All In With Him (Men of Summer 3)

The day the adoption agency calls to say there’s a little girl for Declan and me is the happiest day of my life, and that’s saying something.

When I hang up the phone, a lump takes over my whole throat. “Looks like our someday down the road is finally here,” I whisper to Declan, standing beside me.

“And I’m ready,” he replies.

Turns out, Declan’s a natural with our child. He loves taking care of people, so fatherhood comes easily to him. Sure, we both have our moments where we’re less than perfect dads, where we aren’t certain what to do, but we figure it out together.

Two years later, we adopt a son, and then we are four.

The Final Epilogue

Years later

Grant

The Hawaii sun warms my shoulders. My daughter, Isabelle, does too—she’s perched on them. It’s her favorite vantage point.

“Ooh, Daddy, there’s an ice cream shop down the block, and they have rainbow sherbet.” She points to the rainbow sign in the window of the shop on the main drag in Kauai.

Declan laughs, shaking his head as he holds Caleb’s hand. “Pretty sure that’s not a sign for rainbow sherbet, sweetheart,” he says.

“What’s it for, Dad?” Caleb asks, always inquisitive.

“It’s a rainbow flag. And it means we’re going to have our ice cream there,” Declan says.

“Well, I like it, then, since I like ice cream,” Isabelle says.

“I like it more,” Caleb declares, then tosses a glance at his sister. “Race you there.”

“No fair. I’m on Daddy’s shoulders,” she says.

Reaching up, I grab her hips and swing her down to the sidewalk. “Go get ’em, tiger,” I say. She takes off, an auburn-haired speed demon tearing up the concrete and reaching the shop a few seconds before her blond little brother.

“Kids,” I say, laughing as I take Declan’s hand.

“Always horsing around.” He brings my knuckles to his lips and kisses them as our hellions head into the ice cream parlor.

We follow them, order, and grab a booth.

“What else do you want to do while we’re here?” I ask the little people who rule our lives.

“Surf,” Caleb declares. “I definitely want to learn to surf.”

“Ooh, me too,” Isabelle chimes in.

That seems like an excellent way to spend the day, so that afternoon we take a family surfing lesson, exhausting ourselves in the water and the sun and the waves.

Isabelle and Caleb crash early, and that’s how I like it. With the kids conked out, Declan and I curl up on a lounge chair under the stars, many years past our first spring training and still wildly in love.

I sigh contentedly, running my fingers through his dark hair. “Kids are tiring.”

Declan laughs softly, then yawns. “They sure are.”

“But . . .” I slide a hand down his stomach, playing with his abs. “I’m not that tired.”

“Mmm. I’m never that tired,” he murmurs, then curls a hand around my head and kisses me, soft and deep, under the stars.

After a few minutes, we take it inside.

We still want each other. I don’t think we’ll ever stop wanting each other. It’s been more than twenty years since I met him, and every day with Declan is a good one.

I pull him down on top of me in bed, hold his face, and meet his dark gaze. “You and me.”

“Me and you.”

We come together like we did many years ago in Arizona, like we will many years from now, wherever we may happen to be.

He’s mine, and I’m his, and that’s just the way our love story was always going to be.

THE END