I looked down at my watch. It was half past nine. I've been waiting here for thirty minutes, and I was starting to lose patience. I still had an hour and thirty-minute drive back home, and I needed to make sure to meet my groomsmen to pick up the tuxedos at noon.

These people better hurry up.

A buzzer sounded, and a door opened. “Dylan Sanborn?”

Finally. I looked up at the corrections officer and smiled.

“Follow me,” he said, holding the door open to the visitation room.

“Thank you,” I said as we walked through the double doors and buzzed into the next security post.

I hung my coat up and again showed my identification. Through the bulletproof glass, I got a quick glimpse of Sheri sitting in the visiting area. She sat alone at a small table in the corner, hair pulled back drastically into a ponytail, green prison jumpsuit hanging off her thin frame.

She gave me a sheepish smile when I sat down across from her, and a small whispered, "Hello," followed.

“Hello, Sheri. How have you been?” I asked, just like I always did when I visited. And I visited—almost every other month—for the last year. I even brought Addison and Ben in the beginning until Sheri complained about how much Addison talked and how whiny Ben had become. They hadn't come for a visitation for six months, and Sheri never seemed to mind, or care, or even ask about them. It was better that way anyway. Addison was always too scared to see Sheri; it made her easily irritable and overly emotional, so leaving her home was easier on everyone.

Sheri shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

She gained some weight, looked a lot healthier than she did. Supposedly, she was taking some college classes here. I wasn’t sure what the subjects were, and honestly, I really didn't care all that much.

“Still marrying that cop?” she asked.

“Tomorrow,” I answered with a nod.

"G asked me to marry him, too," she said, licking her lips. "When we both get out." She smiled and shrugged again.

Right. Whatever. “Listen, I just came here today to make sure. I know you signed the papers, and I know—”

She leaned forward and whisper-yelled, “I said I was fine with it, okay? I don’t…I don’t want that life, so you can just have it, got it?” She scratched at her chin and grimaced. “You guys deserve good things. And I’m not a good thing. I know that.”

I observed her, looking for signs, but it wouldn't matter now, would it? She put herself in this place. I heard she'd been caught inside her cell with marijuana and a few pills, but still, being in prison was safer and more controlled for her than the outside. And at the rate she was getting in trouble in here, she might end up doubling or even tripling her time. "You need to stay out of trouble in here," I whispered back.

“And you need to stop coming here. Go live your life, and let me live mine. Stop feeling guilty because I fucked up.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay."

She would never understand I wasn't visiting her in here for me or us; I was visiting for my children, in case one day they’d want to see her again. The problem was, she didn’t want anything to do with them, and I was foolish to keep on trying. That’s why I was here, for the last time, making sure nothing would ever hurt my children again.

"Don't look at me like that!" she snapped, folding her arms over her stomach. "I want to sit here and say my kids are important to me. I want to feel like they are the most important things in my life, but I can't. I don't want to be someone's mother. I just want to live my life." She looked past me and winked at one of the other visiting families. "Just go do what you said you wanted to do. I signed all the papers and gave up all my rights as their mother six months ago, and we got divorced at the beginning of the trial. I’m all good. Really.”

She stood up and waved the guard over. As always, she was dismissing me. I laughed to myself. I didn't care. I never did. I just never wanted her to come back when she was out of prison, years in the future, asking to be a mother to children she never wanted to be a mother to. I would always be able to tell Addison and Ben the truth; I tried my best with Sheri, and then I gave them the best with Callie.

"Goodbye, Sheri, and good luck.”

“Yeah,” she said, waving back at me half-heartedly as she left the room.

I drove back home, smiling all the way, knowing full well I was doing the right thing. I never doubted it, but I had just wanted to make sure she hadn’t turned human again. And I sincerely did wish her luck—she had twenty more years incarcerated. Addison would be twenty-six and Ben twenty-two when she got out. My children didn't need a mother who didn't want them. They deserved a mother who would love and protect them through everything.

That’s exactly what I was going to give them.

* * *

I stood in front of the minister, my best man Max at my side. He held hands with my other best man, an exceptionally well-behaved and well-dressed two-year-old Ben. Addison walked down the aisle in her glittery flower girl dress, throwing rose petals in her wake. She smiled up at me when she saw me and winked conspiringly. She and Ben knew our secret. They knew what I held in my tuxedo pocket. A wish. A dream come true. A lifetime of happiness. And I couldn't wait to show Callie.

The music changed, and the first bars to the wedding march sounded. The guests stood, and there at the end of the trail of roses stood Callie. My best friend. The most beautiful image I ever saw. Stunningly, overwhelmingly the most gorgeous woman I ever laid my eyes on. Her gaze met mine and she smiled, and all I could think about was how much I loved her and everything we'd been through together. She was so beautiful. I’m the luckiest man in the world. My whole world was fucking gray before she came, and at that moment as she walked toward me, the sky lit up with color all because she was there. I couldn’t even imagine the kind of man or father I would be without her. I didn’t even want to know—I never wanted to find out. She gave me my breath back. My knees weakened, and I laughed out loud at the fluttering in my stomach. It seemed like forever as she walked toward me—like the laws of time and physics weren’t working correctly. And as she approached, I could not help running to her and meeting her halfway.

The guests laughed and sniffled. They wiped their happy tears from their cheeks. I knew more tears were going to follow, and I looked down at my daughter and gave her a thumbs up.

"We're not here today to marry Dylan and Callie. We've joined together today to witness the coming together of a family. Dylan, Callie," the minister looked at us to the children, "and Addison and Benjamin."

As Callie and I exchanged our vows, I pulled out the papers I kept folded up near my heart for the last few weeks. Next to us, Addison pulled Ben by the hand and gave him a little shove between us. To the crowd's amusement, he turned his head back and stuck his tongue at her.

Callie wiped at her eyes and laughed as I opened the paper between us. Her fingers trembled as I held her hand and Addison, Ben, and I showed her the certification of adoption for both children. Our children. Our family. She was now officially my children’s mother, my wife, and the love of my life from now until forever.

Finally, we found the loved we all deserved.