Plan B (Best Laid Plans #2) - Jana Aston Page 0,74

him. Not that I want to kill him now, but it’s still a real happy memory for me.

Afterwards we take a shower together because I’m paranoid about going into labor and not having time to take a shower before going to the hospital and having to go into the delivery room all post-sex messy. What? Like no one thinks about that? They should.

I wish I could tell you that it worked and that Kellan Hayden Kingston was born mere hours later, but that would be a lie. It was another five days until he made his appearance, nearly two weeks late, if anyone is keeping track. Kyle said it was only ten days so I told him to strap a watermelon to his stomach and cart it around for ten days and get back to me before he uses the word ‘only’ again.

Kellan didn’t weigh seventeen pounds, thankfully. Seven pounds, two ounces, and I did it all myself, naturally. Just kidding. I had an epidural and Kyle held my hand the entire time. I decided he didn’t have to wait in the waiting room pretending to be a 1950s husband because I needed him by my side being the amazing twenty-first-century husband that he is.

It was great, having him there. I’m pretty sure he researched how to be helpful in the delivery room because he was basically an expert. He kept me distracted, fed me ice chips, and rubbed my feet. And when it was time to really get down to business he kissed me and said, “I love you, Daisy.” Then he held my hand without complaining no matter how hard I squeezed his. He helped keep me on track with my breathing and then it was over.

No, not really. I mean, at the time it wasn’t that simple. It was hours and hours of sweating and pushing and general agony, while wondering how anyone survives it. But now in retrospect, it’s easy to gloss over the hard parts and focus on what matters. Kellan. He’s perfect, and I’m enamored. It’s still early days, but so far he’s an easy baby. Sleeps well, nurses well. And Kyle is every bit as good a father as you’d imagine.

I know that I got lucky. That Kyle is the best diet I ever broke.

I’ve dated a lot of jerks, but much like labor, they’ve all been lumped into a hazy pile of things that don’t matter in my brain. Because nothing before the life I’ve made with Kyle matters. He is my happily ever forever.

Epilogue

Daisy

“Can you wipe whatever that is off of Kellan’s face? My sister and her husband are on their way from the airport. I like to keep up the appearance that we know what we’re doing.”

“It’s jelly. And we do know what we’re doing.” Kyle’s rinsing out a children’s cup in the sink while Kellan uses the extendable ladder on his firetruck to transport what looks like a chicken nugget to Tubbs-McGee.

“It doesn’t look like we know what we’re doing when Kellan has dried jelly on his cheek and is feeding the cat a chicken nugget. Why on earth was he eating chicken nuggets with jelly? You know what? Never mind, I don’t need to know. We have more pressing issues to discuss.”

“Such as?”

“Kinsley wants a kitten.”

“Okay,” Kyle says easily, like a kitten is no big deal. It’s a big deal. A very big deal, it’ll change the household dynamic.

“Kyle. What if Tubbs-McGee doesn’t want a kitten? What if his feelings are hurt? What if Kinsley picks out a kitten that Tubbs-McGee hates and they never get along?”

“First of all, you said the same thing about Kellan when you were pregnant with Kinsley.”

It’s true, I did.

On cue, Kinsley dances up to Kellan and hugs him. Then she grabs the firetruck he was playing with and runs as fast as her three-year-old legs will move. Kellan stares in disbelief for half a second before he hollers and takes off after her. Panic ensues while I glare at Kyle.

“I don’t really know how to deal with this,” I tell him, throwing up my hands. “As you know, I was a very well-behaved child myself.” I manage to say this without a hint of irony and nary a smirk. My poor mother would dispute this, but she’s not arriving in town until tomorrow.

Kyle rolls his eyes and grabs Kinsley as she’s running past and plops her onto the countertop. Once he’s plucked the firetruck from her hands and handed it back to