1 Year Later

Evan

“I didn’t think you had it in you, Jordan.” I slap him across the back.

“What? Sperm that work?” He grabs the front of his black pants. “I’m just as capable of getting a woman pregnant as you are, Evan.”

Apparently, that’s the truth.

It may be my wife’s birthday but Jordan stole the thunder with the announcement that he’s going to be a father. Kylie actually blushed when Jordan gave a mini speech about how much he’s going to love being a dad.

He will.

My life changed the day my daughter, Elena Jones Scott, was born. Labor was a breeze. The delivery was uncomplicated.

Chloe was strong. She was stronger than I was and when Rita told us that it was a girl I looked at my wife and smiled.

We never asked Rita what the gender of our baby was. We both instinctively knew.

The day after I moved in with Chloe, I painted the extra bedroom in our apartment yellow because it was supposed to calm the baby.

That benefit hasn’t kicked in quite yet. Elena rarely sleeps, always smiles and when I’m not at work, I’m as hands on as a parent can be. Chloe is the same and when we’re both at work, Jenny, our nanny keeps our baby safe.

“Where’s your beautiful bride?” Jordan looks around the apartment for Chloe.

I know exactly where she is. “I’ll go find her. Hold down the fort for me.”

Jordan gives me a curt nod as he walks over to where Chloe’s brothers, her dad and her dad’s fiancée, April, are gathered around the kitchen table. Gabi is in the kitchen putting candles on the birthday cake.

I walk down the hallway toward our bedroom.

I hear Chloe’s voice before I see her.

“You and your daddy are every gift that I’m ever going to need.” Her voice is soft and low. “I love you both with everything I have.”

The door is ajar, but I push it open and gave at the scene in front of me.

Warm Sunday afternoon light is filtering in from the window near our bed. Elena is on her back in the middle of the bed dressed in a light pink dress and white socks. Next to her is my reason for living. Chloe, my beautiful wife.

She’s wearing a white dress and as she lies next to our daughter and gazes down at her, my heart fills with more love than I ever thought possible.

Chloe adjusts a small ribbon in our daughter’s blonde hair. “One day you’ll meet someone and fall in love with them and it may not always make sense, Elena, but you have to listen to your heart.”

“Not every relationship begins the same way,” I add as I step into the room and close the door behind me. “There’s no rules when it comes to falling in love.”

“Come here, handsome.” Chloe waves her hand at me. “Give me a few minutes alone with my husband and daughter.”

I walk over to the bed and settle on the other side of Elena, on my side, facing my wife.

“You know that she’s a miracle, right?” Chloe touches my cheek tenderly. “It feels like we’re a miracle too.”

“We are.” I kiss the palm of her hand. “It’s a miracle that I found you in this city.”

“I found you.” She runs the pad of her thumb over my lips. “I was the one who came outside in the snowstorm to find you there.”

“The first words I ever heard you say were that you weren’t a coward.” I think back on that day. I couldn’t have known the path my life would take after that night. “You proved that over and over again.”

“The bravest thing I ever did was going up to that hotel room with you,” she confesses softly. “If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here now.”

“Sometimes you have to take a chance.” I kiss my daughter’s forehead as she looks at me with her big blue eyes. She has my eyes and nose. Every other part of her is Chloe. “You did and look where we are now.”

“We should get back to the party. There are presents waiting for me.”

“I got you one.” I slide from the bed and stalk toward the closet. “I hid it up here so you wouldn’t find it.”

She moves to pick up Elena before she sits on the edge of the bed. “I knew I should have snooped in there.”

I retrieve the box and take it to the bed, hoping like hell that I didn’t make a mistake with the gift.

I place the box next to her before I scoop my daughter into my arms, freeing Chloe’s hands so she can tear through the wrapping paper.

She does in record time. Paper flies, the ribbon sails in the air until it lands on the bed and then she yanks the cover off with one pull.

I stare down at my daughter as Chloe searches through the pink tissue paper until her hands land on the square frame.

“I’m excited.” She leans forward to kiss me. “I can’t wait to see what it is.”

Her delicate hands shake as she turns the black frame over in her lap. I hear her breath catch when she sees the three photographs lined up side-by-side.

My daughter is first. It’s an image I took the day she was born.

In the middle is my wife on our wedding day eight months ago. Her hair is pinned up, her cheeks are pink and her smile could be my sunshine until I take my last breath on this earth.

The last picture is one that I got from Rocco.

It’s an image of Irena Jones.

She’s sitting on a bench in a park smiling softly at the camera.

There’s no mistaking that Chloe is her daughter. They share the same color hair and eyes.

“Evan,” she whispers my name softly. “This is so beautiful. Look at the three of us.”

“Three generation of strong women.” I skim my fingers over the glass of the frame. “I want you to keep this as a reminder of how incredibly lucky I am.”

“How lucky you are?” She looks at me with tear-filled eyes. “I think I’m the lucky one.”

“I never thought I’d meet anyone like you.” I look down at Elena before I train my gaze on Chloe. “You turned my world upside down.”

“In a good way.” She smiles as she reaches for the baby’s hand.

“In the best way. You made me see that I was capable of love.” I hold the baby closer. “I didn’t think I’d ever have a child, Chloe.”

“I wasn’t supposed to ever have a child.”

I nod. “Yet, we have this beautiful human being who will grow to understand how special she is. She was born against all odds which makes her a true miracle.”

“We’re going to have the most amazing life, Evan.” She leans her head on my shoulder. “I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.”

“We’ll worry about tomorrow when it gets here.” I kiss her softly on the lips. “And every day after that too. I want us to make the most out of each moment until we’re old and gray and this one has to take care of us.”

Elena squirms in my arms.

“I love the sound of that.” Chloe moves to stand. “Every day with you is a gift and I’ll never waste a second of the time we have together.”

“Let’s go celebrate your birthday so we can kick everyone out and I can give you my other gift.” I hand the baby to her.

“What’s your other gift?” She raises a brow.

I tilt my chin toward the bed. “Do you have to ask?”

She props up on her tiptoes to give me a soft kiss. “We should send everyone home now.”

“Patience, Mrs. Scott.” I place my hand on the center of her back. “I have the night off. I plan on spending every second of that showing you how much I love you.”

The baby cries out and we both laugh.

“I’ll take what I can get.” Chloe sighs. “I don’t care if it’s ten minutes or ten hours, being in your arms is where I want to spend the rest of my life.”

It’s my dream come true and every day only gets better.