Two Years Later

Michael looks up at me with his big blue eyes and smiles. “Mom,” he says.

I laugh and pick him up. “That’s right, big man,” I say. “I’m your mommy.”

He laughs as I lift him up into the air. Michael’s just over one year old, and although he was conceived in Philadelphia, he doesn’t know anything about that city.

I’ve made sure of it. Ever since we came out to Arcata, I’ve put Philly behind us. We were afraid of the Gallos at first, but after two years of hearing nothing about them, we’ve pretty much moved on.

Although Connor still keeps a gun in the house, and we make sure we arm the security every night. Some paranoia may never go away.

“Ryan,” I call out, walking into the back yard. It’s a nice yard with a big brown fence all around it. Ryan’s sitting in the dirt, playing with our black lab Rocky. I’m sure I’ll have to clean grass stains out of his clothes, but that’s okay. Grass is easier to get out than blood.

“Mom!” Ryan scrambles to his feet and comes running over. I laugh as he takes Michael from my arms. “Come on, little brother,” he says. “We’ll go play.”

I laugh again and he takes Michael over to where Rocky’s lounging in the sun. The two boys torture the poor dog while I sit down on a chair in the sun, stretching my legs and watching them play.

It was a struggle out here at first, but it’s gotten better. Connor sold his house from afar, which helped us buy this place. He got a new job and he’s even thinking about starting another business using some of the contacts from his old place. I work part time but mostly I just watch the boys, which isn’t something I ever thought I’d be doing.

Being a stay at home mom is a lot of hard work, but it feels good. I feel like I finally have a purpose. I used to toil away as a nurse, working crazy long hours for people that didn’t care about me one way or another. I busted my butt to try and make them comfortable and even to save their lives sometimes.

My boys though, they actually love me. They care when I work hard to make their lives easier. Sure, they’re little kids and can be big brats sometimes, but they’re family and I feel so much better being around them than I ever did working as a nurse.

I smile to myself, looking up at the sky. It is nice to get out a few hours a week though, I can’t even pretend otherwise.

“How are the little monsters?”

I look over my shoulder as Connor walks out toward me. I smile at him and he bends over to kiss me softly on the lips. “They’re good,” I say. “Creating more laundry problems for me.”

“That’s what little boys do best,” he says, sitting down next to me.

“Tell me about it.” I sigh. “You can do this load.”

“Gladly.” He leans over and kisses me again and I laugh.

Our house is a little bungalow, barely enough room for all four of us, but it’s like heaven for us. We have big trees in the back yard, lots of clean grass, and privacy. I can’t ask for anything more.

“Are you nervous?” he asks me.

I shake my head. “Not really.”

“You haven’t seen them in almost two years.”

I sigh. “I know. But you’ll be here. And we have a family now.”

“Yeah, we do.”

“Plus, they had a good reason to not come to our wedding.”

“Yeah. I guess a threat from a homicidal maniac is a good reason.”

I laugh a little. “I think so.”

He shrugs a little and shades his eyes as he looks out over at the boys.

We got married a month into coming to Arcata. We invited my parents, but my mom told me that she felt too afraid to follow us out here, since she thought she was getting threatening calls from the Gallo family. Nothing came of that, since my mom and dad are both still alive and well, so I think she might have been imagining it. Still, it was a pretty good excuse.

Except they haven’t met their actual grandson yet. He’s been alive for over a year, and they haven’t been out to visit. I think they’ve been afraid, but I finally convinced them.

I don’t really want to see them if I’m being honest. I’ve moved on from all that by now. But my family comes first, and my boys need to meet their grandparents, even if their grandparents don’t care about them.

I lean against Connor’s shoulder and he nudges me a little. “Look, we can skip it entirely,” he says to me. “Blow them off, go on a trip. We can go camping again.’

I grin at him. “Last time we went camping, you left some food out and a freaking bear almost killed us.”

“There weren’t any bears,” he grumbles, but he did leave food out.

“No, I can’t do that. I’ll be fine. We’ll have a normal time, pretend like nothing crazy happened, and move on with our lives.’

“That’s the dream.” He grins at me and kisses me again. “Or we could just go upstairs and fuck all afternoon.”

I blush a little bit. “What about the boys?”

He shrugs. “They’ll be fine. Rocky can watch them.”

“I like the way you think.”

He laughs and we kiss one more time before I lean back in my chair, stretching one more time.

Things with Connor haven’t slowed down. I think we’re getting ready to have a third baby, or at least it’s looking like that based on the way we’ve been having sex lately. It’s never ending and always amazing, and I don’t know how I got so lucky with a guy like him.

Sometimes I think about his life before me, with Harper and baby Ryan, but I don’t get sad about that anymore. All I know is, we have a nice life out here, comfortable and cozy and happy. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

“I should get going,” I say, standing up. “You’re on duty, dad.”

“Thanks, mom,” he says. “I’ll make sure they don’t ruin their clothes.”

I shrug a little bit, squeezing his shoulder. “I don’t mind. You’re cleaning it, remember?”

He laughs and I grin at him as I disappear into the house.

I get changed, get into the car, and head out. I’m a little early, but that’s okay. I’m not in a rush to get anywhere, and I won’t mind sitting in the cell phone lot, reading on my phone. It’ll be nice to have some alone time, although I’m already looking forward to getting back.

It’ll be nice to sit outside with my parents and to introduce them to my world. They’ll see how I’ve grown, how my family has grown. We’re the real thing, a real family, despite how difficult things were first. Our life is so different now out here compared to how it was in Philadelphia. Things are slower, more comfortable, happier.

I can’t wait to show them that. I can’t wait to see our life through their eyes, at least a little bit. Because as far as I can tell, our life is perfect.

Well, maybe not perfect, but as perfect as any life can get. I have my boys, my dog, my home. I have my health and my happiness and some of the best sex of my life. My parents don’t need to know about that last part, but everything else they’ll see.

I’m finally proud of myself and all the things around me, and I hope my parents are proud of me too. I want to show off. I want them to see how happy I am.

All of my worry slowly evaporates as I get closer to the airport. I’m not afraid to see them and I’m not afraid to have them see me, because I’m doing great.

I’m doing better than great. I’m doing perfect.