1 Year Later
Evan
“I didn’t think you had it in you, Jordan.” I slap him across the back.
“What? Sperm that work?” He grabs the front of his black pants. “I’m just as capable of getting a woman pregnant as you are, Evan.”
Apparently, that’s the truth.
It may be my wife’s birthday but Jordan stole the thunder with the announcement that he’s going to be a father. Kylie actually blushed when Jordan gave a mini speech about how much he’s going to love being a dad.
He will.
My life changed the day my daughter, Elena Jones Scott, was born. Labor was a breeze. The delivery was uncomplicated.
Chloe was strong. She was stronger than I was and when Rita told us that it was a girl I looked at my wife and smiled.
We never asked Rita what the gender of our baby was. We both instinctively knew.
The day after I moved in with Chloe, I painted the extra bedroom in our apartment yellow because it was supposed to calm the baby.
That benefit hasn’t kicked in quite yet. Elena rarely sleeps, always smiles and when I’m not at work, I’m as hands on as a parent can be. Chloe is the same and when we’re both at work, Jenny, our nanny keeps our baby safe.
“Where’s your beautiful bride?” Jordan looks around the apartment for Chloe.
I know exactly where she is. “I’ll go find her. Hold down the fort for me.”
Jordan gives me a curt nod as he walks over to where Chloe’s brothers, her dad and her dad’s fiancée, April, are gathered around the kitchen table. Gabi is in the kitchen putting candles on the birthday cake.
I walk down the hallway toward our bedroom.
I hear Chloe’s voice before I see her.
“You and your daddy are every gift that I’m ever going to need.” Her voice is soft and low. “I love you both with everything I have.”
The door is ajar, but I push it open and gave at the scene in front of me.
Warm Sunday afternoon light is filtering in from the window near our bed. Elena is on her back in the middle of the bed dressed in a light pink dress and white socks. Next to her is my reason for living. Chloe, my beautiful wife.
She’s wearing a white dress and as she lies next to our daughter and gazes down at her, my heart fills with more love than I ever thought possible.
Chloe adjusts a small ribbon in our daughter’s blonde hair. “One day you’ll meet someone and fall in love with them and it may not always make sense, Elena, but you have to listen to your heart.”
“Not every relationship begins the same way,” I add as I step into the room and close the door behind me. “There’s no rules when it comes to falling in love.”
“Come here, handsome.” Chloe waves her hand at me. “Give me a few minutes alone with my husband and daughter.”
I walk over to the bed and settle on the other side of Elena, on my side, facing my wife.
“You know that she’s a miracle, right?” Chloe touches my cheek tenderly. “It feels like we’re a miracle too.”
“We are.” I kiss the palm of her hand. “It’s a miracle that I found you in this city.”
“I found you.” She runs the pad of her thumb over my lips. “I was the one who came outside in the snowstorm to find you there.”
“The first words I ever heard you say were that you weren’t a coward.” I think back on that day. I couldn’t have known the path my life would take after that night. “You proved that over and over again.”
“The bravest thing I ever did was going up to that hotel room with you,” she confesses softly. “If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here now.”