Page 29 of Falling Together

Epilogue

Erin

“Happy two-year anniversary, babe.”

“Has it really only been two years? It feels like so much longer,” Erin joked. The truth was, the time with Blair had flown by, but at the same time, she couldn’t remember what her life was like without Blair at this point.

Blair pushed her side against Erin’s from where they sat hand in hand at their favorite park. “That’s only because you made me wait for

months

to finally be your girlfriend.”

“Whatever.” Erin rolled her eyes and laid her head on Blair’s shoulder.

Somewhere in the distance, Nolan was playing on the playground with Blair’s parents, who had become like grandparents to him. It was so nice to have people close by that Nolan was comfortable with who could take him so she and Blair could have some alone time. And they took full advantage of that alone time. Her body buzzed just thinking about everything they had done two nights ago when Nolan had a sleepover with Blair’s parents.

“So, I have something for you,” Blair said, suddenly sounding nervous.

“What is it?” Erin sat up as Blair rummaged through her backpack.

After a minute, she pulled out a stack of papers and handed them to Erin. “This is a complete breakdown of how to do name changes in Pennsylvania for both adults and kids. That way, we can make sure we do it as quickly as possible.”

As quickly as possible? Erin and Blair had talked about both Erin and Nolan taking her last name, but she assumed that would happen after they got married and did a second parent adoption. “Did I miss something? Why the sudden rush?”

Blair shook her head. “Sorry. When I said as quickly as possible, I didn’t mean right now. I meant after our wedding.”

Before Erin could comprehend what she meant, Blair was down on one knee in front of the bench. “When you asked me to be your girlfriend two years ago, you told me that me, you, and Nolan were meant to be a family. I think it’s time we finally make that official.” Blair reached into her pocket and pulled out a ring box, which she opened to reveal the most gorgeous diamond ring Erin had ever seen. “Will you marry me, Erin Soon-to-be Breckenridge?”

“Yes! God, yes! Yes! Yes!” Tears poured from Erin’s eyes as Blair slipped the ring onto her finger. There was a time in her life when Erin truly believed she would never be able to feel this much joy again, but everything that fell apart had to happen so something so much better could fall together.

After the ring was on her finger, Erin brought her hands to Blair’s cheeks and pulled her close to kiss her. She kissed her as if it were just the two of them, because at that moment, it really felt like it was.

That was, until she heard a little voice yelling for her. “Mommy! Mommy! Did Bear ask you?”

Erin pulled away from the kiss but kept her hands on Blair’s cheeks. “You told him?”

There was a wide smile on Blair’s face and tears running down her cheeks as she nodded. “I had to make sure I had the blessing of the man of the house. Plus, I wanted to make sure he was ready for me to officially be his other mom.”

“Look, Mommy, I got a ring too.” Nolan brought his hand to a large wedding band that was hanging from a necklace around his neck.

“That’s so cool.” Erin ran her fingers over the ring then looked back at Blair. “You got this for him?”

Blair shrugged. “I

gave

it to him, but it’s my dad’s ring. He got a new one a few years ago and was saving this for something special. We both agreed this was definitely a special occasion.”

Now, even more tears came to her eyes. When Erin started dating Blair, she didn’t

just

get Blair. She got her whole family, along with the father she never had growing up. The fact that her dad would give his wedding band to Nolan meant more to her than she was sure he even realized.

“It’s perfect,” Erin said, her voice cracking as the tears continued. When she looked up, Blair’s dad and mom were standing in front of her, and her dad had a proud smile on his face. “Thank you so much for this. I’ll never be able to tell you how much it means to me.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Blair’s dad held his arms out toward her, and when Erin stood up, he wrapped her in a big hug. “You’re family. This wedding will make it official, but you have been from the beginning.”

“Now,

I’m

going to cry.”

Erin whipped around at the sound of her sister’s voice and found her mom and sister standing behind her, both with tears in their eyes. “What are you two doing here?”

April pointed at Blair. “Did you really think your future wife was going to propose without your family here? Speaking of which, Wyatt and the kids apologize for not being able to make it. Sports, you know.”

Erin didn’t quite understand it yet, but they were going to soon since they had just signed Nolan up for both T-ball and soccer to try to help him get out all of his extra energy. “I’m just so happy to have you two here,” she said before pulling both her mom and April into a tight hug.

