Happily Letter After

by Keeland, Vi

  My dad smiled. “Do you want more children?”

  “Dad, isn’t that a little personal? Sebastian is being so open, but I think that’s taking it a little far.”

  Sebastian squeezed my hand. “It’s fine. I guess I always assumed more kids weren’t in the cards for me. Amanda got sick when Birdie was only four and a half, and I figured that part of my life was done. I have my daughter, and I’m grateful for that.” Sebastian smiled at me. “But I’m not opposed to having more kids. I think I’d actually like it. Birdie would be thrilled, that’s for sure.”

  Oh wow. I was excited to hear that Sebastian was open to having more kids. Family was important to me, and I’d always dreamed of having a big one.

  My dad nodded. “Thank you for your candor, son.”

  After that, the three of us fell into easier, light conversation. My dad and Sebastian figured out they both loved fly-fishing and playing poker. Since neither appealed to me, but watching these two men bond fascinated me more than anything, I happily stuffed my face and listened. At one point, a waiter came over and told Sebastian that he was needed in the kitchen.

  I leaned forward in my seat after Sebastian excused himself. “Satisfied you won’t get denied grandkids?” I said.

  My father reached across the table and took my hand. “Sweetheart, if you married a man with a kid, that kid would be my grandchild, no different from if you birthed your own. It’s not about what I want. You’ve always wanted a big family, and your mother and I couldn’t give that to you. I only want what you want.”

  I’d seriously hit the jackpot when it came to parents. I stood and walked over to my dad’s side of the table to plant a kiss on his cheek.

  “What was that for?” Dad smiled.

  “Just for being you, Dad.”

  “Thank you for being such a good sport tonight.”

  After a three-hour dinner at the restaurant, Dad went home, and I hung around the restaurant waiting for Sebastian to finish up. Then he talked me into coming home with him for a little while.

  We sat down on the couch, and Sebastian pulled off my shoes. He lifted my feet onto his lap and began to rub. When he dug his thumbs into the arch, I let out a little mewl.

  “Oh my God. That feels so good. But you were the one up and down all night and on your feet. I should be the one giving you the foot massage.”

  He smiled. “My feet are fine. You get the massage just for wearing those sexy heels tonight. And your dad is great. The apple didn’t fall far.”

  “He is pretty great. But I’m sorry he got so personal. He’s never actually done that before.”

  “Did he meet a lot of the men you went out with?”

  “Not too many, but a few. He’s only ever made small talk with the ones he’s met before. It’s really unlike him to be so meddlesome.”

  Sebastian shrugged. “I’m sure hearing I’ve been married and have a daughter gave him reason for concern. Can’t say I blame him. It’s hard to even imagine a day when I couldn’t protect my daughter anymore.”

  “I guess. Though I don’t think it really had anything to do with you having been married or there being a Birdie.”

  “No?”

  “I think he just saw something he’d never seen with me before.”

  “What’s that?”

  I bit my lip, thinking maybe I’d said too much. Sebastian noticed and stopped rubbing my foot.

  “Talk to me. What is it?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing bad. I think he just . . . saw the possibility of a future for me with someone.”

  Sebastian’s eyes looked back and forth between mine. “Smart man. I see the same thing. There’s a future here, sweetheart.”

  A future here.

  Sweetheart.

  I let his words seep through me, enjoying the warmth in my chest that spread to my fingertips and toes. A huge smile spread across my face.

  Sebastian crooked one finger at me. “Come here, smiley.”

  I sat up and inched closer to him on the couch.

  He cupped both of my cheeks, and his eyes roamed my face for a long time before he sealed his lips over mine. Emotions bubbled to the surface as we kissed. I started to get lost in the moment. Until a voice snapped us both back to reality.

  “Daddy . . .”

  “I better get going.”

