Every Other Memory by Kaylee Ryan
Epilogue Cadence
Cadence
“Come here, you little bugger.” I run after my daughter, who is crawling all over the place, and scoop her into my arms.
“She likes the extra space.” Trevin laughs.
“This is overkill, Trevin. Why do we need a five-bedroom house?”
“For the kids?”
“We have one kid.”
“But we’re going to have more. Trust me. We’ve been practicing. I think the odds are in our favor.” He smirks.
He’s not wrong. It’s been six months since the day I walked into Thea and Scott’s apartment and saw him holding our daughter. Six months of happiness and love. So much love. We’ve been living in my two-bedroom apartment until today, when Trevin and I signed the loan papers to purchase our first house. We have been looking for a while, and nothing screamed home to us. Not until we found this place. It just so happens to be only two miles from the house that Scott and Thea moved into two months ago. They wasted no time purchasing a bigger place when they learned they would be adding to their family. He wanted a house. Hell, he wanted to buy one as soon as he moved back to town. It was my insistence that we take some time before jumping into anything that kept him from it. As soon as his house in Lexington sold, he was a man on a mission. We looked at maybe a couple of dozen before deciding on this one. I thought it was too big. Trev said it was perfect. I admit it’s gorgeous, but it’s huge compared to our apartment.
“Just wait until she starts walking. Scott was telling me how Clint is into everything these days. They found him on the bathroom sink covered in shaving cream the other day.” Trevin laughs.
“Stop,” I tell him, barely containing my own laughter. “You’re going to jinx us.”
“No way, not our angel,” he says, taking Hazel from my arms. He blows on her belly, making her cackle with laughter.
“Where do we start?” I ask, looking around at all the boxes.
“One box at a time. We’re both off this week, and Thea said she would keep Hazel even though we’re not working, so we can bust it all out. However, right now, I want to show you something.”
He holds his hand out for me and leads me down the hall toward the first-floor master suite. Pushing open the door, he motions for me to walk in first. When I step into the room, I gasp at what I see. There are hundreds if not thousands of rose petals spread out on the gray hardwood floor. Candles, which appear to be operating on batteries instead of actual flames, are placed around the room as well.
I turn to look at him and find him kneeling on the floor, Hazel still on his hip. “Mommy, we love you,” he says, glancing down at Hazel. “You take care of us and have given us, given me my reason for living. I can’t imagine my life without either of my girls. What do you say we make this forever thing official? We want you to be a Hubbard with us,” he says, as he offers an open tiny blue box, with a diamond ring sparkling at me.
I don’t need to think about it. “Yes.” I walk to where they are and kneel with them. He places Hazel on the floor, and she crawls away.
“That’s why I chose the battery candles.” He shakes his head, watching our daughter before turning those hazel eyes on me. His lips capture mine, and time seems to stand still as I process the fact that this man just asked me to marry him.
“We’re getting married,” I murmur against his lips.
The smile he gives me lights up his face. Pulling the ring out of the box, he slides it on my finger. “I love you, future Mrs. Hubbard.”
“I love you too.”
He looks around me to check on Hazel. “No, baby girl. We don’t eat flowers,” he says, standing to grab her and take the rose petal she was trying to shove into her mouth.
I smile at them and look back at my ring.
A lifetime of this is exactly what I want. Trevin is no longer a memory; he’s my heart, and he’s my future.
