EXTENDED EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
Tamia
“That is so perfect,” Alexis whispers from the corner of the room, moving slowly as she raises the camera to her face.
I do my best to sit still. We’re in Lisa’s bedroom, in the corner seat, near the window. Triston decorated her room himself, and I helped, in my own way… If watching him sweat and labor from the doorway – while enjoying the show – can be called helping.
I stare down at our daughter, her sweet face, her tininess. So much love bubbles up inside of me every time I hear her so much as breathe. When she baby-babbles, I almost melt, my heart is so full.
It’s like a piece of me has been returned back to myself, like baby Lisa isn’t a new person, but somebody I’ve been waiting a long time to reconnect with.
I feel like I knew her the second she was born, and she knew me, knew Triston, knew her big sister, Alexis.
“You two are so beautiful together. I knew my baby sister was gonna be cute but this is too much,” Alexis says, snapping more photos.
I blink as tears roll down my cheeks. Little Lisa opens her eyes and for a second, I think she might cry but then she closes them again, as though she just wanted to check I was here.
After setting her down, Alexis and I walk through the house into the kitchen. Triston and I are still living in his house, but it looks different from when Alexis lived here. The walls are covered in photos from our wedding, with snaps of baby Lisa and even some of my best friend Lisa. We’ve changed some of the furniture too.
But we didn’t get a new couch.
I yawn as I sit at the table.
“Tired?” Alexis smiles.
“It’s getting better,” I say. “She’s starting to sleep a little more now.”
“I’m so proud of you,” she replies over the kitchen island. “You’ve done a lot this past year. Between college and planning the wedding, not to mention giving birth. Honestly, Tam, you’re an inspiration.”
I smile warmly at her. “You’re the one who started the business. You inspire me.”
“We started the business.”
Alexis and I decided to share the office in the city, starting a family photography service. It was slow at first before Alexis created an Instagram account and started uploading some of our work there. And then Triston began to advertise our services in his stores, for higher-end clients who want photos in their fancy new outdoor gear.
We’re making money, we’re building our brand, we’re doing it. And I couldn’t think of a better partner.
Alexis carries two glasses around the island and places them down. I reach for my water, looking again at the photo of me and Triston on our wedding day.
He was so handsome in his suit, a dark and steely blue, his smile bright and ready for any adventure. I was five months pregnant, my cheeks radiant, the joy shining through. I used to find it difficult to think of myself as beautiful, especially when looking at photos, but I think I look beautiful there. And I know Triston thinks so too.
“Do you miss it?” Alexis asks.
“The wedding?”
She nods.
“No, not really. It was an amazing day. I’ll never forget it. But I’m so happy with how things are now, at this moment.”
“As long as dad’s treating you okay,” she jokes.
I laugh. “I don’t want to make you chuck your cookies or anything, but Triston is the man of my dreams. I’ve heard people say the first year of marriage is the hardest, trying to adjust to one another. I don’t understand that at all. We’ve had such an amazing time. If there are problems, we work through them together.”
“You have no idea how happy I am that this all worked out,” she says. “Really. It’s more than I ever could’ve hoped for.”
The front door opens and my lips automatically twitch upward, the way they do whenever Triston arrives home. Alexis sees the reaction and claps her hands together.
“What?” I laugh.
“Just you. I hope I’m that in love one day.”
“You will be. Don’t worry.”
I stand as Triston walks into the kitchen. He’s just come from work, wearing a hoodie with his store’s logo on it, his hair messy from running his hands through it. Just as motherhood has changed me – I’m curvier now, and Triston says I still glow – fatherhood has done the same to him.
He’s got a light shadowed beard. To me, he seems somehow bigger, tougher, more like the beast who claimed me in the best possible way.
As we hug, he asks me, “How is she?”
“She’s sleeping,” I tell him, my heart melting that that’s his first question, always his first question.
“And you?”
“Good, better now that you’re here.”
Triston loops his arm around me, smiling over at Alexis. “You staying for dinner sweetheart?”