“Tessa, it’s for you.”
She smiled, but waggled a finger at me like a warning to not fuck up with her daughter again. I wondered how much she knew about our marriage. Did she know about the baby?
Those questions disappeared as Tessa appeared in the doorway.
“There she is, Daddy, it worked,” Maisie said. “We’re s’narade you, Tessa.”
Tessa bit her lip, like she wasn’t sure what to make of us. I kept playing and singing until the end, finishing with the words that I’d always love her.
A tear ran down her cheek.
When I finished I stood up. “Maisie and I are here to take you home. If you’ll have us … as your family.”
She sniffed, but wasn’t rushing to us as I hoped she might. Why would she? I hadn’t groveled. I hadn’t even apologized.
“I’m sorry, Tessa. I was an ass—” Remembering Maisie was with me, I stopped. “I was afraid and a jerk to a woman who did nothing but love me and my child.”
“Come home with us, Tessa. Pahleeese?” Maisie clasped her hands over her heart in a begging gesture.
“Yes, Tessa. Pahleese.”
She walked down the steps, her gaze darting to either side of me. It was only then that I realized we had an audience of a few of her neighbors.
When she reached us, Maisie wrapped her arms around her legs. “Stay with us.”
Tessa smiled down on her, resting her hand on her head. She looked up at me. “Do you forgive me?”
“Yes. I don’t like that you kept the baby from me, but I understand it. I know my part in it, and I’m going to do my damnedest to be open and honest with you so you don’t have to feel you need to keep things from me.”
“You said you didn’t want—”
“I was wrong. I did want a family; I was just afraid. Truthfully, until you, Tessa, I didn’t believe I could have it. Now I want to be a real family with you and me and Maisie and the baby.”
“You have a baby in your tummy,” Maisie said. “I saw the picture.”
Tessa looked down at her. “You did?”
“I showed her her brother or sister,” I said, wishing she’d give me a solid yes or no. A yes, preferably. “So, will you come home with us?”
She smiled at Maisie and then at me. “Yes.”
Epilogue
Tessa––One Year Later
One year ago, I stood on the back deck and looked toward Dylan standing under a beautiful arbor and married him surrounded by my friends and family. Today, I stood in that same spot, seeing him look at me with emotion in his eyes as I walked toward him again. Friends and family looked on, but I didn’t see them. I only saw Dylan, holding our three-month-old son, Max, who Maisie named. Maisie stood next to Dylan, grinning and showing off her missing tooth.
Last year I entered into a marriage. Today I created a real family.
When Dylan and Maisie showed up on my parents’ doorstep last summer, I was afraid to hope that he’d come for me. Even with him serenading me in that sexy baritone voice, I worried I was dreaming. But then he said he forgave me. He told me he loved me and wanted to be a family and it was a dream come true.
Life wasn’t perfect after that, but it was pretty darn close. We fell back into our routine, except that now it seemed even better. Everything was happier, brighter, more fulfilling.
I put off school until after the baby. I’d be heading back to finish my last year this fall. Over the last year, all my time was focused on loving Dylan and the kids.
On Maisie’s first supervised visit after the court hearing, we learned that Veronica kicked Leo out of the house. She’d been smart about the prenup, which let her keep the fancy apartment and receive a good alimony since Leo had been the one to cheat. The relationship between Dylan and Veronica was still strained, but they both did a good job of keeping that from Maisie.
Maisie was a wonder during my pregnancy, and while she had a few jealous moments when Max came home, she was turning out to be a wonderful big sister.