  Birdie had woken up from a noise outside her window, and she’d caught us making out on the couch. If it had bothered her, she definitely hid it well. Sebastian bribed her with a cookie to go back to bed, and she asked if I would tuck her in, which I did.

  Sebastian groaned. “I hate this.”

  “Me too. But we have to set an example for her.”

  “Can’t we just sneak you out before she gets up?”

  I pushed up on my toes and planted a kiss on his lips. “She’s a smart girl. I don’t think it would take too long for her to figure things out.”

  Sebastian hung his head and pouted. “Fine. I’ll call the damn Uber.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But I want a night, a whole one. One where I get to fall asleep with you in my arms and wake up and roll over and slip inside you. I’m going to ask Magdalene if she can stay over one night soon.”

  I smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

  A few minutes later, the Uber arrived and Sebastian opened the door. “Hey,” he said, grabbing my hand as I went to walk out.

  I backed up. “Yeah?”

  “I’m crazy about you.”

  My insides melted to a pile of mush. “I’m crazy about you, too.”

  CHAPTER 23

  SEBASTIAN

  The following morning, my daughter seemed like she was expecting to see Sadie.

  Her eyes were groggy when she walked into the kitchen and asked, “Is Sadie here?”

  I put down my coffee. “No, honey. She went home last night.”

  “Oh. I was hoping she would make me another green monster.”

  “You really like that shake she made the other day, huh? You weren’t just saying that to be nice?”

  “No. I loved it!”

  “Want me to make it for you?” I winked. “I think I can handle it.”

  “Yes, please.”

  I swiftly got up. “You got it. One green monster coming right up.”

  Birdie looked preoccupied as she sat on one of the stools by the counter.

  “Everything alright?” I said as I reached for the blender.

  “I think Santa brought Sadie to us.”

  Her comment caught me off guard. I paused, unable to concentrate on gathering the rest of the ingredients.

  “Say what?”

  “I never told you this . . . but I started writing to Santa back in June.”

  Knowing the story behind who Santa actually was, I felt almost uncomfortable as Birdie was confessing this to me. She went on to tell the full story of all her letters to “Santa.” I was unsure what compelled her to admit it to me now.

  “Anyway, I told Santa that I wanted a special friend. And I think Sadie is his last gift to me.”

  I had to ask, “What makes you so sure that it’s Santa . . . and not just luck?”

  “Well, Mommy believed in writing to him.”

  Mommy?

  “What do you mean?”

  “The only reason I started writing to Santa was because Mommy used to read the letters that people wrote in to Santa. That’s why I first wrote to him—at the address in the magazines Mommy kept.”

  “Your mother kept articles of people writing to Santa?”

  “Yeah. You know that big box of dolls you gave me that used to be Mommy’s?”

  “What about it?”

  “That’s where the folder was. With all the Santa articles and stuff.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about. “Do you still have it?”

  Birdie nodded.

  “Can I see it?”

  “Sure.” She ran to her room and came back with a worn manila folder. Articles were bu
lging from it. It had to be at least two inches thick and had a fat rubber band tied around to keep it closed.

  I took the folder, confused. “Why wouldn’t you tell me about finding these?”

  She looked down. “I thought you’d get mad at me for writing to Santa. Because I really don’t need much. And that’s, like . . . greedy. I know. I just wanted a special friend for us . . . and some socks for you.”

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m not mad. Why don’t you go take your shower and get dressed, and then we’ll take the Duke to the park.”

  “Okay, Daddy!”

  Birdie took off, and I stared at the folder for a long time, unsure of why it wasn’t sitting right with me. So what if Amanda kept a box of Santa clippings? She probably hadn’t been hiding them. Perhaps the folder had been in the box with a bunch of other files, and that one had been on the bottom. She’d taken them out to use the box for something else and hadn’t noticed she’d left one behind. I was certain there was a logical reason.

  Yet that gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach wasn’t going away.

