Nicki awoke to the tantalizing smell of a freshly cooked breakfast. She flopped over in bed, confirming her suspicions that she was the only one in it. There was no sign of Tyler’s warmth, and in pursuit of the comfort it offered she wasted no time climbing out of bed. The pads of her feet hit the floor, sending shooting pains up both of her legs and squeezing a shriek out of her. Quickly collapsing back onto the mattress, she felt a discomfort in her lower abdomen and grabbed it.

“Tyler!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping that he could hear her wherever he was.
“Ty!”

Seconds later he sprinted into the room, crashing into the ottoman at the foot of their bed. After sucking in a sharp breath, he grabbed the ankle he hit off of the wood and hobbled over to her.
“Are you okay? What happened?”

She wanted to tell him about the pain in her legs, but all she could do was grin. “Feel my stomach,” she ordered.

He caught on right away and whispered a doubtful “No”.

Nodding her head, Nicki took his hand and placed it underneath the sweatshirt she was wearing. The smile on his face when he felt the bump was one she would remember for the remainder of her life. For a moment Tyler was caught in a trance, rubbing his hand up and down the length of her stomach. She leaned back and enjoyed the feeling of his affectionate touch. The way he looked at her womb was unlike anything else she’d ever seen. His face was full of wonder, but more importantly of excitement and unconditional love.

Suddenly, Tyler had pushed her onto her back and was straddling her. Giggles echoed off the walls as he lifted her sweatshirt and bent down to press dozens of kisses to her stretching skin.

“I love you guys,” he said, before laying his head flat against her. The temptation was too much, and Nicki reached to sift her fingers through his hair. He groaned and she laughed at the noise, knowing they would soon be few and far between in their house. His left hand caressed her absentmindedly; she could tell by the way it moved that he was thinking about something else.

“What’s on your mind love?” she asked, looking down at the top of his head.

“It always makes me smile when you call me that,” he answered, ignoring her question. He looked up and his eyes found hers, melting her where she laid. “I guess I’m just thinking about what it’s gonna be like to be a father.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get anything out Tyler had shimmied up the bed and pressed against her side, resting his head on her shoulder and his hand on her stomach. It made her feel like crying, seeing him so vulnerable. Whenever he laid like that it meant he was searching for support, both from her body and her mind. It wasn’t often that he looked for it, so she made sure to treasure each and every time it happened.

“Well what do you think it’s going to be like?” she inquired softly, tracing a finger along the curves of his shoulder blades.

“Amazing.” The simplicity of his statement forced her to smile. “Rewarding.” He hesitated, and
Nicki waited patiently for the negatives that were sure to follow. “But kind of scary. I can handle you depending on me, but three other people too? Forget the fact that we have to raise them. What if we fuck up, and they turn into a couple of little assholes? I don’t want them growing up to be like me, but I can’t tell them not to, because that’d make me a hypocrite.”

“What’s wrong with growing up to be like you?”

“You can’t be serious,” he muttered.

“I’m dead serious, Ty. I wouldn’t change a thing about you.”

For a while he stayed quiet, his fingers dancing around as if he was trying to play with his babies through her skin. “If you wouldn’t change anything about me then you’ve got some issues. How can you just forget everything I’ve put you through? Especially that night in Florida. You never should have forgiven me for that, never mind want a relationship with me. I don’t understand how you could have so much blind faith in me, when I gave you every reason to not trust me.”

“Because I’m an idiot,” she giggled, dropping her chin to place a kiss on his forehead. “You probably could have murdered someone and it wouldn’t have changed my mind. I wanted you, babe, no one else. Those drunk sluts certainly weren’t going to get in my way.”

He sighed, and she regretted saying anything. She knew it still ate away at him, that he would take it back in a heartbeat if he could. “What if I never went to California? Were you just gonna keep ignoring my calls?”

“Nah, I would have missed you way too much. I just wanted to give myself some time to heal, and give you some time to feel like a jerk.” Tyler laughed, and the sound of it made her want to sing.

“It worked. I was miserable. And I totally thought I’d get to California and you’d throw me out on my ass.”

“In hindsight, I probably should have,” she teased. “Now look at us, all married and stuff.”

“With a son, and these two on the way,” he reminded her, sitting up and pulling her between his legs. Obviously he’d found the solace he needed in her arms, and was ready to take on the role of the strong, supportive husband again. “You know, I remember the first time I thought about having kids with you.”

