Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“I’m still all hair, Dad,” he replied, and we chuckled.
“I didn’t know it was possible to love someone so much.” Chase brushed his lips over her forehead. “Especially when they mostly just eat, poop, sleep, and yell at me.”
Another round of laughter echoed through the room. Chase doted on Destiny. You could see the awe on his face every time he looked at her.
“She has a set of lungs on her,” Kellan replied. “We were up half the night, and I don’t even care.”
“It would probably be smart if we took turns, but all she has to do is make the slightest sound, and both of us are up and out of bed,” Chase added.
Everyone oohed and aahed over her for a while. At one point, Charlie and Logan sat next to each other on the couch while Kellan let them hold her. This little girl was going to know so much love.
When she began to fuss, Kellan asked me, “Do you want to feed her, Uncle Griff?”
My pulse kicked up. “Please.”
Chase gave me the baby while Kellan made a bottle. I sat in the armchair in the corner of the living room. Natalie looked at me and smiled. She’d had a fairly easy labor from what they said. What did I know? Having a baby sounded hard as hell no matter what.
She and Miguel would be getting married later this year. I’d asked if they planned on having kids of their own, but she said they weren’t in a hurry. They just wanted to enjoy each other and love on their new little niece. They hadn’t used Natalie’s eggs, and there’d been discussions about her role in Destiny’s life; they all decided Auntie Nat was what they felt most comfortable with.
Kellan brought me the bottle, and I put it to her mouth. Destiny latched on right away, and I watched her eat as if it was the most amazing thing in the world.
In a lot of ways, it was.
I sat there thinking about our parents, about life, as everyone chatted among themselves. When we were kids, I never would have expected this, seen this as the life we all lived. Kellan married to Chase. Me having a niece. The strong, loyal group of friends around us…and Josh.
My gaze darted up, and he was looking at me. He winked. God, I loved him. The turtle he gave me poked into my thigh. I still kept it with me every day. The only time I didn’t was the day when we went to say goodbye to Doug. Josh had needed it then.
Seeing him had been hard on both of us. Josh had talked to him, had introduced us, and before we left, I gave them some time together. We’d stayed in a hotel that night because I didn’t want to have to spend the time driving. Josh needed me, and there was nowhere I wanted to be more than I wanted to be there for him, just like he was with me.
Doug had passed away, and we made a vow to go to the cemetery to see him once a year. Like Josh said, he deserved to be remembered.
“You okay?” He knelt beside me.
“Yeah, just happy.”
“Me too.”
Destiny fell asleep, so I handed the bottle to Josh, who stayed there, watching her with me. I wasn’t sure if Josh and I would ever get married or have kids. We didn’t know if that was for us, but you didn’t have to marry someone or have babies with them to love them with your whole damn heart. Happy endings were unique for everyone, and only time would tell.
“It came true,” I said after a little while.
“What did?”
“My dream. Remember when I told you about the tattoo and how I didn’t know what my dream was? It was you…all this.”
“You don’t even know what you do to me. You made mine come true too.”
“I know.” And I really did.
Destiny was so sweet, so small in my arms. I knew I should put her in her crib, but I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. Soon, Kellan made his way over. Josh kissed the baby, then me, before heading over to our friends, who were all gathered on the other side of the room.
“She’s perfect, Kell,” I told him.
“She is. Chase is great with her too. He wants so much to be better than what he had, better than his parents were, but he doesn’t see that he doesn’t have it in him not to be. He’s too good a man.”
“Yeah, he is. Mom and Dad would be so proud of you.”
“They’d be proud of you too.”
Destiny didn’t sleep long. It was as if she didn’t want to miss a thing. Callum and Knox held her for a while, then Remy, then Law, then Nat. I wasn’t sure this baby would ever be put down.