Rolling over in bed, Peyton opened her eyes to find his side empty again. She pushed her bottom lip out in a pout, resting her arm on his pillow before closing her eyes to sleep another ten minutes. Of course, that was a no-go since the little monster down the hall had already heard her alarm. Eyes closed, Peyton snorted at the sound of little feet pitter-pattering down the hall till they burst through her room.

“Mommy!” Everly squealed as she jumped onto the bed, wisps of her soft brown hair hanging in front of her bright eyes.

“Morning, crazy,” Peyton smiled groggily, charmed as ever. “Come here, let Mommy brush your hair.”

As it did every morning, Peyton’s heart quietly melted as her daughter first crawled across the bed to grab her brush from the nightstand, then scooted her little butt backward till she was parked in Peyton’s lap.

With a smile of content, Peyton brushed her daughter’s hair, still amazed at the fact that she was such a perfect mix of both her husband and her. Like Peyton, Everly had wavy, dark hair and a light dusting of freckles over the bridge of her nose. Like Connor, she had blue-grey eyes and, according to her teachers, “nerves of steel.” Apparently, Everly was known in her class as the go-to gal if anyone needed help sticking up to bullies – including the ones in kindergarten. Pretty badass for a pre-schooler.

“Mommy, Mommy! Daddy coming home today?” Everly asked excitedly.

“Hey. Easy with the bouncing, bug,” Peyton giggled as Everly tried to calm herself down. “And yes, Daddy is coming home today. That felt like a very long business trip, didn’t it?”

“Too long!”

Tell me about it, kiddo.

It was only three nights, but it was the longest Peyton had been away from her husband since they were married four years ago. She wasn’t used to it, and she never wanted to be. Of course, she had to remind herself to be grateful for the fact that he was so busy. Once upon a time, Peyton worried about Connor’s career – about how quiet things were for a good year after their whole drama with her Uncle Russell.

It really happened. People declined work with Connor for fear of pissing off Russell. But to Peyton’s amazement, Connor was unfazed. For most of that year, she hung out with him, Liam and Liam’s wife, Amanda at their unfinished tavern on Mercer Street. While the boys built new booths and countertops, she and Amanda drank wine and painted on the terrace. At night, they all cooked dinner together, and on nights she managed to dodge the paparazzi, Kensie would come by and join. She was still forced to sneak around since her dad forbade her from spending time with Peyton or Connor, but it didn’t matter. By the end of the year, she would permanently cut contact with him. Funny enough, it came right around the time of Everly’s birth – Connor’s parents finally cut contact with Shane.

“Mommy! Phone,” Everly said, keeping her cute head still for Peyton while pointing to the buzzing phone on the dresser. “Is it Daddy?” she asked hopefully when Peyton grabbed it to check the texts.

“No, baby, it’s Aunt Kensie. ”

“Aunt Kensie!” Everly squealed.

“She says she’ll drive us to the airport tonight to pick up Daddy. Isn’t that nice?” Peyton asked as Everly clapped nodded.

It was still weird to think about, but Kensie now drove a mom van. A Mercedes mom van, but still. She lived in the suburbs with her three kids and husband, retired NHL star Alexei Novikov. When they first started dating, it had actually taken Kensie two weeks to realize she’d met Alexei years before – at a nightclub, on the same night that Connor saved Peyton from that Blake Rittenhouse guy.

The day Kensie told Peyton, the two had laughed for hours, especially when they remembered that Alexei was the same man who dumped Poppy Somerville after a single date – which was actually the same night that he and Kensie met.

“Isn’t life frickin’ crazy?” Kensie asked that afternoon as they sat on pillows on the floor, tearing through popcorn, wine and Netflix.

“So crazy,” Peyton snorted.

And it was. But these days, she loved the madness.

* * *

“Story time, story time, story tiiiiiiime!”

Everly’s tiny yet giant voice rang out from down the hall as Peyton brushed her teeth. From the master bathroom, she giggled as she heard Connor laugh and cave as usual.

“Alright, one more. But after that, it’s lights out – deal?”

“Deal!”

Once she finished up in the bathroom, Peyton scurried to set up her surprise for Connor in the bedroom. After that, she rushed down the hall to catch the end of story time because three years into have a kid and she wasn’t sick of it yet. She was still obsessed with watching them be adorable together, and she was pretty sure she’d always be.

