“It was my pleasure,” I told her, smiling at her adorable rambling. Doing anything for Zin was a pleasure I’d almost lost, so I never took the things I could do for my wife for granted.
“Now, drone,” she said, her fingertip tracing my tattoo, “it’s time to service your queen.”
**
Bas stepped back from my wife, and a beaming Zinnie held the inside of her wrist up for me to see.
The fine lines formed a tree, with its branches lifted toward the sky, and the tips of the branches faded into stars. Printed under the tree on three lines with swirly text was a line from Desiderata:
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here
I realized my stylized name made up the tree trunk, and there were a cluster of zinnias at the base
of the tree, with four honeybees hovering over them.
We thanked Bas, paid, and he told me he’d see me in two months for my next tattoo — some lines
from Desiderata — before we walked out.
Zinnie pointed to the bees on her tattoo.
“I want four babies, Dash, and I only have one. As a doctor, do you have a professional opinion on
what we can do about that?”
“I’d have to consult my medical journals,” I said. “You know, I think the most recent one had an
article on methods for knocking up your wife. I left it on the bed to review more closely because one of the recommendations was having wild sex with your wife, and I felt that merited further investigation.”
“Sounds super scientific,” she said solemnly. “I say we go consult it.”
We did add three more honeybees to our hive over the next six years. Our four girls had Sunny and Flint as grandparents, Aggie and Branch as great grandparents, and too many aunts and uncles
and cousins to number.
Most of all, they had love. So much love, so many people to learn from and to care for them. Serenity wasn’t perfect, but it was perfect in the way residents created a community where we all pitched in and supported each other. Zinnie’s bee products business had taken off, and a number of the residents worked for her company, What’s the Buzz.
Over the years, I did everything I could to prepare my girls for the world, and they knew how to defend themselves, but letting them go off to college tore me apart, every single time. Zinnie didn’t say anything, but she held me tight, and I knew she understood.
The day we came home after taking our youngest honeybee to school, Zinnie and I stood in the kitchen and held each other close. We’d learned a lot over the years about love and forgiveness, and what it meant to truly support each other. Our love had grown and matured, and from that love came an abundance of joy and happiness that got us through the challenges of raising our girls and building a strong family.
“It’s so quiet,” I mused.
Zinnie sniffled against my chest. “Too quiet.”
“I love you, Zinnie,” I said, my heart overwhelmed with love for her.
“I love you, Dash,” she said, right into my heart.
We stayed like that for a long time, just comforting and supporting each other, until Zinnie lifted her head and froze as she looked out the window.
“Dash, why are there three baby sheep in our backyard?”
This was possibly my fault, I realized. I’d made a passing remark to Aggie the other day about how strange it would be to have an empty nest, and she’d said things had a way of working out if you put in the effort.
My wife, reading the guilt on my face, narrowed her eyes on me.
“Now it won’t be so quiet here?” I tried.
Zinnie looked at me, shook her head, then started laughing, and I joined her before we went to welcome the newest additions to our family.
Aggie was right. Things did have a way of working out if you put in the effort.
Zinnie and I were living, loving proof of that.
A Little Llama Epilogue
“There was a card for you,” Zinnie said right before our second Christmas at Serenity. I’d just
walked in from work.
There was no return address on the envelope, so I opened it and pulled out a photo Christmas
card.
Tomás and Noémie stood near each other, looking at the camera, and between them was an adorable cria, a baby llama, with a pink bow on her head.
I turned it over and read the two words on the back.
Thank you.
My face was smiling, but my heart smiled at that, too.
Be happy, Tomás. Enjoy your happily ever after as much as I’m enjoying mine.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.