Merry Ever After

“Yes, we do.”

Dee comes running out of the house, stopping short six feet from him. “You were supposed to text me!”

“I got done early so I came right here. All good under the hood, baby.”

She lets out a cry and runs for him.

He wraps his arms around her and lifts her off her feet.

“Put me down! Your heart!”

“Is in perfect shape, especially since it found you.”

He puts her down and kisses her as Austin gives my hand a tug toward the house. “Let’s give them a minute.”

“Thank God he’s okay.”

“You said it.”

“They’ve only been together a short time, and I already can’t imagine her without him.”

“Me either. They’re a great couple.”

We enter into chaos in Abuela’s kitchen. Every woman in my family, or so it seems, is overseeing some part of the feast, but the only “woman” I want to see is the little one who’s wrapped herself so deeply around my heart that it’s like she’s always been there.

“So glad you made it,” my mom, Elena, says when she hugs me and then Austin.

“Us, too,” I reply.

My mom is wearing a stylish wig after battling stage three breast cancer. She finishes treatment in January, and we’re all counting the days until that nightmare is behind us. That was another reason why I couldn’t bear to miss Christmas in Miami this year.

“Where’s our princess?” Austin asks.

“In the pool with your dad. She can’t wait to see you guys.”

I clap my hands with glee as I accept hugs from Abuela and Nona. “We can’t wait to see her.”

We greet a million other family members, or so it seems, on the way outside where the scent of roasting meat fills the air and makes my mouth water. I was too wound up to eat on the plane, and I’m starving.

Everly sees us coming and lets out a blood-curdling shriek that startles her poor grandfather. Austin’s dad recovers quickly, lifting her out of the pool so she can run to us, soaking wet. But ask us if we care as we engage in a tight group hug.

“Rie! Swim!”

I’m laughing through tears as I breathe in the sweet scent of her blonde hair, which is plastered to her head. She has cute little earplugs, since she contracted an ear infection from too much swimming.

“Daddy’s here, too,” Austin says as he kisses her whole face.

“Daddy! Swim! Now!”

“Give us one minute to catch our breath and get changed, and then we’ll swim,” Austin tells her.

She’s already squirming to get loose so she can return to her favorite thing.

Austin puts her down, and she rushes to her grandfather, who holds out his arms to catch her when she jumps fearlessly into the pool.

“Business as usual around here,” I tell him.

“Did she grow like six inches while we were gone, or does it just seem like that to me?”