She stares at me, and the tears in her eyes almost break my heart.
“For two weeks?”
“For two weeks,” I nod. “Then, I fired the call service after I realized they were incompetent. All that time, I was trying to call you, but your insane mother usurped your phone for her own purposes.”
Kaylee sniffles a bit, and balances Ezra in one arm to wipe at her tears.
“It’s kind of crazy, isn’t it? All these wacky turns of bad luck?”
Tentatively, I reach forward with one hand to stroke her cheek. She goes still under my touch, but then looks at me with her eyes full of tears. Our son babbles in the background, and suddenly, everything falls away except for this woman and our child together.
“It’s more than kind of crazy, sweetheart. It’s absolutely mind-blowingly fucked-up-in-a-big-way type of crazy. But what matters is that we’ve found each other, and we’re here now. I love you Kaylee, and I’m serious when I say I want to be with you and our son. You mean more to me than anything in the world, and I want to take care of you.”
With that, Kaylee falls into my arms, sobbing so hard that I’m afraid she’ll drop Ezra. I wrap my arms around both her and the baby, and hug them tight to my broad form.
“I love you too,” she sobs through tears against my chest. “I’ve missed you so much, Elliot, and it was so hard to have Ezra on my own. I thought I was dying during some of it, and my heart felt like it’d been broken into a million pieces. But you’re here now, and that’s what I want too. I want us to be a family together. I love you.”
With that, I kiss her gently, pressing my lips to that lush pout. My hands go to stroke her curls even as our baby looks at us with questioning eyes.
“Hey kiddo,” I say, breaking away from Kaylee for a moment. I’m surprised to find that my own cheeks are wet. “I’m your Daddy. Can you say that? Da-da?”
The baby stares at me, his big blue eyes wide.
“Oh, he doesn’t talk yet,” Kaylee says. “He’s only three months.”
But then Ezra surprises us both.
“Da-da,” he says in a clear voice before breaking out into a toothless grin. “Da.”
We laugh, and I pull Kaylee and my son close to me once more. This woman is my life, and together, we will have a happy future filled with laughter, tears, and sweet memories.
Epilogue
Kaylee
A year later.
Ezra wriggles in my arms, desperate to get down on the floor and explore. He’s fifteen months old now, and walking like a champion, albeit a bit unsteadily still. He toddles to the kitchen counter and turns to look at me with a smile.
“Mama,” he says. “Big baby.”
I laugh before scooping him up in my arms.
“You are a big baby,” I say, nuzzling his downy hair. “So cute too!”
He kicks a bit, but I stop him and shoot him a mock-glare.
“Don’t kick Mommy’s tummy Ezra. You’re going to have a baby sister or brother soon, and right now, he or she lives in Mommy’s tummy. Are you excited to meet them?”
He merely looks at me again, not understanding my words.
“Mama!” he says happily while waving his arms. “Blocks!”
I laugh and put him down so that he can explore his blocks in the living room. It’s so nice to have a separate area for everything after growing up in a confined space. After all, there was no way Elliot was going to let us stay in the trailer with my mom. His introduction to Coralie was horrific, and I still cringe upon remembering it.
After picking up Ezra from Miss Ellie, we made our way to Coralie’s trailer. It was awful. We opened the door, and as soon as we did, a long, low wail greeted us.
“Ooooo-heeeeee! Yeah, Humphrey, right there.”
Immediately, I slammed the door.
“Um, I think my mom’s with her boyfriend, and this isn’t a good time. Let’s come back later,” I said hurriedly.
But it was too late because the slam disturbed Coralie and Humphrey from their lovemaking, and alerted them to our presence. As we got into the car, the door swung open and there stood my mother, looking raggedy and disreputable, wearing nothing but a semi-sheer oversize t-shirt. Not only that, but one breast was hanging out of the low neckline as she took a long drag from her cigarette.
Humphrey wasn’t much better. Although ten years younger than my mom, he’s aging badly, and he grinned, his gold tooth visible.
“Heya Kaylee!” he called. “Where are you taking Ezra?”
Of course, my son immediately began to cry upon seeing them.
“Um, nowhere!” I said, trying to wrangle Ezra into Elliot’s car. “Oh shit, we need a car seat. We can’t just buckle him in, the way you would with an older child.”