Page 180 of Restitution

Stacey pushes again, her face red and soaked in sweat, her hairsticking to her forehead as I move it behind her ears.

Then I hear the cries of our secondborn, and my heart grows a little in my chest when the midwife lifts the baby to Stacey’s chest. “A beautiful baby girl,” she says. “With a full head of hair,” she adds with a huge smile.

Stacey has tears in her eyes, and so do I as we fuss over our daughter. Another daughter. Our guardian angel is watching over us, protecting her siblings. Roman, and now a girl with dark hair who's wrapping her little fingers around my pinkie, and I melt into a puddle as I kiss Stacey. “Thank you,” I say to her. “You did amazing.”

She beams as the nurse works on her, her cheeks soaked, as if all the pain she was just in vanishes when she smiles down at our daughter.

Her bottom lip is trembling, and I know she’s thinking of our baby girl we lost.

“I love you,” I tell her. “I’m so proud of you. Thank you for giving me everything I’ve ever wanted. You. A son. A daughter. A life with you.”

“I love you too,” she replies, her voice breaking.

“Did you have a name picked out?” one of the nurses asks as she wheels over the baby scales and observation machine.

“Daisy Mitchell,” Stacey says, sniffing and kissing her head, looking up at me. “She’s our Daisy Mitchell.”

EPILOGUE 3

KADE - 4 years later

Roman is on my right, Junior on my left as the lights in the theatre dim – red velvet curtains rise, revealing all the little dancers readying for their routine as “From Now On” fromThe Greatest Showmanbegins, and my eyes are already watering.

Daisy, Eden and Anastasia are among the dancers, and Stacey is kneeling to the side, guiding them through their steps. Base is recording, Luciella is crying already and our parents are behind us watching too.

I remember the first time I watched the movie with Stacey. I think her obsession with it matched mine, and I knew at that point I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. And I am. We’re in our mid-thirties now, with two kids, living in a house I promised tobuild, and Junior even comes to stay from time to time.

My sketches are all over the walls. The dogs we had, Milo and Hopper, have a portrait above our fireplace. There’s a family portrait I did right next to it.

I even take Stacey on dates, and she still blushes when I say cute things to her. She also likes to drag me to bed when the kids are asleep and remind me what her mouth can do before I fuck her into the mattress.

The chorus hits, and I clap with everyone else to the beat. Daisy is so small on the stage, but she has the confidence of her mother, and she doesn’t miss a step. My daughter is definitely a daddy’s girl – even a grandpa’s girl.

Stacey and I always place bets on which kid will come into our room first during the night. Most of the time it’s Daisy, but recently, Roman has been sleeping on her floor when she gets afraid of the dark, and I don’t have it in me to tell him not to because it reminds me of when Jason and I did that for Luciella.

Stacey is going nuts down there, and I watch her as she hypes her dancers up, following their steps, and as the little ones run off to the side, and the older dancers join in halfway through the song, so does Stacey. Four hoops lower from the ceiling, and she leads the rest of the routine, and I can’t take my damn eyes off my wife.

She’s breath-taking in every form.

Everyone gets to their feet, still clapping to the song as all the age groups join the stage, jumping up and down and singing along.

Stacey is crying, lifting Daisy into her arms and the twins wave at Base and Luciella. My best friend puts his arm around my sister and kisses her head as he keeps recording the stage.

The show ends, and Roman sighs in relief. “That was sooooooboring, Dad.”

I laugh. “Don’t say that in front of your sister.”

He pinkie promises me, and we make our way out of the seating area, and my Daisy comes sprinting out of the side door, Stacey trying to catch up, and hurls herself right into my arms.

“Did you see me, Daddy?” she screams, her face red from jumping around.

“I did! You were so good, baby girl.”

Everyone crowds around us. Dad and Mum say they’re going to head home, Junior wants to come stay at my house, and Luciella holds her back and waddles towards us. She looks like she’s close to popping, but she’s only six months along.

“My little princesses! You were both great!” Base picks up his twins. “Are we going for pizza?”

“Shut up,” I whisper-hiss at him so my daughter doesn’t hear. “I already promised food and a movie with the kids at home.”