Conception (The Wellingtons #4) - Tessa Teevan Page 0,134
with you.”
I cross the room and pull her into my arms, the baby nestled gently between us. We stand there in an embrace, taking in the moment, just the three of us.
My wife.
My son.
My family.
“I’m looking forward to spending every single day, and every single night, with my beautiful wife. I love you, Amelia. Until the day I die. No, that’s not right. Beyond that. For always. Forever. You and me.”
“I’ll never stop loving you,” she whispers.
“I know, baby. Now, let’s get upstairs and spend the first night of the rest of our lives in the best way possible.”
“How’s that?”
“Together.”
As I lie awake that night with my wife asleep, tucked safely into my arms, and our son dozing next to the bed, I reflect on the past year and what’s brought me to this moment. When I set off for Crystal Cove a year ago, I had no idea how immensely my life would change. Part of me wonders if Mom had some sort of premonition. Somehow she knew I needed to be there that summer. I wasn’t supposed to be there. Amelia wasn’t supposed to be there. Yet we both ended up in the same place at the same time, needing each other in ways we hadn’t foreseen. Ways we both fought until it was almost too late.
A tiny cry breaks the silence in the room. When Amelia stirs, I brush her hair back, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. “I’ve got him, Melia. You keep sleeping.”
Trying to be as quiet as can be, I rise and round the bed, smiling when I see Branson’s arms stretched up in the air. The moonlight streaming in through the window allows me to see his face scrunched up. I scoop him up, investigating what’s bothering my boy.
Turns out he’s hungry. In my pajama pants, with my three-month-old tucked into the crook of my arm, I make my way down the stairs of our new home. I fix his bottle, and as soon as the nipple slips between his lips, he’s one contented baby.
As he suckles the bottle, I walk to the giant bay window that looks out over the backyard. My future flashes before my eyes. I missed this pregnancy with Amelia, and it’s my mission to experience it time and time again. I never thought I wanted a big family, but the minute I found out I had a son, that all changed. I plan to give him siblings—as soon as damn possible.
I think back to what Mom said earlier about not being ready for us to leave. She’s always lamented that time goes by too quickly, that kids grow at the speed of light. I don’t know if that’s true, but no matter what, I’m going to spend my life making memories in this place. With Amelia. With Branson. And with whatever other children we’re blessed with.
Amelia’s taken everything from me. My hopes, my dreams, my future. Every single thing I had planned for my life was lost the moment I laid eyes on her. If I’d had any idea just how life-altering meeting her would be, I don’t know if I’d have taken that step towards her that night at Mickey’s. If I hadn’t, I don’t know how I could possibly live a fulfilling life.
Because, yeah, Amelia took it all. But she’s also given me everything. Herself, my son, my hopes, my dreams, my future. A future I couldn’t have ever imagined wanting. A future I can’t ever imagine now losing. Before her, I thought I knew the man I was. The man I wanted to become. With her, I’m the man I’m meant to be.
Falling in love with Amelia wasn’t easy.
It wasn’t hard.
It just…was.
She’s the renewal I didn’t know I desperately needed. Loving her is like waking up for the first time. Taking my very first breath. Seeing the very first sunrise and wishing to go to bed just to do it all over again. To do her all over again.
And what do you know? I’ll spend the rest of my life doing just that.
And her.
Present Day
DEATH AND I HAVE BECOME intimately acquainted during my time in the Army. I’ve lost countless brothers in the field and far too many to tragedy when we’ve returned home from the war.
Nothing, not a mortar attack, an improvised explosive device blowing up our vehicle, or watching a man step on a landmine, has anything on watching my father clutch his chest and sink to the ground.