And there was Kai.
“Surprise, Mama,” he declared, beaming.
Beaming because he was clutching something small and golden to his chest.
We’d always talked about it.
But the time had never seemed right.
Kai was on the road a lot.
I worked a lot.
Then we’d had kids that stole all our energy.
It just never felt like the right time to do it.
To get the final thing on my vision board.
“One-hundred thirty-two months and twenty-one days,” he added as I closed in on him. On them.
One-hundred thirty-two months and twenty-one days since we met for the first time.
And he had given me his heart, his hand, a home, a future, our children. And now my golden retriever puppy.
He’d given me everything.
Everything.
There had been no more lists, no timelines, no plans.
We had let everything play out as it seemed meant to. And everything had fallen into place perfectly. Beautifully.
My chest tightened as the puppy lapped wet-tongued kisses over my chest.
I looked up at Kai, sliding his long hair behind his ear, leaning in to kiss him.
Hard and long to a chorus of heckling noises from our children, my heart overflowing with a love I had never known could exist.
Until he had shown it to me.
Until I had finally allowed him to.
And look what could happen with a love like that.