EPILOGUE
Brittney
Two months later
I grab three cups of hot chocolate and sit down next to the rink. Somehow I’d never come to Central Park to skate in the winter. You’d think after all these years I would have come at least once.
But this is a romantic place to me. Someplace I dreamed about, but I never had the right person to share that dream with…until now.
And now it’s not just the right person, it’s the right people.
Isabella waves at me with one hand and Sean with the other. Their other hands are connected, as he holds her hand and guides her around the rink…or maybe it’s the other way around.
I can’t help but laugh a little watching little Isabella try her hardest to skate fast, but not being able to quite pull it off. It’s not easy when you’re just a little girl and you’re pulling a big load. Sean looks a bit uneasy, but he’s faking it pretty well. I think all those squats in the gym have his center of gravity pretty low, so I’m not too worried about him falling over. I’m another story all together.
The pregnancy is coming along perfectly, but there’s no way I’m going to take a single risk…especially not ice skating. I don’t mind at all though. Thanks to Isabella I already have a head start on being mom. Plus when her and her dad skate the other direction they won’t notice if I accidentally drink a little bit of the delicious, warm sweet chocolate out of the wrong two cups by “accident.” Oops!
Plus it gives me the chance to take pictures with the new camera Sean got me. He said we need to start documenting everything now, so our little baby will see everything he or she was apart of, but wasn’t able to fully participate in…yet. We promised each other we’re going to make all these moments family traditions all over again after my delivery.
We’ve decided to keep the sex of the baby a secret. It would seem we’ve had enough surprises over these last few months, but we figure we can handle one more.
And as excited as Sean and I are, I don’t think anyone’s more excited than Isabella. She can’t wait for a little brother or sister to play with. By this time next year she’ll have an ice skating partner that’s closer to her own size. Now that will be the picture of a lifetime. It will be cuteness overload when I see Isabella helping her little brother or sister out onto the ice rink here in Central Park.
And maybe the best part of it all was when Sean and I called my mom together and told her I was pregnant. She freaked out. Okay, that wasn’t the best part. But she did calm down and then it hit her that she was going to be a grandma, and everything was okay again.
She had a call planned with my dad that night. He was deployed again, but something happened this time. Luckily no one was hurt over there, but he just said that he’d had a lot of downtime over there and he’d had time to think. He realized life is short and you have to go for what makes you happy. He was really mad about Sean at first, but in a way it started to make sense to him. And the more he thought about it the more he realized that he’s best friends with Sean because of the kind of stand-up guy he is. My dad doesn’t have a lot of true friends, and he only has one best friend. It takes years for my dad to consider you a friend, and there’s a reason why. You’ve got to be just as honorable of a guy as he is. Just as loyal, caring, and courageous…and that’s Sean.
My mom let him finish, and then gave him the ultimate test of his own words. “Well then, you’re going to be happy because your daughter is pregnant…with Sean’s child.”
My dad took a deep breath in and my mom expected him to start yelling all over again, but instead he just started laughing. “The world works in mysterious ways,” he said And he sure is right.
And everything is right in my world again. My mom and dad are like two lovebirds, calling each other from halfway around the world all day and night like high school kids dating. Sean and I couldn’t be happier, and I’m taking classes again at CUNY - John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Sean’s caseload isn’t very heavy these days so he has a lot of time to help me study. Even little Isabella loves doing the flashcards with me when I’m prepping for a test. She couldn’t be any cuter or more helpful either when she yells, “You got it right!” She’s a bundle of encouragement and positivity.
And speaking of positivity, I am positively in love.
Sean’s the man I always wanted. And I got him.
And he reminds me every day that I’m the perfect woman for him. He’s fond of saying, “I’ve seen the world from the air, on land, and from the seas…and there’s nobody and nothing like you anywhere, and certainly nothing more beautiful…and that’s the truth.”
And that’s why I know he’ll always love me. And I’ll always love him. And always love us. All three and soon enough to be four of us.
And who knows. Maybe one day there will be five, or six, or seven or…