“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Scooby joked.
“Yes, yes, I am,” Jill deadpanned.
“No shit?”
She and I burst into laughter and Scooby frowned. “Very funny.”
“Honey, I haven’t had a uterus in ten years.”
“Jesus, Ma, way too much information.”
“We’re gettin’ married,” Needles said.
“I think I’d rather you be pregnant,” Scooby said.
“Scooby,” I admonished.
“Look, this has been a long time coming,” Jill said.
“How long?” Scooby bit out.
I grabbed his hand.
“Twenty years.”
“Really?” I asked.
Jill smiled at Needles. “Yes. For reasons I won’t go into, I have always pushed him away, but I see no reason to do that now. We’ve been talking and I really don’t have any excuses anymore. I watch the two of you and I see how good you are together.” She sighed. “I realized I’ve been a bit of a twat, to be honest, so that stops now.”
“Wow,” Scooby breathed out. “I had no idea.”
“Really?” Jill challenged. “Who took you to little league try outs and gave you and your brother extra coaching during varsity football?”
Scooby scrubbed the back of his neck.
“Exactly,” she said. “Eddie did.”
“So you’ve been in love with Jill for a long time,” I said to Needles.
“Yeah,” he said. “I have.” He lifted Jill’s hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “It just took her a little longer to figure out she was in love with me too.”
“No it didn’t,” she countered. “It just took me a minute to pull my head outta my ass and admit it.” She turned to Scooby. “Baby boy, I need to know you support this.”
“Yeah, Ma. I support it. I’m just surprised.”
“No you’re not,” I argued. “You’ve known for a while. You just don’t want to admit they’re boinking.”
“Jesus, Rowan,” he growled, pushing away from the table, as the rest of us dissolved into laughter.
“You and Needles go throw the steaks on the grill, Frankie,” I said. “Your mom and I’ll do the rest.”
He raised an eyebrow, leaning down to kiss me, then whispered in my ear, “You’re gonna pay for that.”
“Can’t wait.”
As our little family unit made dinner while the baby slept soundly, I took to heart the perfect domestic scene.
I may have once lost everything, but I had truly been made whole in the best of ways and I would never take any of it for granted.