Page 46 of Spared
“When I remember,” he tacks on with a chuckle.
“Hey, when you pull an all-nighter with Dylan so I can sleep, I don’t even need it,” I say, smiling to myself as my thoughts drift back to when parenthood was still new and overwhelming, before we got into a groove of switching off those late night shifts so at least one of us could rest. The two of us rushed through those chaotic early days, trying to find our footing, and now look at us. Still chaotic, but in a good way. We’ve totally hit a stride.
“He’s a little beast,” Matty laughs.
“But he’sourlittle beast.”
He pulls me in closer, thumb tracing lazy circles over my hip. “And he gets wilder by the day.”
“Just wait ‘til we take him to the arcade for his birthday,” I mutter, rolling my eyes at the thought. “He’ll be bouncing off the walls.”
“Then it’s a good thing that place has so many of them.”
I laugh, letting the sound echo through the room, filling the cozy space we’ve made our own. This life–our life– is nothing like I imagined. It’sbetter.
I curl in against Matty’s chest, soaking up his warmth and thinking about how far we’ve come, from strangers on opposing sides of a bloody conflict tothis—partners, lovers, parents. I let myself drift into memories of those first tentative steps we took toward each other, Matty’s gentle persistence, my stubborn refusal to believe I could have any of this. That I could actually behappy.
“You know, I didn’t think you’d ever be content to settle down like this,” Matty murmurs, as if he’s reading my damn mind.
“I didn’t think I’d want to,” I admit, wetting my lips with my tongue. “And now...”
“And now?” he prompts, raising his brows as I sit up to look into his eyes.
“Now I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” I reply, meaning every word.
Matty reaches up to catch my chin between his fingers, pulling me in for another kiss. I melt into him, savoring every second of our stolen moment together before our son’s nap ends and the chaos begins anew. It’s soft and slow, tender and unhurried. Even so, it leaves me wanting more the second we break apart, my heart skipping a beat as our eyes meet.
“Think he’ll let us sleep through the night once he turns two?” Matty asks, more hopeful than anything else.
I shake my head, smiling. “We’ll be lucky if he stops when he’s ten.”
“Good point,” he laughs. “Maybe we should just have another one. Get all the sleepless years out of the way at once.”
I swat at his chest with the back of a hand, though strangely enough, the suggestion doesn’t sound half bad. Not when I think about how much I love this little family of ours.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” I deadpan, studying his face.
“Could be.” He flashes me a grin. “Unless you think you can’t handle another one…”
“Watch it, Matthews,” I warn, narrowing my eyes on him.
His hands roam over my back as he chuckles to himself, pulling me tight against him. “I’ll take that as a maybe.”
My heart soars with the possibilities, with the future we’ve yet to write. I can picture it all with startling clarity– more sleepless nights, more little feet running through the house, more joy than I ever dreamed possible. I never thought I’d get here, to this place of happiness and hope, but I have. With Matty, with Dylan, with everything that comes next.
It’s a beautiful life, and it just keeps getting better.
THE END