  Trying to shake it off, I slipped the rubber band off the file and opened the folder. There had to be a hundred articles snipped from magazines in here. Sifting through, the first twenty or so were all from the Santa feature. It seemed Amanda had kept each of the weekly articles that ran throughout November and December and for quite a few years. I guess she really had been a big fan. But as I dug further, I noticed there were other articles, too. A few dozen on makeup tips, then a bunch that seemed to be about women in business—dealing with office politics and stuff like how to dress for success. Amanda hadn’t been big into makeup, and she definitely never worked in an office. So it all seemed pretty random. Since they were clippings, not all of them had a date. But some did at the top. She’d cut out these articles over years. But why? And why hadn’t she ever mentioned her little collection?

  Then it hit me.

  Makeup articles.

  Business etiquette.

  Santa letters.

  They weren’t random. They had one thing in common.

  I flipped back through the columns and searched each for the name. I hadn’t noticed the writer listed on my first look. The Holiday Wishes articles had the writer listed only as Santa Claus.

  But the other articles, the ones on makeup and business etiquette, each and every one of them were the same.

  Sadie Bisset.

  Years and years of articles written by Sadie.

  And only Sadie.

  What the fuck?

  Sunday afternoon, Birdie talked me into taking her and two friends to one of those trampoline places. Sadie came along, and we planned to go to the Barking Dog restaurant on the Upper East Side afterward. It was one of the few dog-friendly, dog-themed restaurants in the city. Though my daughter was disappointed when I’d said Duke couldn’t come. That crazy dog wasn’t ready for that type of outing yet. Actually, I wasn’t sure he’d ever behave himself enough to go into a restaurant.

  Sadie and I sat having coffee in the waiting area while the kids did their hour of jumping. I’d been anxious to say something to her about the articles that I’d discovered. I wasn’t sure why, but I couldn’t just chalk it up to coincidence and let it go.

  “So . . . Birdie told me about her writing to Santa yesterday.”

  “Oh. Wow. I’m glad she finally came clean about that. I hope you were able to act surprised.”

  I nodded. “She had no idea I already knew.”

  “Good.”

  “But something interesting came up during our conversation.”

  “Oh? What’s that?”

  “She said she wrote to you because her mom had liked the Santa column.”

  Sadie’s jaw dropped. “Her mom?”

  I nodded. “She found your Santa articles in a file. Amanda had clipped all of them out from the magazines and saved them.”

  “So all of this”—she motioned with her hand back and forth between us—“happened because her mom was a fan of the column?”

  “Apparently so.”

  “That’s kind of odd, isn’t it? Basically your wife, who’s been gone four years, is responsible for us getting together, then.”

  “That’s not the oddest part.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There were other articles in the folder, too. Written by you. They dated back to when you first started with the magazine, or close to it. Apparently Amanda had saved all of them.”

  “Wow.” Sadie shook her head. “That’s . . . I can’t believe that.”

  I don’t know what I’d been looking for, but I watched Sadie’s face closely. She was genuinely surprised. Maybe even more shocked than I’d been yesterday.

  “Just my articles? Or other writers’, too?”

  “Just yours. Years’ worth of them.”

  Her brows knitted together. “I don’t understand. You mean she was a fan of mine?”

  I sipped my coffee. “I guess so. Do you get a lot of those? Fans who collect your articles?”

  “I have gotten some fan letters over the years. People who say they’ve followed my articles in the magazine and stuff. But that’s just a freaky coincidence, isn’t it?”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  We both sat quietly for a while, mulling it over. Eventually, Sadie spoke. “So your wife read all my articles and kept them in a folder. Birdie found that folder, which in turn made her write to me. My impersonating Santa led me to your door. Where I happened to find a little butterfly barrette that caused me to then impersonate Gretchen. We also both lost someone we loved to the same type of cancer.” She shook her head. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of fate opening so many doors to make things happen before.”

