are. I want to deserve to have you love me back. And you need to know that I don’t love you because you’re easy to love, even though you are, and I don’t love you because you were here and convenient, and I don’t love you because you’re super hot when you’re holding a baby, even though, again, you are, and I don’t love you because I want Remy back, even though I—oh my god, I miss him. I can’t even look at him in case he disappears again. But I love you because you’re you. And you made me believe in me. And I let you down, and—”
“I forgive you.” Three of the most inadequate words I’ve ever said in my life.
But her face crinkles, half-smile, half-tears, and she whispers, “Really? Because I have this huge romantic gesture planned. With a marching band. And Mardi Gras beads. And fries from Beach Burgers, because I love their burgers, but their fries are really where it’s at. And I also trained all the cats to do the wave, because—”
I set Remy’s carrier on the ground and close the space between us. “Stop. You’re fucking perfect just the way you are, whether you’re done working on you or not. We’re all works in progress. All of us. But you—god, Daisy, you’re everything that’s right in the world. This heart? That doesn’t need improvement.”
“This heart missed you.” She looks down, pink staining her cheeks.
I tilt her chin up. “I don’t need grand gestures, but if they make you happy, I’ll sit here with you while you finish planning it all.”
Her smile’s starting to peek through. “And you weren’t supposed to hear me ordering pizza. Why are you here?”
“For you.”
“For real for me, or because you think I secretly hid some of Remy’s baby stuff in my closet so I could sniff it? Not that I’d…okay. Yes. I kept some of his little onesies. But in my defense, he was going to outgrow them anyway in another few months.”
“Daisy.”
“Yes?”
“I love you too.”
“Still?” She blinks rapidly, and her chin wobbles.
I brush an errant tear from her cheek. “Probably. Do you still have that mechanical unicorn?”
“Yes.”
I pretend to wince. “Oh. Then I might have to rethink—”
She shrieks and leaps at me, and I catch her, twirling as she attacks me with kisses to my chin, my jaw, my cheeks, and my nose while she chews me out. “You—awful—terrible—mean—wonderful—amazing—perfect—unpredictable—everything—man.”
She’s what I’ve been missing in life.
The fun.
But also her pure heart.
I squeeze her back as hard as I can without popping her lungs. She’s so fucking right in my arms, and I’ve missed her more than I ever thought I could miss anything in my life. Holding her again is like holding the sun. “I missed you so much,” I breathe into her hair.
She laughs, but it’s a half-sob. “Telling you to go was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but I wanted—I wanted you and Remy to be safe.”
“I know, Daisy. I know.”
“Remy!” she suddenly shrieks.
I set her on the ground, and she dives for the baby carrier. “Oh my god, he tripled in size. He’s sucking his thumb. Were his eyes always that shade of brown, or did they get darker? Who dressed him? These little turkey pajamas are adorable.”
She has him out of his carrier and pressed to her shoulder, squeezing, her cheek on his hair while he gives me a look that clearly says now you’ve done it, and I’m never going to have a moment’s peace again.
I smile at the little guy. He’s changing so much every day, getting more and more aware of the world, and I’m only mildly terrified of the mischief I can already see brewing deep inside him.
The next eighteen years are going to be a special, perfect kind of fun.
“Oh my god, he smells so good.” She sniffs him, strokes his silky hair, lifts him and holds his gaze while her eyes start to leak again. “Remington Nathaniel Roderick, are you actually here?”
“He’s here,” I assure her as he squeals and kicks his legs.
“And you’re safe?”
“He’s safe.”
“He can hold his head up.”
“Little bit, yeah.”
I slip my arms around both of them, and she leans into me, cradling Remy close again. “I need more arms to hold both of you.”
“I got you.”
“Forever?”
It’s a whispered plea that makes my heart both swell and ache. She should know how much she deserves to be loved forever, and I’m going to spend every last minute of my life making