Epilogue

JACOB

Eight Years Later

" D o you think I'll be able to be a caterpillar, Daddy?" Marissa says as I drive her to school. Her little brother, Ethan, sits in the toddler seat beside her, consumed with his coloring book. He's not even coloring in it. He makes me laugh so much. He's in a staring-at-his-coloring-book stage at the moment.

"Why a caterpillar?" I ask.

"Buh-because I'd be a good caterpillar. I wouldn't be a good butterfly, though. Could I stay a caterpillar?"

"You can stay something for a long time," I tell her, stopping at the red light and looking in the rearview. I can see hints of her mother in her eyes and hair, but people say she has my smile. "But you might want to change one day. I was a caterpillar for a long time."

She giggles. " Yeah, right . Ethie, Daddy's a caterpillar."

Ethan looks up from his coloring book and explodes into the most adorable laughter. "Daddy-pillar!"

"Why were you a caterpillar, Daddy?" Marissa asks.

"It's not that I was a caterpillar, but I was… more like a block of ice."

"Ice."

"I thought I'd be ice forever, but then Mommy melted me."

"Mommy melted you like an ice pop?"

"Yeah, exactly like that. She made Daddy all gooey and lovely. Daddy always had a face like this once."

I pull a grumpy face in the rearview mirror. Marissa giggles, claps her hands, and sings, "Ethie, look! Look at Daddy!"

Ethan erupts into laughter, too. We keep talking about caterpillars and butterflies for the rest of the drive. After dropping Marissa off at school, I drive into the city, take Ethan from his chair, and hold him against my chest.

"Daddy, I walk."

I laugh. "It's pretty far, champ."

He looks at me stubbornly. People say his stubborn face is my expression. As if to prove my point, when Ethan and I walk into the gallery, my wife turns and says, "Ethie, you're wearing Daddy's face."

I laugh, watching the little man toddle over to his mom, throwing himself into her loving embrace. I'll never tire of watching my woman with the children. I'll never tire of seeing their connection—the love between them that will never fade.

Holding Ethan, she reaches out for me. I lean over and kiss her. "You look beautiful," I tell her, meaning it. She's stylish in her pink dress shirt and black pants, keeping that curvy body hidden just for me.

"So does this place."

I look around at the gallery. It's her latest opening. This theme is Family . There are paintings of me, Marissa, Ethan, Rusty, and the whole family together. The centerpiece is a last-minute addition, an artistically shaded piece of a positive pregnancy test sitting in the light from a frosted window, a snowy forest in the background.

"I'm so proud of you," I tell my wife.

"Me… proud… Mommy!" Ethan declares.

THE END