Good and ready came in the form of two little pink lines.
Jackson Thomas Reese was by far the greatest thing I would ever do with my life, and soon, his sister would join those ranks if ever she made her grand entrance.
That little boy owned Tanner and me from the minute we saw the flutter of his heart on an ultrasound. He was born with blond hair, and, now, at fifteen months old, his eyes hadn’t decided if they wanted to be green or blue. I thought he looked like Tanner. Tanner thought he looked like me. Neither of us cared because he was perfect in every way.
It was while I was pregnant that I’d started a non-profit business that helped charities organize fundraising events. It gave me something to keep busy, but even better than that, it gave me a sense of pride. I was making a difference in the community.
Having my own business had allowed me to take an extended maternity leave after Jackson was born, and desperate not to miss a minute, Tanner took a few months off as well. Apparently, he really sucked at taking it slow in the baby making department, because I was pregnant again before Jackson turned six months old.
“It’s one scene,” Andrea argued. “You had sauce on your shirt.”
“People drip sauce on their shirt when cooking,” Tanner argued.
“Yes, but the great Tanner Reese doesn’t. So grab a clean one and let’s finish this.”
His worried, blue eyes came to mine. “You think I have time?”
I looked at my phone, the timer creeping on five minutes. “If you hurry, you won’t even miss the next contraction.”
Shortly after we’d gotten back together, Tanner had gone to The Food Channel with plans on walking away from Simmer. It didn’t quite work out that way. What he ended up walking out with was a multimillion-dollar raise for a quarter of the episodes, a clause stating that he no longer had to take his shirt off, and a smile on his face. Despite getting almost exactly what he’d wanted, he was nervous the ratings would tank without his abs. But that was crazy. People didn’t watch Tanner because he had a six-pack—I mean, I did occasionally while he was taking a shower. They watched because Tanner was an excellent chef who was charming and funny. And six episodes later, the ratings had proven that people liked watching him even fully clothed.
It was all about balance with Tanner, and with fewer episodes to film of Simmer, he was able to find his Zen cooking at the restaurants two nights a week. He was always exponentially happier after a night in the kitchen, regardless that he was a zombie the next day.
“Okay, I’ll hurry,” he said, walking away.
He hadn’t made it two steps away when someone dropped a baby off the Empire State Building and directly into my pelvis. I screamed, doubling over as amniotic fluid ran down my legs.
“Rita!” Tanner called as he caught me.
I’d been through the whole labor-and-delivery process once already, so the pain shouldn’t have surprised me. But this… This was enough to close the baby factory forever.
“I…I, uh.” I dug my fingernails into his forearm. “I’m…either dying or in labor. We should probably go to the hospital either way.”
Over the years together, I’d fallen more and more in love with Tanner. Our marriage was far from perfect. We fought. We made up. We had staring contests that he always lost. He couldn’t hit the laundry hamper if he was standing inside of it. And, yeah, not only had we found each other’s buttons, we pushed them on the regular.
But through it all, we laughed.
And smiled.
And we loved each other—utterly and completely.
In the beginning, I’d been so focused on the fact that we’d met at the wrong time.
I should have just been grateful that fate had chosen for us to meet at all.
McKenzie Caroline Reese was born on a sweltering summer night, screaming at the top of her lungs, and giving me a whole new reason to breathe.
As the nurses cleaned her up, the most beautiful, incredible, and wonderful man, who I was lucky enough to call my husband, stood over her bassinet with tears in his eyes, holding her hand.
THE END
Other Books by Aly Martinez
The Retrieval Duet
Retrieval
Transfer
Guardian Protection Agency
Singe
Thrive
The Fall Up Series
The Fall Up
The Spiral Down
The Darkest Sunrise Duet
The Darkest Sunrise
The Brightest Sunset
The Truth Duet
The Truth About Lies
The Truth About Us
The Regret Duet
Written with Regret
Written with You
The Wrecked and Ruined Series
Changing Course
Stolen Course
Among the Echoes
Broken Course
On the Ropes
Fighting Silence
Fighting Shadows
Fighting Solitude
* * *
Originally from Savannah, Georgia, USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez now lives in South Carolina with her husband and four young children.
Never one to take herself too seriously, she enjoys cheap wine, mystery leggings, and baked feta. It should be known, however, that she hates pizza and ice cream, almost as much as writing her bio in the third person.
She passes what little free time she has reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, preferably with a super-sized tumbler of wine by her side.
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