I can’t wait to put the kids in sports. For Dare to coach them. He can’t wait either, but for now, we’re enjoying the messy blur of baby days.
Dare’s the best Daddy in the whole wide world, and I have a good life. I’ve been quietly in touch with Charlie and Betsy and they’re coming for Christmas.
Maybe next year, I’ll sneak out to the old farm, which they’re happy to continue to take care of. I’m signing it over to them for a Christmas surprise. It’ll come back to my kids some day when they are no longer.
I’m so grateful.
Oh yeah, when I gave birth, they took my collar at the hospital. I didn’t even mind. I haven’t worn a necklace at all, in about six months. It’s just not practical with my three grabby-hands babies. I also haven’t flat-ironed my hair since I left Kruna before it was engulfed in a ball of flames. I may never wear a necklace or have straight hair again. And for that, I’m ecstatic.
Tommy
Laying there with my girls, all was right in the world.
Tia falling asleep with happy tears on my chest when Carina was two weeks old after how that first night together ended? A dream come true. My girl on my right, my daughter on my left; I was a lucky fuck.
The thing about men like me? We do bad things sometimes. I can’t speak for everyone but for some of us, it’s partly because we were bred that way and partly because we need to do it to survive.
But, when the right girl comes along, she’ll be someone who overlooks some of a guy’s flaws without letting him walk all over her. She gives him something he can’t get anywhere else.
By giving him her love, she’ll slay some of his demons. She’ll get to see what’s underneath, what he doesn’t let the rest of the world see. Maybe once she sees what’s underneath, she’ll decide he’s worth overlooking some of his flaws, rough though they can be. And he’ll see that and try to be better. For her.
And if he’s a guy like me? What she gives him will make him think that maybe, despite the fact that there are blemishes on his soul, that he’s somehow escaped karma or been deemed worthy of love.
Guys like that will do what needs to be done to keep her safe, even if that means we aren’t always the good guy, even if it means more black marks on our souls.
And even if we’ll never be the white-hat wearing hero, the right girl will make a man, no matter how dark he can sometimes get, try to be better than he was. He’ll be better for her and because of her.
The End