Until Series(337)

I wish I could say I forgive you for everything, and hopefully, with time, I’ll find a way to do that. I want you to know your grandkids. Nico and I are expecting twins. We don’t know the sexes yet because we want to be surprised when they get here. Everyone has been making bets since we found out we were pregnant. I think they are both girls, but Nico swears they are boys, but I can tell he really wants at least one girl. I know he is going to be a great dad. His family is amazing. His parents are very supportive and loving, and they have accepted me as I am. He has three brothers, and each of them is married and has kids of their own. I hope you don’t think I’m saying these things to upset you. That’s not what this is. Honestly, before Nico, I had Maggie, Devon, and a few other friends, but now my life is full and I’m happy.

Nico also just bought us a beautiful home in the country—a house Mom would have loved. I sometimes sit out on the front porch at sunset and read. I hope when the babies get here I can sit outside and read to them like Mom used to read to me. I wish I had some of the photos of us so I could show them my side of the family when they get older.

Well, I don’t know how to end this letter, but I hope you are okay and that when you read this, it brings you some kind of happiness.

XOXO,

Sophie Mayson

I set the letter down on my lap and close my eyes. When they open, I look around the nursery at the light-grey walls Nico and his brothers painted last week. Then I look at the mural of a white tree with silver leaves his mom just painted. My gaze drifts over the two cribs that were added to the room two days ago, with a changing table between them. The room is beautiful and will be perfect for either sex once the babies get here. The room represents so much—not only the start of our family, but also Nico’s family, the love they have for each other, and what it means to have a real family. I smile and stand up, going in search of my husband and praying that I find him before he gets dressed.





Chapter 14




Nico


“Cap’ wants you to start,” Leo says, and I sigh into the phone and look out from the patio into the backyard, where Goose and Daisy are playing. Well, Daisy is playing; Goose is just walking around while Daisy jumps in and out between his feet.

“I can’t, man. I hate leaving Sophie right now. She just reached the eighth-month mark, and the doctor said she could go into labor any time. Her doctor’s appointments have moved to every week. They’re concerned because she’s already begun to dilate.”

“We could really use you right now.”

“I told you before—Sophie’s my priority,” I remind him. When this whole thing started, I told everyone that I’m not going to start working until after the babies are born and I know Sophie will be okay on her own with them.

“I know. I just thought you would relax some after you moved,” he confesses.

“I can’t relax. I still have no clue who was after her or if they still are. Now, with her due date getting closer, I’ve gotten even more nervous. I swear I feel like I’m constantly on edge. I know something’s going to happen. I just don’t know when or how to prepare for it.”

“Has anything happened?”

“No, nothing.” I rub my hand over my face.

“You’re probably just nervous about becoming a dad. When Jenna had Lynn, I was a nervous wreck.”

I’m not nervous about becoming a dad; that’s the one thing I never really worry about. I know that, with Sophie as my kids’ mother, the rest will fall into place. Plus, I have a shitload experience with kids now. I’m not nervous about having my own; I’m ready for that, even knowing how much work it will be.

“How are Jenna and Lynn?” I forgot all about his fiancée and daughter because he never talks about them.

“Jenna is a bitch and Lynn is beautiful.”

“What? I thought you guys were getting married.”

“Yeah, I thought we were getting married too until I found out she was sleeping with her high school sweetheart behind my back,” he growls into the phone.

“Shut the fuck up. She did that?” I knew Jenna had a tendency to act like my old neighbor Deb, but I never imagined her cheating.

“She did. And had been doing it for about six months when I found out.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“You mean why didn’t I tell everyone my ex-fiancée was having an affair when she was supposed to be at work? I felt like an idiot, and when I caught on to what was happening, she blamed me and my job, saying I wasn’t around when she needed me.”

“Shit. I’m sorry,” I tell him, rubbing the back of my neck.