“Yeah, I do too,” she mumbled, lost in thoughts that she’d had years ago. Her favorite daydreams consisted of her and him, chasing rambunctious children around the house; some of them with her hair, some of them with his nose. “When was it for you?”

“Back at the apartment, you were making pancakes,” he started, chuckling a bit before he continued. “I was teasing you for making them from scratch, when we had a box of mix in the cabinet. You said something about my kids coming out all mutated, and all I could think was that you wouldn’t be laughing if they were your kids, too.”

“That was what you were thinking about? Tyler! I remember that!” she squealed, in disbelief that he could have considered her being the mother of his children so early into their relationship. “Baby, I had no idea…”

“Of course you didn’t. You refused to believe that I loved you as much as I said I did.”
“Can you blame me? I was taught not to believe in happy endings, Ty. You were too good to be true.”

“I get that a lot,” he joked, pulling her body closer to his. Nicki sighed, acknowledging that their time for reminiscing had ended. She loved talking with him about their past, just as much as she loved talking with him about their future. It still amazed her to learn things about him, things that she hadn’t known years ago. Until that very morning, she assumed he hadn’t thought about children until the months leading up to their wedding. To know that they’d been on his mind long before that somehow made her adore him even more. “Oh shit.”

“Shit what?” she asked, sensing the alarm in his voice.

“Your breakfast is probably cold.”

“Oh,” she laughed, relieved that it was something trivial that he was worried about. “Now that you mention it, I’m freakin’ starving. What’d you make?”

“Hopefully something you’ll like,” he responded, helping her sit up and climb off of the bed. A bout of dizziness hit her, like it did every morning when she stood the first few times. Tyler stayed like a rock behind her, holding onto her gently until she could support herself safely. “Is it getting any better?”

Nicki shook her head, feeling a bit defeated. “It’s kinda getting worse,” she admitted. “Same with my back.” It killed her to be truthful with him, because every time something came up she knew he worried about what it would be like in a few months when the season was back and in full swing, and she would be as pregnant as ever.

“I’m sorry you have to go through all of this again,” he murmured, using a hand on the small of her back to guide her down the stairs.

“You know it’s worth every second babe.” Tyler finally smiled as they ventured together into the kitchen, where a glass pan was sitting out in the middle of the island. “What is that?”

“Eggs, hash browns, cheese, peppers, onions, bacon, ham… basically everything we had in the fridge,” he explained, laughing as he pulled out a stool and helped her up. Although she wasn’t disabled quite yet, Nicki was perfectly ready to accept any kind of help he offered her, while he was still around to do so. “Is it gonna bother your stomach?”

“Actually, it sounds fucking delicious,” she said, eyeing the food in front of her. “You are the absolute best.”

His smile turned into a gorgeous, goofy grin, justifying her desire to spend the rest of her life with him. After setting a bare plate down in front of her, he gingerly pressed his lips to hers. “Just trying to make my girls happy,” he said casually, using a pie server to dump a pile of his concoction onto her dish.

“What about your boy?” she challenged, not ready to go down without a fight.

“Liam? You know he won’t be here until tomorrow.”

“Very funny, Ty. We’ve got a little power forward in there, I just know it.”

“You do realize girls can play hockey too,” he pointed out, smirking like he’d won the battle.

“Are you the one carrying him? I think not.”

“Ouch,” he pouted. “Rub it in, why don’t ya.”

“Come on, baby. Do you really want to feel like a hippopotamus for nine months?”

“No, but it’d be nice to at least know what they feel like.”

The sadness in his voice hit her like a freight train. As much as it hurt her to lose their last child, at least she got to know what he felt like, she got to be with him for seven months like Tyler would never be able to. She knew that he was afraid of it happening again, possibly even more so than she was.

“Well at least we get to see them every couple of weeks on the ultrasound,” she said, rubbing his back. “Oh my God, what day is today?”

Tyler looked back over his shoulder at the calendar that hung on the wall. “The third.” It took him another moment to remember. “Oh shit, we’re supposed to be there in two hours.”

“With all of this Liam stuff I completely forgot.” Nicki picked up her fork and began to shovel food
into her mouth, only to have Tyler’s hand grab hers and stop it.

“Jesus Nicki, you’re gonna choke. Two hours is plenty of time, chill out.” She looked at him for a second while she calmed down, unable to figure out why she had felt so panicked in the first place. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I – “ The doorbell rang, and they exchanged a confused glance. “Who the hell could that be?”

“Your dad?” Tyler shrugged and left her to open the door. Out of curiosity she followed him through the living room and into the foyer, where they found his entire family shuffling through the doorway. “What the fuck?”

