Cherise, always on top of the situation, hands me the diaper bag.
“I got it,” Cecily says.
“Uh, no ma’am, not in your wedding dress, you don’t,” Cherise points out.
The judge dismisses the guests to enjoy the reception. At the same time, a hoard of Williams women surrounds Cecily and me to help clean up the baby. They don’t hear me when I try to insist that I can handle this. I’ve learned the hard way: with a baby, bring extra shirts for me as well as extra onesies for her.
Once the baby is sorted and handed off to the sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews for a little while, I whisk my bride away in my arms to enjoy our first dance. Exhausted, as always, but happy.
“I’m sorry your wedding ceremony devolved into chaos. I know we tried to time her feeding so that wouldn’t happen,” I say.
Cecily shakes her head. “If everything was perfect, this wouldn’t be my family.”
My heart still races when Cecily looks at me with those eyes and speaks her mind.
I’m not about to argue with her on that point.
Epilogue
Milo
Ten years later
“Phillip, I can’t believe you brought a fifteen-year-old Christmas cake all the way to Mexico.” Diana might be the most ruthless in her teasing of the brothers-in-law.
Phillip sighs. “I’ve told you people. It’s a special tradition, and it’s not literally the same one.”
Leo eyes the damp, fruity block of cake, the centerpiece on a massive dining room table in the open-air kitchen in our mountain getaway.
“Damn, Phillip. That cake’s been around longer than your oldest kid,” Leo jokes.
Diana snorts and hugs her husband around the middle. “Good one, babe.”
Thankfully, this Mexican villa accommodates everyone in the family with an affinity for baking. Phillip has also thoughtfully shown us how to make his famous baguettes, shortbread biscuit, and scones. Cara has produced a mountain of brownies with Mexican chocolate and local vanilla. Leo and Diana have been baking pizzas to order; Cherise has been stuffing us full of cinnamon buns every morning; and the Williams’ grandkids have decorated hoards of cut-out cookies. Cecily bakes nothing, but sneaks away every so often to check on things at the newspaper. Now a part-time investigative reporter, she’s obsessed with uncovering corruption in her hometown. I proudly and frequently boast that to anyone in power, my Cecily is the most hated reporter.
“Put your phone away,” I gently scold. Cecily cuts her eyes at me and smirks, shoving her phone in her pocket. “You weren’t supposed to notice that.” I lean in and plant a firm kiss on her neck, letting her know that for the rest of the trip, she’s mine.
“Baby, the crooks will still be there after Christmas.” Cecily snuggles into me, and I wrap one arm around her. She sighs, “Let’s hope so.”
Chloe pouts as Phillip shoots a stern look to Leo and Diana, who continue to lovingly taunt him. “It’s okay, Daddy. I’ll try some cake.”
Phillip brightens up. “You will?”
Chloe curls her lip and shakes her head no.
Her husband growls, slips one hand under her arm, and whisks his wife from the room. Both Michael and I shudder at the knowledge of what those two are about to do to each other.
Cara sighs. “Look at it this way; at least Chloe didn’t try to cook the turkey this year.”
Michael kisses his wife’s hand. “This is why we leave the protein to the experts,” he says, nodding to me.
“Speaking of,” Cherise says, getting to her feet. “Does anyone want anything? I can make some actual food, not treats.” Bishop, who graciously used his hotel connections to snag us this villa for the week, rubs his wife Cherise’s tummy and says, “No more cooking for you. You need to stay off your feet. That was the doctor’s order if you insist on traveling while pregnant.”
Cherise relaxes into Bishop’s lap and yawns. “Hmm. Yeah, I’m a little sleepy anyway.”
As we watch the sunset over the mountains, Minnie, now nine, clatter around the kitchen with her cousin Freya, now 10. The two of them laugh and roll out dough, conspiring about something. They look and act just like their mothers.
Rufus, Katie, and the rest trickle in to see what everyone is up to, and Freya lets everyone have a turn cutting and rolling dough while Katie, now 16, supervises the little hands.