Leaning in Everly’s doorway, Peyton rested her head against the doorframe, a smile spreading wide on her lips as she soaked in her view of Everly in her mermaid pajamas, half-tucked into bed and sitting utterly riveted as her daddy read her one more book. From where she stood, Peyton listened to the velvet of her husband’s smooth, relaxing voice, all the while letting her eyes travel up his muscled, perfectly tapered, V-shaped back.

Lord. Did it get better than this?

As always, Peyton’s heart swelled while watching Connor read the last sentence of the book, pausing lightly between the words “the” and “end,” and then kissing their daughter goodnight.

“’Night, Mommy, love you,” Everly called softly from over Connor’s broad shoulder.

“Goodnight, bug. I love you,” Peyton said, turning off the light and smiling at Connor as he met her in the hall. “Tired?” she giggled, letting him walk straight into her arms and bury his face in the crook of her neck.

“Exhausted,” he murmured. “I swear I don’t sleep as well when you’re not in bed with me.”

“Trust me, I know that feeling.”

“Next trip, you’re coming with me.”

“Mm, I think that depends,” Peyton smirked, nodding down the hall for Connor to follow her into their bedroom. She grinned as he let her walk ahead. Peering over her shoulder, she caught him with his head tilted just so, his hand holding his jaw as he checked out her ass.

“God, I miss that ass,” he muttered to himself before suddenly frowning. “Wait. Depends on what?”

Peyton grinned as he caught up to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her neck as he undid the knot of her robe. “Tell me,” he murmured, his hands roaming her front the second the silk fluttered open. Peyton bit her lip as she felt him instantly harden against the small of her back.

“Be patient,” she said just as he looked up and spotted the two flutes of champagne sitting on his nightstand.

“What’s this?” he asked with a little laugh.

“Oh, just a celebratory toast.” Peyton hugged his arms to her chest and kissed the tips of his fingers.

“Yeah? Let’s celebrate then.”

“Way ahead of you.”

Peyton giggled as she climbed into bed, letting Connor roll onto her and kiss her for a good few minutes before handing her a flute of champagne. Her pulse picked up as she gently stopped him.

“Actually,” she started, a smile quivering her lips, “you’re gonna have to drink my share.”

“Why?” he frowned. But just as quickly as he asked the question, he got the answer. “No.” Connor paused, as if waiting for Peyton to say she was kidding. But when she didn’t, the brightest smile burst onto his lips. “Peyton. Really?”

She was tearful as she said yes.

They’d just been trying for so long that it felt like it actually might not happen. Everly had come to them easily, but for a year now, she had been asking them for a little brother and sister, and till this very morning, that reality seemed distant.

But now, they three of them had been granted their wish.

“We’re having another baby?” Connor whispered as Peyton’s lips bubbled with laughter.

“Yes. It’s happening.”

Two kids. When they first started dating, they’d both established that that was their magic number. Two. There was just something about it. It just sounded good.

“God, I love you so fucking much, baby,” Connor said as he kissed Peyton, a hand on her stomach and tears. “I swear I couldn’t ask for a better wife. You’re the woman of my dreams and I…” he laughed as he trailed off. “I hate to say it, but I told you.”

She didn’t even know what he was talking about, but she feigned anger. “Excuse you. Told me what?”

“I said in five years, I’d tell you that I won our bet,” Connor smirked, calling back to their fight in the sea of Tuscan sunflowers – just a few minutes before they realized they couldn’t be without one another. “I said we had so much more to see together,” Connor reminded her. “And we did. We still do.”

“Fine.” Peyton grinned at the memory. “You were right.”

When it came to this, she didn’t mind being wrong. How could she? For so long, she’d thought that her destiny was already determined – that her place in the world was set, and she was forever bound to serve everyone else.

Somehow, it took meeting a writer to unravel the script that was her life.

Once upon a time, she lived in the shadows, with not a thing to call her own. But these days, she was center stage in her role as mommy to two angels, and wife to the sexiest, most incredible, hands down best husband on the planet Earth.

It was a story she could never fathom.

And she couldn’t be happier.

The End