“Tyler, language!” Jackie scolded, dropping a suitcase to the ground with a loud thud.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, turning to each one of his family members.

“We knew you guys wouldn’t take any help setting up for the party tomorrow, so we switched our flight to today so that you wouldn’t be able to say no,” Candace said coolly, pretending that she didn’t know how much Tyler despised their unexpected visits.

“We would have been fine,” he snarled, making Nicki giggle. He turned to glare at her. “What?”

“Stop being so mean.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him, like they were the only two people in the room. “We could use the help, Ty. You saw the list of shit we have to do, and now with the ultrasound – “

“You have an ultrasound today?” Candace asked excitedly. “We should all go!”

Tyler groaned, and Nicki clasped her arms around him a little tighter. “I’d love it if you guys came.”

“You don’t mind, do you honey?” Jackie asked, seemingly the only person in the room who cared about her son’s opinion.

“Whatever.”

Paul let go of his bag and walked over to them, giving Tyler a firm pat on the back. “Good to see you took your dad’s advice,” he said, laughing in a similar fashion to her own father. “Happy wife, happy life.”

Tyler looked down at her, and she smiled innocently up at him. All she got in return was an eye roll and an irritated sigh. He broke free from her embrace and began to gather his family’s belongings, readying to show them the rooms they’d be staying in. Paul and Jim followed him up the stairs, leaving the girls alone in the foyer.

Jackie waited until they were out of sight to ask, “Is he treating you right?”

Nicki was taken aback by her mother-in-law’s question, until she realized that they didn’t see the Tyler that she did. That Tyler only existed with her, and vanished the moment they were around their family. Her eyes darted between the three girls, all anxiously awaiting her answer. Before she could give one, her phone vibrated in her sweatshirt pocket.

Tyler 08:34:07: You’re lucky I love you so much.

When she glanced up from her screen, her grin gave away her reply. “He’s perfect.”


** * * *

“Well, we usually don’t have this many people in an ultrasound,” Dr. Reed said as he put on a pair of examination gloves. “But if it’s alright with the parents then I have no argument.”

Parents. The word swam through Tyler’s mind over and over again. He caught his own parents staring at him, with pride in their faces and tears in their eyes. Maybe, someday, he’d be in the same situation with his own children. He looked down at Nicki, who was waiting expectantly with her shirt lifted up to her ribs. Her uncontainable excitement somehow made her even more beautiful than she normally was.

Right before they left the house, she pulled him aside and kissed him until he was breathless. Since that moment he hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off of her, as if he would miss something important if he looked away.

Dr. Reed held a casual conversation with Bill and Diane while he got everything ready. Tyler thought it unfair to exclude them from the Seguin family ultrasound party, so they’d stopped on the way to pick them up. It had been a great decision on his part, as it set him up with the perfect opportunity to tell everyone about Liam, while they were all together.

Tyler took advantage of the doctor’s leisureliness and dragged his fingers lightly across Nicki’s stomach, coaxing whines and coos from all of the women in the room. She laughed and shook her head at them, but he knew how much she adored his attention, even if she was too bashful to admit it.

“If you girls keep being annoying about it, he’s gonna stop doing it,” his father warned. “Ain’t that right son?”

“Damn straight,” he agreed, earning a scowl from his mother and a gentle smile from Nicki. She knew him well enough to know that he was joking; there was no way he would ever stop showing affection to her or their babies, no matter how much shit he would have to take.

“Are you ready?” the doctor asked her, lifting the stethoscope from his neck. She nodded and held Tyler’s hand, a bit firmer than she usually did. After a scan of her face, he realized that she was scared. With all of the chaos his family created, he hadn’t had much time to think of why they were really there. There was a very real, very frightening possibility that they were about to find out they’d lost everything. Again.

Her eyes begged for comfort and he thought on his feet, trying to find a way that he could console her without drawing too much unwanted attention. Resorting to a foolproof plan, he smoothed his hand over her hair and gave her a small, reassuring smile. “It’s gonna be fine,” he whispered. The look he received from the doctor told him that he’d heard his words of encouragement, and even got a small nod of approval.

An eternity passed as they waited for any word from Dr. Reed after he placed the stethoscope in the center of Nicki’s stomach, moving it around with a determined concentration. “I hear two tiny heartbeats,” he mumbled, still deeply focused on his work. “They both sound normal.”

