One More Time

“I'm an auntie!”

“Yes, you are,” Casey said from the confines of her hospital bed.

She squeezed her sister's hand, and they shared a smile and a few words in Spanish that I couldn't make out. Eventually, I'd learn. Alba was teaching me, so my daughters could grow up bilingual. Casey had thought it important and I did as well.

“Maria, good to see you again,” I said, hugging my future mother-in-law.

“You too, Malcolm,” she said.

Casey and I had helped them a lot over the last few months. Her mother no longer had to stay with her father, which had been hard on them all at first, but it was ultimately for the best. Some people are beyond saving.

Her mother, however, was doing well in a house we'd bought for her in Long Beach, where she'd wanted to live. It was a little bit removed from Los Angeles, but still close enough that her kids could stay in touch with friends.

Nick hung back, seemingly intimidated by the madness inside the hospital room. Probably also because of all the fuss the girls making over the babies. He stood there, with his hands in his pockets as if he'd somehow gotten lost and ended up in the maternity ward by mistake.

“So, ready for your first day next week?” I asked him.

His first summer job. He'd turned fifteen, the same age I was when I started learning the business. Of course, I wasn't about to make him give up everything like my dad had required of me. A child needs to be a child and experience all those things that make a childhood happy.

No, he was just working a summer job. Just something that allowed him to build up some experience and learn about himself. It was the least I could do for the kid, who would soon be my brother.

“Can't wait,” he said. “My first summer job, and I don't have to flip burgers. My friends are jealous.”

Yeah, everything was going well. I couldn't complain. I stood back with Nick and watched my large, extended family mingle and socialize, with a wide smile on my face. A few months ago, I wouldn't have dreamed my life would have turned out anything like I was seeing and experiencing. As I looked at everybody milling around the room though, as I saw my beautiful wife-to-be and our amazing children, I realized that this was the perfect road for me to be on. My life had turned out to be absolutely perfect.

Casey caught me staring and looked over at me, cocking her head to the side with an inquisitive look on her face. Nick laughed and nudged me in the ribs with his elbow.

“Looks like duty calls,” I said, pushing myself back off the wall and walked over to Casey.

I took her hand in mine and leaned down, kissing her forehead. She turned her head and kissed me on the lips.

“You meant it when you said you'd take care of me,” she whispered. “But I never imagined it would be like this.”

“Me neither,” I said. “But, I wouldn't have it any other way, Casey. I was just over there thinking about how absolutely perfect life was and how deliriously happy I am.”

“I love you,” she said.

“Did you ever think you'd say those words to some asshole from the bar?” I laughed.

“You were never an asshole,” she said. “Which was why I liked you from the start.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “From the start?” I laughed. “That's a bit of revisionist history, because I seem to remember – ”

“Hush, you,” she said, playfully batting me in the chest. “You know what I meant. You were never like your friend, Greg.”

“Ex-friend,” I said.

Greg and I hadn't talked since that night. No reason to. Our lives had gone in opposite directions. Truth be told, they'd been going in opposite directions for a long time before the night I punched him, but I'd held on to him as my friend because he was familiar. Comfortable.

But, things had changed drastically, and I had no desire to be an immature frat boy my entire life. Especially, now that I had a family of my own to take care of.

As I looked at Casey, I smiled again. She had the most profound effect on me.

“I love you, Casey.”

She smiled wide. “And I love you, Malcolm Crane.”

I never knew life could be as good as it was turning out to be. Casey reached out and gave my hand a gentle squeeze.