Didn't Expect You (Against All Odds #2) - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,103

have to do my thing,” she claims. “Don’t take it personally. Well, it was a little personal, but now that I’ve been doing things on my own, I understand that I needed to step away from you guys to appreciate you.”

“Mom and Dad would love to see you,” Nyx says, giving her a sad smile. “If you’re not ready, at least send them a text.”

Callie nods. “I promise that I’ll contact you guys more often. I’m staying for a couple of days. I’ll try to visit again before I leave if that’s okay with you.”

“Always,” she answers.

Once Callie is gone, Nyx thanks me.

“There’s nothing to thank me for,” I claim. “I only want to see you happy. Listen, I know you can make your own future and that you don’t need me to fix your life. But being here, making things happen for you, that is what makes me happy.”

I take a deep breath and say it because I have been swallowing the words for months. “I love you. I not just love you, but every night I fall in love with you even more. No matter if I’m next to you or if I’m on the other side of the phone, just talking with you reminds me how amazing you are and how I enjoy your presence. How I can’t live without you. These have been the best thirty-five weeks of my life.

I take her hand and trace the words we tattooed a few months ago and say, “I choose you to be my life. You and Nova. I promise to love the fuck out of you. To love you fully without conditions. I don’t know how tomorrow will look, what will happen in a week, or what the world is going to look like in ten years. All I know is that whatever happens, I can take it as long as you two are in my life.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Nyx whispers.

I nod.

“Come closer,” she whispers again.

“What’s the secret?”

“I think I started falling in love with you since the first time we met,” she confesses. “But that’s not the real secret.”

“What is it?”

“You’ve been the one keeping me sane for the past thirty-some weeks. I felt as if some outside force kept picking me apart and destroying the life I had structured so carefully. While I mended myself into something different, there you were. I don’t know where I’d be without your voice, your heartbeat, and your hugs. I think that’s all I need to survive,” she says. “I am okay if we don’t know our destination as long as we’re holding hands along the way.”

She kisses Nova’s head and then me. “I didn’t expect you, but you guys are what I’ve been missing all along.”

It’s true what they say, the right life is never the one that we planned. My life is here—with my girls.

Epilogue

Nate

Nyx and the baby stay in the hospital for one day. Even though Nova has her nursery, when they come home, Nyx and the baby stay in the master bedroom. It’s big enough to fit a changing table, the bassinet, and a rocking chair. I’m staying in one of the other bedrooms temporarily. At least until we can get a few more hours of sleep and talk about our situation.

The Brassards stay in town for a month in the rental. Since having a newborn is overwhelming, her family limits their visits to only two people at a time. I had no idea how thoughtful they were until they came up with this plan. Octavio and Edna weren’t kidding when they said they’d retire as soon as the baby was born.

They did, and now they are free to travel again and come to visit Nova anytime they want to—when they aren’t doing research on their next book. That’s their new plan, writing books while visiting places they couldn’t while their children were young. Not that they limit themselves that much.

Once Nova is old enough, I want to start traveling with my girls. My girls. I can’t wait to adopt Nova, or for Nyx to be my wife. But I am waiting for just the right moment to propose. For now, we’re just focused on the baby who needs a lot of attention.

Nyx and I fall into a routine where I wake up at night to change Nova’s diaper, Nyx feeds her, and then I pat her back as I soothe her to sleep. That time I spend with my baby girl is