At that moment, Tyler could feel all of the tension in the room dissipate. Nicki’s fingers stroked the palm of his hand and his breathing became regular again. They were two weeks closer. With every week that passed, their chances increased. His mind was full of hopeful thoughts as Dr. Reed geared up the ultrasound machine and slathered gel across his wife’s pregnant belly.

“I see we have a little bump now,” he observed as he worked the wand over her skin. “A fair warning, now that it’s appeared it’s going to grow at an alarming rate.”

“Lovely,” she groaned, sparking quiet laughter throughout the room. Nicki was rarely sarcastic, but when she was it was both unexpected and adorable. Bitterness seemed so out of place with her upbeat, positive nature. “Like my back doesn’t hurt enough already.”

“You’re having back pains sweetie?” Diane asked from across the room.

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“For someone with a history of back problems, and who’s carrying twins, I assure you that although it’s unfortunate, it’s expected. I’m sure Tyler remembers how to take care of it.”

He nodded. “Tylenol and a massage.”

“Atta boy.” His attention turned to the monitor in front of them, which had each of the room’s occupants in a stupor. “Ah, you’ve got two beautiful babies in there,” he said admirably.

Tyler found himself unable to move. He remembered seeing their last baby up on that screen, but something about seeing two of them together was mystifying. They were finally starting to take the form of human babies, and he could make out the shapes of miniature hands and feet. “That’s amazing,” he muttered under his breath, only loud enough for Nicki to hear.

“Jesus mom, enough with the frigging crying!”

After sharing a laugh with the rest of his family, Tyler realized that his own eyes were watering. He wiped them quickly, hoping that no one would notice. It was one thing for Nicki to see him cry, he never felt like any less of a man for letting things out around her. But with his family, especially his father, he felt the need to act tough, to never let them see through to who he really was.

A delicate hand on his cheek brought his thoughts back to the monitor in front of them. A face full of concern looked up at him. To ease Nicki’s worrying, he gave her another small smile, one just noticeable enough to let her know that he was alright.

“Would you like to know the sex of the babies today?”

Instantly, the smile disappeared from his face. “Already?” Dr. Reed nodded and glanced between him and Nicki. “I, uh, yeah… absolutely.”

“Wait!” Nicki intervened. She took Tyler’s hand again and held it while she spoke. “Babe, what if something happens? What if we lose them? It would be so much harder if we knew. God forbid had we already picked out names. Ty, I don’t think we should do it.”

He stared at her, feeling both conquered and depressed. Everything she said was true; had he not known he was expecting a son, the last time might have been that much easier. If he found out today that he was going to finally get the baby girl he wanted, and then lost her, it would ruin him.
Clenching his jaw, he drew in a deep breath and nodded stiffly. “Okay, okay we’ll wait.”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered through a cracking voice, as tears spilled down her cheeks. “I don’t want it to be like this.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” he assured her, using his thumb to wipe the wetness from her soft skin. “I don’t like it either, but you’re right, it’s better this way.” She sniffled a bit as she calmed down and
Dr. Reed began to clean the goo from her stomach. Tyler continued to hold her hand until they were given the green light to leave. He slid a hand behind her back to help her get up and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “Just think about how great it’s gonna be when we finally find out.”

She leaned her head against his for a moment before scooting off of the chair and onto her feet.
“Who wants to go get some lunch?”

** * * *

“Oh, would you look at that,” Tyler’s mother said as she continued to palm his wife’s belly like it
was the most incredible thing she’d ever seen. “I can’t believe my little grandchildren are in here, after all this waiting I’ve had to do!”

Nicki let out a lighthearted laugh as his mother went back to her seat, moving her owns hands to cover their little ones. She looked down in awe before turning to gaze at Tyler, with all the love in the world. For that brief minute, it was only them in the entire, crowded restaurant. Her eyes had a warmth like he’d never quite seen before, and he imagined that as she inched closer to motherhood it would only grow.

Underneath the table, he placed his hand on her knee. Suddenly, he had an unappeasable ache to be home with her, with Liam by their side and a baby in each of their arms. After seeing them, moving around and alive during the ultrasound, he had been unable to rid his mind of hopeful thoughts for the future. His emotions were running high and wild, and although he was having a difficult time controlling them, not once in his life had he felt more at peace. Every moment of every day confirmed that he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

Completely absorbed in thought, Tyler jumped when their waiter came up behind him and popped open a bottle of champagne. He looked around, confused at first. He couldn’t remember anyone ordering it.

“Sorry, son. I just figured a toast was in order,” his father explained.

