Epilogue
Jenna
Not many people would understand the relationship I share with Chris and Luke. It's unconventional, sure, but it is pure and true and holy. It is ours. The most beautiful love I could have ever imagined between a man and a woman and a man.
Once I explained that I had already graduated from college and told them that my deepest hope was that I could stay here forever, they asked for my hand in marriage.
And while our marriage isn't legally binding, we have exchanged vows and rings and promised to love one another until death do us part.
Everything about the first year together was bliss. I'd wake up in a tangle of sheets and sweat and coated in come. Coated in love and covered in kisses. One night I would sleep with Chris, the next night with Luke, the third night I would get them both at once.
The arrangement was perfect, but then a year later we got news that shook us all to our core.
It was our greatest wish to have a baby. We thought growing a family would be the most beautiful way to share our love. But after months of trying to conceive and rounds of tests, there was one conclusion made. I would never be able to have a child of my own.
I was heartbroken, of course. Tears ran down my cheeks, and Chris and Luke did their best console me. But for a while I was inconsolable.
But then my mom came up with the idea that gave us all hope. A way we could still have a family. A young woman who she worked with as a dental hygienist named Trista just found out she was pregnant and wanted to put the baby up for adoption.
Trista wasn't bothered with labels and terms, all she wanted for her daughter was a family that would love her unconditionally, love her forever. She wasn't in a place to raise a child, but we were. We had a beautiful farm, miles of green grass and baby cows and tractor rides.
Trista was more than I could have asked for in a birth mother. She graciously accepted us. Chris, Luke and me and the type of family we are. An unconventional family who just wants a child.
* * *
"Are you nervous?" Chris asks as he drives the midsize SUV to the hospital. Trista is in labor, she called us right after her water broke. And now we are cruising down the highway toward our baby.
"Of course I'm nervous. I'm nervous and excited and feel so blessed. We are all so blessed," I say looking back to Luke who is smiling in the backseat. An infant car seat is strapped in next to him for our daughter-to-be.
"I can't wait to see her face," Luke says. I reach my hand back, clasping it with his, giddy with excitement.
"Me either," I tell my husband. "It feels like a dream come true."
* * *
We see the baby after she's had a bath, wrapped up in a pink blanket with a tiny little beanie on her head. She is so small and oh so perfect.
We stop to see Trista first, to make sure she is recovering okay, and to sign the papers.
Trista gives hugs and kisses, wishes us all the love in the world. Then we let her be so she can rest, she's staying in a separate recovery room and has already said her goodbyes-for-now.
The adoption is open and our daughter will always know the woman who gave birth to her.
Then I walk into the nursery where a nurse hands me, my daughter. She is a beautiful baby with light eyes and dark hair and looks nothing like me and nothing like her daddies but then I hold her closer to my chest. I feel her heart beat against my heart, and that is when I truly know that looks mean nothing.
In the end, all that matters is love. My love for her. Her daddies’ love for her. And our love for one another.
"I love you, little sweetie," I coo, rocking this angel in my arms. Chris and Luke have tears in their eyes, and they wrap their arms around their girls in a perfect embrace.
I know people will judge us, not quite understand our family, and that is okay. Because there are always going to be haters in this world but I choose to believe that in the end, love triumphs all.
* * *
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