Epilogue

Lincoln: Can I pick up Margot early from daycare?

I laugh. I never tell him no, but I still love that he asks every time. Maybe after the wedding, he'll settle into the role of Margot's dad fully. If you had told me a year ago, right before I had Margot, that I'd be marrying the man of my dreams in just a few weeks, I would have laughed. Or scoffed loudly.

I didn't believe then that men like him existed, except the rare specimens like Landon and Eli. Maybe Lincoln is just another rare specimen that I stumbled across, but he's helped me have faith in life in so many ways.

I have to head back to filming after I answer, but the next time I have a break, Lincoln is waiting with Margot in the trailer I share with a couple other actresses, and my heart leaps. We're working on the finale, so I'll be late tonight, and seeing my two favorite people will get me through the long hours I still have left.

"We brought sustenance," Lincoln says, gesturing to the small bakery box from Sweet Kisses that Margot is holding. She grins at me as she hands it over and propels herself into my arms. Lincoln might be on the list of my almost-one-year-old's favorite people, but thankfully, I'm still at the top.

For now. I have no doubt that Lincoln will soon convert her into a daddy's girl. The amount of Rays gear this girl owns is bordering on ridiculous. She also has a pile of footballs at home right next to the huge basket of Little People toys she's collected thanks to Lincoln, his parents, and all our friends. She is also, in fact, wearing a Rays T-shirt now, with frilly sleeves that Mark Travis's wife, Hannah, added when she gave it to us, claiming that she'd never gotten to do anything like that for her three boys. It's one of several outfits that Hannah has made over for Margot, and several of the other wives on the team have been begging her to make more for both the women and the little girls in the team family.

"Hello, my sweet," I murmur, kissing Margot's cheeks and neck. Playing Sloane Campbell again has been everything I've dreamed, and my part has been getting bigger and bigger each week—Lincoln claims it's because I'm the fan favorite on the show. I'm ever grateful that the off season means that Lincoln can bring Margot to see me during the day, or I'd never be okay with the longer hours than I expected when I first signed on. Lincoln's insisting that once the season starts back up, we're getting a nanny who can do the same for me.

"Look what I got today," Lincoln says, flipping his phone around and showing me a text from Mila with a picture. It's Astrid and Kipp in Vegas at an Elvis wedding chapel. Talk about another guy I misjudged. I'm not ready to give all actors a pass yet, but he's proven himself different from Jack. The lawyer he got for Astrid after everything went down with Bo Steele got her a few months of probation for her part since she testified against Bo, and Kipp stood by her from day one. This elopement isn't a surprise. Kipp got a part in an indie movie that's filming in Canada for six months, and they're connected at the hip. Astrid doesn't work for Mila anymore, for obvious reasons, but Mila has stayed her friend, collecting someone who needed her much the way she did me.

I grin at the picture. "I'm super happy for them. Tell Mila to tell them congrats."

He taps out a response before pocketing his phone.

"I have show and tell too," I say. "There was another thing about Jack suing for shared custody today." I tap on the screen of my own phone and show Lincoln the post on Instagram that's been giving me a little extra worry.

Lincoln scoffs. "That's for show and we both know it. Everyone's on him about how he ignored Margot, and he's trying to spin." He leans in and kisses Margot on the nose. "Jack is so funny, isn't he, Margot?" he says in a high voice. We're both committed to trying to talk about Jack in neutral ways around Margot, even now when she's young. I won't hide the truth about her biological father and the choices he made as she gets older, but I want her to make her own choices about her relationship with him. One thing for sure will be the fact that Lincoln will raise her with me, and she'll know she's loved by him.

"And if it's not for show?" I chew on my lip. Lincoln's probably right, but I lean into him anyway. He puts an arm around my back and kisses the top of my head. "You'll fight him every inch. You can decide when he gets to have a relationship with her, no one else, and we'll make sure you get that right." His voice is firm and dispels any of the fears that were lingering.

Lincoln is everything I need, especially after Jack. When Jack left, it was clear how little he cared for me—for anyone, really, besides himself. Lincoln hasn't just been everything that Jack isn't. He's also helped me see that there are more good guys out there than I think.

He's just the best of all of them. President of the Good Guy Association.

"You're beyond amazing," I murmur into his chest. "You know that, right?"

He chuckles in response.

Grace, the production assistant, sticks her head in the door of the trailer. "Bruno's ready to film the next scene at the car," she says. "Hey, Lincoln." She waves and disappears, and Lincoln nods in response.

I'm enjoying the fun plotline we're doing in this episode where Sloane comes across a woman giving birth on the side of the road, but I don't want to leave Margot and Lincoln yet, even though I have to.

"Thanks for bringing Margot over," I say. "I needed that today." I squeeze Margot to me, cover her in kisses again, and then hand her back over to Lincoln.

He shifts Margot expertly to his hip, and my insides warm as I think of the man who didn't know much about babies when we first started hanging out last summer. He leans over me and kisses me, long and hopeful and just chaste enough for a trailer that could be invaded by co-stars any second.

"You're in the home stretch," he says. "And then we'll both have time off for the wedding and the honeymoon and our family."

"Don't be saying things like ‘our family' when I'm supposed to shoot a comedic scene," I say to cover up the way I still melt over things like that, even after months of dating.

He drops another kiss on my lips. "Mom asked if Margot could come over to play. Is that all right if we do dinner with them?"

I laugh. "Of course." I lean up and give Margot another kiss on the cheek. "Have fun getting spoiled by Gigi." I lean back and look up at Lincoln. It may not be in character for the everything-is-going-wrong-in-a-funny-way scene I'm about to head back into, but I eye him. "I love you, Lincoln Knight. With my whole heart."

"I love you more every day, Layla Delaford." He blows a kiss at me as they leave the trailer, and then helps Margot do the same. I catch them both and hold them against my heart before I wave.

I may have failed pretty spectacularly at finding Astrid's perfect match, but somehow I ended up with my own. I call that a win.