  I smiled. She was right. It was fate. I felt like an idiot now. While I hadn’t suspected anything in particular, I’d just had a terrible feeling that something was working against me, instead of accepting it for the gift that it is. But maybe that was because of my track record. Every time Amanda and I had been happy, something happened. I’d learned to wait for the other shoe to drop. I needed to stop doing that shit and enjoy what I had, no matter how it came my way.

  Reaching over the table, I took Sadie’s hand. “I had another act of fate happen today.”

  “Oh my Lord, what now?”

  “When I picked up Melissa, the little curly-haired blonde we brought with us, her mother asked if Birdie wanted to go apple picking upstate with them tomorrow. There’s no school, since it’s Veteran’s Day.”

  Sadie’s brows drew together. “Well, that’s nice. But I’m not sure how that’s fate. Unless you mean that Birdie and I are both off for the holiday tomorrow.”

  I shook my head and grinned. “Nope. They’re driving three hours upstate. Fate is that they’re leaving at six in the morning to beat traffic.”

  “Okay . . . I’m still missing the fate here.”

  “Because they’re leaving so early, Melissa’s mom asked if Birdie could sleep over tonight. Which means I’m alone for almost twenty-four hours.”

  Sadie’s eyes lit up. “Oh wow. That does sound like fate.” She grinned. “But what will you do with that much time on your hands?”

  I reached out for the bottom of Sadie’s chair and dragged it closer to me. “You. I’m going to do you . . . over and over again.”

  CHAPTER 24

  SADIE

  With the house all to ourselves that Monday morning, we’d definitely gotten carried away fast. I kept expecting that maybe Sebastian would pull out of me to get a condom on at some point, but he never did. He knew I was on the pill, so it wasn’t a big deal, but he’d always been diligent about the extra protection every time we’d been together.

  But having him inside me with no barrier felt incredibly good. The feeling was so intense that I could feel myself coming much faster than I’d anticipated. Our bodies just seemed to be in sync because as soon as I started to orgasm, I felt him quake. We rocked together as
our orgasms shot through us simultaneously. There was nothing more beautiful than the guttural sound Sebastian made when he climaxed. I felt it vibrate throughout my entire body.

  “Sebastian,” I called out over and over as he came inside me. “Sebastian . . .”

  It was the best sex we’d had thus far. I wasn’t sure if it was because we’d grown that much closer recently or what. I just knew I’d never felt more connected to a man in my entire life.

  He rested his head inside the crook of my neck. “I’m sorry. That felt too good. I should’ve stopped it.”

  Reaching down and squeezing his ass, I said, “It’s okay. I’m on the pill.”

  He let out a relieved breath. “I know. But I’ve never been irresponsible like that. You just make me a little crazy, Sadie.”

  “I’ve got you.” I smiled.

  He looked into my eyes and said, “Yeah. You definitely do . . . have me.”

  Deliriously happy, I returned his sentiment with a huge smile.

  “What do you want to do?” he asked. “We have the whole day.”

  Doing a whole lot of nothing sounded good to me. Hanging out in his bed like this was such a rarity.

  “Can we just lie here for a bit? I love not having to rush out of bed or worry about getting caught.”

  He frowned at my statement. “I’m sorry that I can’t have you here all the time with me.”

  “It’s okay. That just makes being with you even more special, when we can have days like this.”

  He used the bedsheet to playfully pull me toward him. “What am I gonna do with you? You’ve totally knocked me on my ass, Sadie Mae.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Sadie Mae? Where did that name come from?”

  “Yeah.” He laughed. “Not sure where it came from. ‘Mae’ just seems to go with your name. But what’s your actual middle name now that we’re on the topic?”

  “It’s nothing you’d ever guess.”

  “What is it? Tell me.”

  “It’s George.”

  His eyes widened. “Really? After your father . . .”

  “Yep. My mother thought it was funny to give me my dad’s name. Definitely not feminine but I love it. It’s different.” I grinned. “What’s your middle name?”