and taking time out of her busy schedule. Her career had blown up since Gray had been to her exhibition and asked her to be the photographer for his first campaign—and every subsequent campaign since.
Gray himself was somewhere around—probably eating cake and doing magic tricks for the kids. Cade joked privately to me one day that he was glad Gray had finally learned a PG version of the magic tricks he’d been using to impress women at parties for years.
Melinda and Neil were also around here somewhere. I was in the middle of cleaning up some dishes the kids had left behind to, but I could be sure that Melinda was entertaining our adult guests. I had grown closer to her over the past year, the things I’d said to her in our phone call had been taken to heart.
That might have been the most satisfying part of this last year: watching Cade’s parents apologize to him and work to be the parents that he deserved. Cade was surprised by their behavior, I could tell, but he was growing to trust it, just as he was growing to trust that Drew didn’t resent him for not being there when he was smaller and loved that Cade was here now.
I ran into Della as I carried some dishes inside. “Hey! Be sure to have some cake!”
“Trust me, I could use the sugar,” Della admitted. “We’ve been on the trail for days! I feel like all I’ve eaten is airplane peanuts.”
Della had taken Cade’s advice and was running for office. Cade and I were actually working on the campaign for her—I was planning all the events and Cade was her campaign manager. He wasn’t sure if it was what he wanted to do full time, but he knew the business inside and out and he supported Della, both as a friend and as a member of the government. We both truly believed in her and wanted to support her.
It had done wonders for my business, too. I had more orders and clients than I knew what to do with—I’d had to turn people down. I could never have imagined such success for myself just a year ago, and I was insanely happy about it. I’d had to hire a couple of people to assist me, so that I could continue to be personal and meet one-on-one with my clients.
As I passed down the hallway into the kitchen to set down the dishes, I paused in front of two framed documents on the wall. I smiled, my heart melting all over the place. Sure, it was a little ridiculous to some people, but I thought that they were adorable and
