or laughing all the time, that wasn’t me, but happy in the way that it was on the inside. Almost like wearing a life jacket even though I knew how to swim. I felt just… better than usual, and I had always been pretty good.
I was still tired and didn’t want to kill people at the gym any less, but it was different.
Jonah’s mom and sister had flown back to New Zealand right on the date that he’d told me, leaving me with a big hug from Natia and a pat on the back from his mom. She, of course, didn’t leave without a long, long look that might have made me uncomfortable if I wasn’t used to getting ugly looks from people and a question of, “You’ll bring Mo to visit?” that didn’t really feel like she was asking me but telling me.
I promised that I would.
Then I’d surprised the shit out of myself by inviting her to come visit whenever she wanted.
Every ten years or so.
I was just kidding.
Kind of.
No sooner had Jonah dropped them off at the airport, then he came knocking on the back door with his luggage duffel and a new rolling suitcase. Peter had let him in while I was busy flying Mo around the house. When I heard his voice in the kitchen, I kicked the door open and carried her in, belly down, her head up, fingers and toes wiggling in the diaper and shirt she was in.
“Don’t be afraid; it’s just the flying incredible Mo,” I told them as I zoomed her around the island and flew her straight toward them.
Peter laughed as I stopped her in midflight and asked her to give him a kiss—she did, and he gave her one back—and then said “Pssshew” and fake threw her at Jonah, who had his hands open and wide at chest level, taking her with an ease that made me smile. He grinned at me before brushing his lips across my own briefly. He lifted her up over his head, elbows nearly locking, her body inches from the ceiling as she shrieked, “Da!” with absolute fucking joy.
“She loves me,” the big man gasped, grinning as he lowered her back down to earth and planted a kiss on each cheek.
Ugh. They were too cute. It was sickening.
And amazing.
I couldn’t stop smiling as Jonah lifted her back up high toward the ceiling, lowered her back down to his chest level, and then asked me, “May I continue the tour of the house?”
“Yup.”
Off they went, with Jonah using his butt to push the door open and them disappearing through the house, with Mo laughing and giggling, back in airplane mode.
An arm came over my shoulder, and I felt Peter’s kiss on the side of my head. I leaned against him before turning to him and raising my eyebrows, a smile stretching across my mouth.
He wasn’t smiling, but I could tell he was happy. “Did you tell him?”
I knew what he was asking. “Yes.”
He nodded, and I felt the deep, deep breath he took.
So I dug my knuckle into his rib and said, “Speaking of, when are you going to make an honest man out of my grandpa?”
Peter laughed like he always did when I asked him that every six months.
But we both knew the truth. If it ever happened, it wouldn’t be until they both retired and had nothing to do with MMA anymore. But despite keeping it a secret for so long, I understood the reason behind the sacrifices that they’d made to make what they had work. Especially for so long.
And I guess, if they could make it work for so many years…. Well, if you tried hard enough, you could make anything work for that long.
You just had to have some heart. And patience. And a whole lot of will.
Luckily, I had all three.
Later that same night, on the night that started the best three weeks of my life, we were all hanging around the living room. Grandpa Gus and Peter were sitting on their love seat, Grandpa half reading a novel and Peter with his eyes glued to a television program about police officers in the Pacific Northwest. I was sitting on the couch with Mo tucked into my arm, over my chest since she’d just finished her bottle. I had Where the Wild Things Are opened on my lap as I read to her while she tried fighting falling asleep. Jonah was in the middle of the couch, his