EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Alyssa
Eight years later
“So if I do this,” Carter says putting his hands on Adam’s chest, “then you do this.” He demonstrates how Adam can get out of a possible violent situation without escalating it or getting himself hurt.
“Ready to practice?”
“Ready.”
“Okay…how…about…now!”
Carter comes at Adam who quickly defends himself.
“Great job, buddy! You’re going to make a great cop someday.”
“Someday,” he says. “But first I just want to be able to protect Brooklyn and Samantha at school.”
Carter gives Adam a high five. “That’s what I’m talking about, buddy!” he says. “Okay, one more and then off to bed.”
Carter and Adam go through the drill again and then Carter gives Adam a playful spank on the behind sending him off to bed.
“A couple more and he was going to need another bath.”
“Speaking of baths, in another thirty minutes all the kids will be asleep. I was just wondering…”
“You think I could possibly say no to that?”
“I sure hope not. And I also hope you’re not going to say no to more kids.”
“Isn’t three a lucky number?” I say.
“Not as lucky as twelve.”
“Twelve?”
“Yeah, that’s the number of months in a year…hours in a day, if you count it twice that is…it’s a dozen…it’s—“
“Okay I get the picture, but I don’t think you ever will,” I say playfully poking him in the ribs.
“What do you mean?”
“I’d love more kids, but I also love the idea of giving the ones we have as much time as we can. If we have more we have to spread that time out even more.”
“I’ll find more time,” he says.
“How in the world are you going to find time?”
“When it comes to family there’s always a way.”
“Okay Mr. Efficient, even if you or we could find more time I like the idea of keeping my body looking how it is. I don’t know how much more stretching and then un-stretching it can take.”
“You know how I love you both ways. You’re perfect no matter how you look.”
“Awww,” I say. “Thank you.”
“And if that offer for a bath still stands I can go draw the water so I can get an up close and personal look real soon.”
“You’re on. I’ll put the kids…to…bed,” I say my sentence tailing off. He’s already kissed me on the cheek and he’s on his way to the bathroom to draw the bath.
Sometimes when I talk to my friends they tell me their husbands don’t have the sex drive or the energy that they used to. It sounds crazy, but I think Carter has even more. And it kind of doesn’t make sense. He’s already older than the guys my friends are married to, but he seems to just get stronger and stronger with age.
I asked him about it once and he told me we give him energy. That his family makes him so enthusiastic to wake up every day and have fun.
I knew he was being honest, but I also thought at the time he was just kind of being nice.
As the years pass I know that’s exactly how he works.
Some people say their kids tire them out. I swear our kids are like a battery charger for Carter. His energy is always good, but when he’s around family he takes it to the next level.
I guess that explains why he’s always so involved in all our lives. Whether he’s cheering our kids on at their sports or their school events or even out there participating he’s constantly full of enthusiasm and full of vigor.
And when we watch scary movies he loves to try and predict the scary part and get us to jump just before. And when we play board games he always finds a way to let us win, without it looking obvious at all. It took me a while to realize it even. Then one day I noticed he never wins, preferring to let us instead. When most people would try and take an extra turn, I’ve caught him making sure his turn gets skipped. Just little things like that that we rarely notice, if ever.
But the one thing I’ve always noticed is his love for all of us.
And that’s just one of the reasons I have so much love for him.
Maybe he’s got a point. Maybe we should consider another child. And when I say we I mean me.
I know he’s ready to go and once the next baby arrives my life with him will have come full circle. I started out as a cop’s babysitter, and now he and I are making babies of our own.
And he’s not just a cop. He wears a lot of hats these days.
Babysitter. Daddy. Husband. Lover. Best friend.
All I ever wanted and more.
My perfect policeman.