the milk to my cookie, my—”
I press a hand to his mouth. “If you tell me I’m your dream crumb true I might scream.”
“But you are. I knew the moment I saw your face, Brittany. I knew you were the one for me.”
“What are you saying, Beckett?”
“I’m saying you’re fired after one day on the job. I don’t want you to be the nanny. I want you to be my wife.”
Epilogue 1
Beckett
Six months later…
The porch is covered in pink balloons, the kitchen island is covered in finger foods, and there is music on, blasting children’s nursery rhymes.
“This the wild and crazy life you were imagining when you agreed to marry me?” I ask Brittany, pulling my wife in for a kiss. Annie is running in circles with the new babysitter, Grace.
“This is exactly the kind of crazy I was hoping for, actually.” She gives me a kiss. “And you know, it’s just gonna get crazier.”
“Why is that?”
“Because our friends have just arrived.”
Soon enough the house begins to fill with our friends. Everyone has supported Brittany, Annie and me as we became a family. Our wedding was small, at town hall with Grady as our witness, but the reception had more fanfare — we rented Matt’s Italian restaurant, Angelina’s, and everyone was there in black tie.
This is a much less formal affair — and the only one in tulle and satin is Annie, the birthday girl.
I can’t believe she’s one. My heart aches for my sister and Jack, wishing they could be here, but so damn grateful for finding the love of my life when I did. Brittany has been the most unexpected blessing I could have ever imagined.
“Dude, you getting all sappy over here?” Grady asks, slapping my shoulder and handing me a beer.
“Pretty much,” I say as some of our other buddies join us and we walk to the front porch.
Josh is here — his wife Jessa is unveiling the birthday cake as we speak. And Kaden, who took the day off from running his car wash empire to be here to celebrate. Vance is here too, in his police uniform because he has a shift starting soon.
Trent is here — a local professor, and a great friend who has been helping Brittany get enrolled at the university to finish her bachelor’s degree. Billy couldn’t make it — he had finals at the college he and Bailey are attending, but Logan, Billy’s dad, is here with his wife Lucia, who has a pregnant glow these days. Major made it today as well, and he’s just carried in a tray of his wife Myra’s famous fried chicken.
The whole crew made it.
“Look at us, all hitched within a year of each other,” Grady says with a laugh. “Who would have thought?”
“Not me,” Trent says. “Last thing I imagined when I moved here.”
“You know, we can’t start slacking at the gym. I heard there’s such thing as the Marriage 15.”
“That like the Freshman 15?” Josh asks.
“Exactly, which is why we need to double down on the workouts,” Major says. “Because soon enough I’m guessing we will all be putting on some sympathy weight.”
“What’s that?” Grady asks.
Logan chuckles. “It’s the weight you gain when your wife is pregnant.”
I laugh, knowing it’s the truth with half the wives here already showing.
Later, I pick Annie up and set her in her highchair so she can eat her birthday cake. She makes a massive mess with the frosting, and we take a million photos, loving every minute of it.
When the guests leave, we get Annie to bed in her nursery. After Brittany and I got married we took some time getting the room all ready for our girl. Now it’s a pink paradise.
I pull Brittany into my arms. Thanking her for everything she did to make the party such a success.
“What were you and the guys laughing about outside on the porch?” she asks.
“Joking about putting on weight when our girls do during pregnancy.”
“You worried about that?” she asks.
“Why would I be? You’re not pregnant.”
Her eyebrows raise and she bites her bottom lip. “Actually… I am.”
“What? How long have you known?”
She laughs. “I took a test this morning while you were out getting the balloons. I didn’t want to upstage Annie on her big day.”
“Oh, love.” I wrap her in a tight embrace.
“It will be a lot to juggle. I’m just about to start the online classes for my degree and Annie is still so little…”
“We can get a full-time nanny,” I assure her, wanting to