Epilogue

BROOKE

“RUN! RUN! RUN! RUN! YEEEEAAAAHHHH!!” I shout at the top of my lungs, jumping up and down in the sea of parents.

“GOOOOO SYYYYD!!” I call, cheering and clapping as she catches the ball and runs down the field, scoring a touchdown!

I look at Colin, where he’s standing on the sideline, holding his clipboard of plays for the team under his arm while his hands are busy clapping in excitement.

“That’s my girl!” he cheers, wrapping her in his arms when the team comes in for a huddle during a timeout.

Every day that I wake up to find Colin lying next to me, I think I must be dreaming.

How did I get so lucky? Do I deserve this man who pours his heart, soul, and love out to us on a daily basis? Do we make him as happy as he makes us?

I notice him looking up at me in the stands with such a warm smile on his face that I have to blow him a kiss. I’m so enamored by this man I get to call mine.

***

After a few months of feeling like a family again, Sydney and I move into Colin’s place. Syd and Luna definitely love living on the beach.

We take a walk every night as a family of three—or four, counting Luna—on the beach to watch the sunset.

Tonight, with warm clouds painting the horizon pink, Colin’s hand in mine, and Syd running around looking for seashells, I’m thinking I genuinely can’t imagine being happier.

“What’s that in Luna’s mouth?” Colin asks, grabbing my attention out of my blissful thoughts.

Oh, God. What could it be now? A crab? A jellyfish?

“LUNA!” I scold, bending down to pry her mouth open. “Drop it,” I say firmly, and my body freezes at what’s lying beside her, shining in the sand.

“Oh, my god!” My mouth drops, and my hands fly up to hide my shocked expression as I recognize a shining engagement ring glistening in the setting sun.

“Brooke…baby…I love you so much,” Colin says from behind me, grabbing my hand and turning me around.

He’s holding Luna by the collar now, kneeling in the sand, looking up at me and biting his lip with a nervous smile.

“Yes,” I whisper, awestruck, staring down at his enraptured, loving eyes.

“Will you m—”

“YES!” I can’t hold back my answer long enough for him to actually ask, which makes him laugh as I throw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing everywhere on his face.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! I love you so much!”

“Did she say it? Did she?” Sydney comes running up behind Colin, wrapping us both in a hug.

“She did, my little secret agent!” Colin confirms, fluffing her hair.

“Wait…Syd, you knew about this?”

“Yup! I helped pick out the ring!” she answers, grinning ear to ear as Colin actually gets around to slipping it onto my finger.

“Of course you did,” I say, laughing at these two and their secrets from me.

“But, there’s one more thing,” Colin chimes in with a sneaky grin on his face, pulling something out of his pocket.

“Syd... I love you just as much as I love your mom.” He pulls out a shiny silver necklace with a heart pendant dangling from its chain.

“So, if it’s all right with you, I’d really like to be your dad.”

Sydney inches closer to him with a shy smile on her face, looking at her present.

“What do you say, kiddo?”

I stay quiet with tears dripping from my face as I watch the beautiful moment take place between them.

“You... you wanna be my dad?” she questions nervously, her voice catching like she could cry.

“I do, sweetheart. I love you.” He calmly and patiently waits while she stares at him, then down at the necklace, then back up at him. Finally, she nods and wraps herself in his arms, sobbing.

***

Colin and I get married four months later at his parents’ house. We don’t want to wait to start our lives together, so it’s a small, intimate wedding with just his family and a few close friends.

Julie is my maid of honor, and Luna the ring bearer while Sydney walks me down the aisle.

Syd was my one and only lasting love before Colin entered my life, and Colin says he’s happy to take her role in the ceremony as a symbol that he’s marrying the both of us.

Colin’s dad, Roger, officiates the ceremony, and it’s short, sweet, and perfect. Everything I could have ever dreamed of one day having, all of it’s coming true at once.

***

For a whole year after saying our vows, every day is as blissful as the last—although I’m not a huge fan of the last crazy hormonal three months.

Colin lands the head coaching job for the Duke University Blue Devils—which he loves, but he says his favorite job is still coaching Sydney’s football league.

“He looks just like you, Brooke,” Colin’s mother, Denise, says to me on the day that my second child is born.

I smile shyly, but inside I’m bursting. Sydney always looked more like John, and when he left us, I hated how everywhere I went, people mistook me for the nanny rather than Sydney’s mother.

But those feelings are long gone now, and I relish in the way people always assume Colin is Sydney’s father because they look so alike. People aren’t wrong; he is her father now and the best father I could ever dream of.

It’s nice, though, that this new baby looks like me.

“Well, he definitely has Colin’s eyes,” I reply.

“Awwwwww!” I look up when Sydney enters the room, holding Colin’s hand tight.

“Hi, baby!” I coo. I haven’t seen Syd in the few days I’ve been admitted to the hospital, and I missed her like crazy.

“Come meet your baby brother, Drew!” I say from the hospital bed. Sydney walks around with Colin by her side and sits on the edge of the bed. I carefully place the baby in her arms and help her cradle his head.

“Hi, baby Drew,” she whispers to his sound-asleep body, already being an amazing big sister.

“Drew, like Grandpa?” she questions, remembering my dad’s name. I nod. It felt right to honor my dad this way, and Colin was more than happy with the name.

I look back at Denise, who has tears in her eyes with her arms wrapped around her son; so emotional and happy that he finally has a family of his own.

“What are you going to do now that we’ve added a boy to the mix? You can’t call us your two girls anymore,” I say, looking up at Colin teasingly.

He shakes his head and comes closer to me, hovering his body over where I’m lying in the hospital bed.

“You’ll always be my two girls,” he replies, kissing my forehead. “I’ve just added another football player to love.”

^End of Book One^