The faint sounds of an ice cream truck had barely reached Erin’s ears when Nolan started to shout. “Ice cream! Ice cream! Let’s get ice cream! Pleaaaaase.”

Blair laughed. “It sounds like the king has spoken.”

Erin looked around at their group.

Her family.

“What do you all say? Celebratory ice cream?”

Blair’s dad took her mom’s hand. “Sounds good to us.”

Erin’s mom pointed toward the truck. “You three lead the way.”

Nolan stepped in front of Blair and reached his hands up. “Can I go on your shoulders?”

“Of course, buddy. You’re getting down once you have your ice cream, though,” Blair said with a laugh.

“Okay. Thanks, Bear.”

Erin laughed. Even though Nolan could pronounce Blair’s name correctly now, he still chose to call her Bear. “I feel like you’re going to be Bear for the rest of your life,” Erin said as Blair hoisted Nolan onto her shoulders.

“Kind of.” Blair smiled up at Nolan. “Wanna tell Mommy my new name?”

Nolan giggled and nodded his head a bunch of times. “She’s not just Bear anymore. She’s Mama Bear now.”

Blair’s eyes glimmered from the tears she was clearly trying to hold back. “Yeah. I’m Mama Bear.”

Blair held her hand out toward Erin and played with the ring on her finger as they held hands and walked. The ring that meant Erin got to spend the rest of her life with the amazing woman walking next to her. The woman carrying

their

son on her shoulders. This was everything Erin had spent her life searching for, but so much better than she could’ve ever imagined.

Three years later

Blair

Blair smiled at herself in the mirror as she adjusted her bow tie. She still couldn’t believe how much had happened since she and Erin got engaged just three years ago—a wedding, a new house, many trips to the doctor, and now, Nolan’s official adoption day.

She turned when she heard someone hopping down the stairs and saw Nolan. She still couldn’t get over how big he was. This was a completely different boy than the one she babysat five years ago. He was a little man now.

He did a twirl and held his arms out. “How do I look?”

With his hair under control with gel and in his suit, he looked even more mature. “Very handsome.” Blair ran her hands over the suit that matched his, down to the color of the bowties they were wearing. “How ’bout me?”

Nolan gave her a thumbs up. “Also very handsome.”

Erin walked into the hallway in a long flowy red dress that matched the color of Blair’s and Nolan’s bowties, and she was absolutely glowing. When Blair first fell in love with Erin, she didn’t think her heart could possibly be any more full, but each day, Erin and Nolan proved her wrong when her love for them grew and grew.

She ran her eyes over Erin’s body and rested them on her stomach, or more precisely, on the baby bump that was there. Before she could find the words to tell Erin how perfect she looked, Nolan walked up to her and wrapped her in a hug. “You look beautiful.” He pulled away and rubbed her stomach, leaning in close to talk to it. “How is my baby sister today?”

Erin put her hand on her stomach and cringed. “She’s kicking a ton. I swear she’s dancing in there.”

Blair walked over and bent down in front of Erin’s stomach, putting her hand on top of Erin’s. “That’s my girl.”

Blair couldn’t help but wonder what their daughter would be like. Nolan was so much like her and didn’t share any of her genetics. Since they used Blair’s eggs, this little girl

was

genetically hers. If that somehow made her even more like Blair, they were screwed. She hoped more than anything that nurture took over and their daughter was more like Erin.

Erin looked at her watch, then tapped it. “We gotta go or we’re going to be late.”

“We can’t let that happen.” Blair scooped a laughing Nolan into her arms, an action that had gotten much harder throughout the years. “We can’t let you miss out on this amazing opportunity to have

me

as your mama.”

Nolan laughed even harder now. “

I

don’t want

you

to miss out on this amazing opportunity to have

me

as your son.”

Erin pushed on Blair’s back. “You two can continue this argument in the car.”

“We will,” Blair and Nolan said at the same time.

Blair’s heart warmed as she watched the little boy that she had seen grow up these past five years. She still couldn’t believe her spur-of-the-moment decision to find a babysitting job for the summer had resulted in her finding the family she didn’t know she was looking for.

Best summer job ever.