“No… it’s fine,” he mumbled, glancing around the table. He watched as two waiters made their rounds, pouring glasses halfway full of sparkling, gold liquid. They bypassed Nicki, causing her to pout animatedly. Tyler laughed and leaned over to kiss her cheek, to the utter delight of his mother and sisters. “Sorry, babe. Love you.”

“When this is over,” she said quietly, making sure that he would be the only one to hear. “I’m downing a bottle of wine and we’re having sex for days.”

Tyler grinned, but it faded when he realized how serious she was. “What about Li – “

“Shh, don’t question it.”

“You’re insane,” he murmured. “And I love it.”

“You two done over there?” Candace asked, interrupting their moment. “Don’t get me wrong, I could watch you talk dirty to each other all day, but I think there are some people here waiting to make a toast.”

Nicki giggled deviously and bit down on her lip, letting everyone know that Candace’s accusation wasn’t too far off. They seemed to get a kick out of it, and in her impregnated state she rarely became embarrassed over anything. Although Tyler missed the rosy cheeks that had drawn him to her all that time ago, it was refreshing to not have to hold back around her.

After everyone quieted down, Tyler’s father raised his glass. “I’m not exactly the best at making toasts here, but I want to start by saying that no son has ever made a father more proud than you have, Ty. We always knew you were going to be a star, since the first time you laced up your own skates and sped out onto that ice. But that doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s the person you’ve become that I’m proud of. You and your sisters are the only things that I’ve done right in my life, and I don’t even know how much credit I can take for that. I’ll never forget the way it felt to hear your name get called at the draft, to watch you walk up on stage and accept a jersey from a team I always dreamed of playing for myself. You were just a boy then, and I had such high hopes for you. Let me tell you, son, you surpassed all of them. Looking at you now, as a man and a leader and a father, it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever felt. And this,” he paused to gesture kindly at Nicki, “beautiful wife of yours, I feel like we all owe you a thank you for bringing her into this family. You’ve just… you’ve done it all right kid.”

Tyler was tempted to get up and hug his father, but chose not to. He didn’t want to cause a scene, and figured the things he wanted to say were best left for when they were alone. Left with nothing else to do, he clapped quietly with the rest of his family.

“Aw, thank you papa Seguin,” Nicki said sweetly, blowing him a kiss.

It baffled him how close she had grown with his father, and wondered just how many times they’d spoken on the phone or gone out to lunch that Tyler was unaware of. They’d only really been together on holidays, yet every time they saw each other it was like he had known her since childhood. Nicki was well aware of the tensions that existed between him and his dad, and he truly believed she was to thank for their newly kindled relationship. Only in the past few years had they reconnected, now with a stronger bond than they’d ever had before.


“Alright, well I got my piece out, who’s next?”

“I’ll go next,” Cassidy said as she raised her own glass slightly into the air. “First of all, we all know that I love my big brother. So, I might have annoyed the crap out of you when we were younger. It was only because I wanted your attention. I promise I’ll try to stay out of your way the next four years, and I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for letting me live with you again. I hope I can make it up to you by helping take care of your family when you can’t be there. Even if you won’t admit it to us, I know how much you hate leaving Nicki, and I know how much you worry about her. Maybe with me there, you’ll feel a little better about being gone so much. You’re the best brother I could ask for, Ty, and I bet you’ll be an even better dad. That being said, I can’t wait to play with my little nieces or nephews. I’m warning you right now that you won’t see much of them when I’m around.” She waited for her mother and sister to agree with her before continuing. “And Nicki. I know you’re going to be all pregnant and difficult for a while, but I’m so excited that I get to spend so much time with you. I never thought in a million years that Tyler would end up with someone like you. Whatever you did to win him over, I’m really glad it worked.”

“Yeah, me too Cass,” she responded, trying to hide the fact that she’d been crying.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean to make you cry!” Cassidy exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and rounding the table to throw her arms around Nicki’s shoulders. “No don’t cry! This is supposed to be a good thing!”

“Sis, she’s pregnant. She’s gonna cry over everything, not like she didn’t already.”

“Thanks Candace,” Nicki snapped, giggling. “It’s true Cass. I’m fine. I’m just really happy.”

“Oh… are you sure?” She nodded, and his sister laughed before sitting back in her chair. “Good then. I don’t know what I’m gonna do if you start freaking out over stuff when Ty’s away.”

