Epilogue

Sophia I held my baby boy as I sat in the living room. The TV was on, but I was hardly paying attention to whatever was on. Mom and Dad had just left.

It had been an adjustment, getting used to having a Dad, and being a mother, but I thought I was doing well. In the end, they had made the decision to stay in Elijah and his dad’s original home and left me and my mom’s home to Elijah and me, though they at least stayed with me through the pregnancy, then stayed with the baby over there while I went back to finish college. Then Elijah graduated, and he moved to stay with the baby in our home until I finished.

We were all against using a nanny. Mom thought it would be a waste when she had so much free time, and the distance between us didn’t seem to bother her, or Dad, much.

“You poor baby,” I murmured, rocking my son as he yawned and rubbed his eyes. “You’re the one that keeps getting moved around a lot, huh? But Mom and Dad need to work…”

I didn’t have a stable job yet. I had taken internships at different companies, but I was still in the market for a job. Until then, Elijah was the breadwinner, but I was determined to contribute something.

Well, I just took some time off, and Elijah should be earning enough, let alone the savings his Dad gave us. I could probably relax for a while and do my masters, then look for a job after that…

I wasn’t used to just having things given to me. Mom and I weren’t exactly poor, but we weren’t so well off, either. Also, since Mom started off as a housewife, for a long while, we survived on my late dad’s life insurance and whatever job Mom could manage at the time. But they had both been insistent on Elijah and me taking the funds because it would be useful for us before we could stand on our own two feet.

Maybe… I don’t need to be so impatient to find a job.

Honestly, though I’d been panicky over it at first, I was really happy just being a mom. There was a joy in it that I felt was incomparable. Sure, in a few years, Zach would start going to school, and I would get a lot of free time from them, but I could look for something that I could do online. I could find an online school, too, when I had the time.

I wasn’t in any hurry.

The door opened up, but I couldn’t move and risk waking the baby up. I knew who it was, anyway, and I looked up expectantly. There was the sound of something rolling on the ground, and then he moved from the foyer and into my sight.

“Elijah, hey,” I called softly, smiling. “We missed you.”

He grinned back at me, letting go of his suitcase. Elijah was playing professional hockey, and his team had just finished the season, so he had time to come back home. I disliked that he had to be away from home so often, but it was a local team, so even during the season, when he could get free time, he came home.

“How are my three babies doing,” he said with a chuckle, coming over to sit beside me on the couch.

I stroked my baby’s hair and my bulging stomach, still smiling.

“Well, the little one’s been kicking all day, so excited, like he knew Daddy was coming home. And Zach got tired of waiting for you, so you better make it up to him tomorrow.”

“I intend to,” he replied.

Elijah sat beside me on the couch, then looked at Zach and poked his cheek a little. He had on this doting look on his face that was only otherwise there when he was looking at me, and after a moment, he turned that gaze to me.

“I missed you,” he murmured, leaning closer.

“I missed you, too,” I admitted. “I love you.”

He grinned. To make up for not saying it for so long while we were dating, I said the words to him whenever I could now, and especially the times he came home after a long time away.

Elijah closed the distance between us and kissed me. It started out soft, then he wrapped a hand around my nape, tilting my head slightly as he deepened it, and I sighed. He pulled back quickly, though we were both reluctant.

“Can we get the kid to bed?” he said arching an eyebrow. “Then I can show you just how much I missed you.”

It was awkward, having sex while I was pregnant, but apparently, pregnancy could increase a woman’s sex drive, and Elijah was never put off by it. As long as we were careful, it was fine.

Elijah took Zach from me, who’d worn himself out so much that he didn’t even stir. Then he gave me a hand to help me stand up, and I squeezed his hand as he walked us to the stairs.

I remembered that time, quite a while back when I went with Elijah to the theater to watch an X-Men movie and thinking that I couldn’t be any happier. Well, I proved myself very wrong. This was the happiest I could be.

At least, for the time being. I didn’t doubt, with Elijah and Zach, and our parents beside me and our second baby on the way, I’d be thinking that quite a few times in the future.

###The End###