Elena- 5 months later

"Sometimes I still find it hard to believe you moved out one day after school started and left me home alone," Miles sighs.

Looking across the island to where he's seated, I shrug and continue slicing the yellow squash, zucchini, and baby carrots I'm about to put into my vegetable steamer. When I finish cutting the last vegetable, I gesture toward him with the tip of knife and smirk.

"I moved out, but it’s hardly accurate to say I left you all alone considering you live out in the guest house Monday through Thursday nights," I point out. "You get all the home-cooked meals and reminders to study to keep you on track and then Friday through Sunday you get to act like a fool without me giving you the stink eye. It's perfect for both of us—me in particular since I no longer have to hear the ohhhhh, Milesssss chorus," I mimic in a breathy voice, “nine zillion times each week through your bedroom wall. The last five months have been phenomenal without that making my eardrums bleed at regular intervals,” I joke.

He rolls his eyes and waves away my complaint. "I see what you're saying, but I'll always be a little salty that you never confirmed he was your jam until five minutes before you announced you were moving out."

For the most part, he's joking, but he takes some pleasure in giving me shit for being a secret keeper. "First of all, I did eleven loads of laundry for you that afternoon. Second, I feel like this is why you're the yin to my yang," I say sweetly as I turn the steamer on. "You've always over shared, and I was too embarrassed to admit being in love with an older man I thought I had no chance with."

“Really?” My favorite voice laughs as he walks in the side door. “I think we both know it was me who never stood a chance, Little Bird.”

Colin and Miles greet each other by way of the traditional bro lifted chin gesture before my man makes his way directly to me like a heat-seeking missile.

“Missed you,” he says after kissing me stupid.

I smile as I rub my fingers over his sexy stubble. “It’s only been four hours since I saw you in your office,” I remind him.

His shit-eating grin makes me blush. Although we’ve never flaunted our relationship, we’ve made good use of his private office many, many times.

The sound of fake gagging from the counter makes us both laugh. “That’s my cue to leave,” Miles says. “Text me when dinner’s ready.”

After the door closes behind Miles, Colin pulls me in for a real kiss. We put the next half hour to good use up in our bedroom, just the way I like it.

* * *

Colin- 2 years later

“Look, Gracie—Daddy’s home!”

I will never, ever tire of hearing my wife's voice or the sound of our eleven-month-old daughter calling out, "Da-dee, da-dee," happily as she sees me come around the corner into the living room. Gracie is sitting on Elena's lap, smiling and waving to welcome me home from work. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I slide my finger across the screen and pull up the camera. I take a few pictures— by this I mean somewhere in the neighborhood of ten, which is par for the course anytime I start taking photos, which is often. There's no possible way I can ever take enough pictures of these beauties.

Setting the phone on the end table, I crouch down in front of Elena and open my arms, laughing as Gracie throws herself into them. My daughter is so much like her mother; fearless in the way she takes every leap always knowing someone will catch her before she can hit the ground. I've had to let go of giving her Uncle Miles shit for tossing her around the air because it makes her too happy for me to be a dick about. It's not like he doesn't have a stellar track record of keeping my girls from being hurt.

When I married Elena two days after her college graduation, I never imagined I could love her more than I did right then. I was wrong. Having Gracie—a part of both of us—has only brought us closer together. After accepting and returning a dozen sloppy baby kisses, I lean forward and kiss Elena's growing belly before arching my neck up to kiss her. The slide of her tongue against mine is the perfect welcome home. Any motherfucker who tells you that they don't find their wife sexy as fuck during pregnancy is a douchebag. Elena is always gorgeous—always—but Christ is it hot watching her body go through the stages of pregnancy. It's absolutely the reason behind her being six months pregnant when Gracie isn't a year old yet. If I have my way, Elena will be knocked up again sometime next year—and then one more for good measure a year or so after that. We're both only children, but we both agree that we want our own family to be bigger than that.

Our kiss comes to an end when our daughter's tiny baby fingers poke at our faces. We break apart laughing and Gracie giggles along with us as I stand and then sit down next to Leni. With our daughter comfortably settled on my lap, I turn to face my wife.

“How’s Connor doing?” I ask as I run my free hand over her belly.

The feel of our son kicking from inside her stomach never gets old. I was mesmerized by it the entire time Grace was in there, and that is equally true with Connor.

“Any thought we had about him being like Pop since he’s named after him is quickly fading away,” she jokes as she sets her hand down over mine. The sparkle of her engagement and wedding rings a visual reminder of some of the happiest days of my life. “This kid is a kicker—just like his dad. I won’t be surprised if he’s born wearing a team jersey.”

I can’t help my laugh. “Like father, like son. Guess that means we’re in for it.”

Leni smiles as she leans into me and sets her head on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Neither would I. Our home is filled with love and through our children, the legacy of my grandparents and the love they had for me and, more importantly, for this beautiful and amazing woman that I am so fucking lucky to call mine, lives on.