“Just have her call me, that usually works.” He briefly thought back to all of the times he’d stayed on the phone with her through the latest hours of the night, hoping that his soothing words could be enough to comfort her. Although he was always ecstatic to hear her voice, it broke his heart to picture her all alone, trying desperately to sleep without him. Feeling the remorse of his profession creeping up on him, he grabbed the edge of her chair and pulled it right up against his, so that their thighs were touching and he could easily wrap an arm around her shoulders.

“You guys really have it all figured out,” his mother muttered, gathering the attention again of the toast participants. “Boy, you two make marriage seem so easy.”

To that, Tyler had no response. Sure they’d had their issues. But other than those few times of struggle, their relationship had been as easy as breathing. He’d never felt like he needed to work to keep her in his life. It was a mutually understood point that neither of them could live a good life without the other. All he could do was shrug and listen while each person sitting at their table praised them and shared how much they meant to them. He tried to ignore Nicki’s sobbing and the way her shoulders were shaking his arm, but the harder she cried the more difficult it became.

“Guys I think Nicki’s gonna break down if we don’t stop soon,” Candace said, nodding towards his quivering spouse.

“No… you, you can keep going,” she muttered, almost unintelligibly.

“Well, I’m the only one left.” His mother lifted her glass of the champagne that had lost all of its bubbles and smiled at them. “I think you both know how I feel about you. I think we should toast to second chances, and your two little miracles.”

“Actually, there’s something else you should be toasting to.” Their once boisterous party had quieted, and each member was staring at him as if he’d just sprouted another head. “There’s uh, something we haven’t told you guys.”

“Ty, you’re freaking me out a little bit honey. What is it?”

Nicki’s head fell to his shoulder as he tried to find the right words to say, and the smell of her rose scented shampoo allowed him to stay calm and not worry about the reactions that were sure to ensue his announcement. “Promise you won’t be mad that we didn’t tell you?” He waited for everyone to give a solemn vow before speaking again. “Alright. We, uh… We adopted a kid.”

“You what?!” his mother shrieked as her glass dropped to the table and shattered, drawing the attention of most of the other restaurant goers. After she collected herself, she took a deep breath and stared at them. “You adopted. So if and when Nicki has these babies, you’re going to have three children?” He nodded, knowing full well her questions weren’t anywhere near being over. “How is she going to take care of them when you’re gone? Jesus, did you think any of this through?”

“It wasn’t like we had a lot of time to think, mom,” he hissed, trying to keep his voice low so that he wouldn’t draw any more attention. Nicki sat up straight and placed a hand on his thigh, warning him not to get too worked up. He looked at her, taking in her pleading expression and still watery eyes. He took a second longer to calm himself down before turning away from her and back to his mother. “If you’d let me explain then maybe you’d understand.”

“I’m all ears, sweetie.”

“Thank you,” he sighed. “On Sunday morning I got a call. I was still waiting to find out whether or not I was going to be traded and I was stressing out. The woman who we talked to about adopting, way before we knew Nicki was pregnant, told me that they’d found a boy. He was curled up with his mother’s body near the Garden.” Waiting for the information to sink in, he stopped his story and glanced around the table. Finally, he seemed to have everyone’s undivided attention. “The only thing he had on him was a picture of me and a napkin that I signed for him one day when we were out for lunch. We talked about it and decided it wouldn’t hurt to visit him at the adoption center… if we weren’t going to take him I could at least make his day. And then we saw him, and we both remembered him. We met him before, right after the miscarriage. It just, it seemed too crazy to be coincidence.”

At first, no one at the table muttered a single word. The air was silent, and it even sounded like the guests around them had quieted as well. Picking up on the uncomfortable atmosphere, Nicki tried her best to alleviate it.

“He’s the sweetest little thing. You should see him around Ty, he looks at him like he’s some kind of superhero.”

They both waited patiently for any kind of reaction. Bill shifted awkwardly in his seat and Tyler’s parents both stared down at the neatly folded maroon napkins sitting in their laps.

“You already love him, don’t you?” his mother asked, her demeanor much softer than it had been just a moment ago.

“Yeah, we do Jackie,” Nicki responded without hesitation. Her voice was strong and sure. All his mom could do was nod, and accept the fact that nothing was going to change. No matter how difficult things became, he was sure that it would all be worth it in the end.

Notes

Hi everyone. I'm SO sorry that it's been so long since I updated. That whole publishing thing was a big mess, then I took a week to spend with my friends before we all went back to college, I'm sure plenty of you know what that's like :P I'm going to try to update regularly, but I'm gonna be seriously busy so no promises. Thank you soooo much for sticking with me and the support I've received from all of you is just incredible :) I hope everyone's doing well!