22. Epilogue

Epilogue

Months later

The camera pans to my brother. "Hey there, kiddo. I'm your uncle and your godfather and this is your Aunt Zoe. We think you're a." He shares a look with his wife and they both smile. "A boy," he says.

Alexa elbows her man in the ribs. "I'm Murder a friend of your father and I think you'll be a girl," he grumbles, and I laugh.

"Hey little one, I'm Bianca and I'm one of your aunties. I think you'll be…I better keep this one to myself." She smiles, and the camera moves to Sandman, who is looking afraid of his wife.

Viking stands with an arm wrapped around Andi's shoulders .

"I'm Andi and…" she glances over at her man.

"I'm Viking."

"Hopefully, I get bonus points for being with your mom when she found out she was having you, but we think you're a girl."

The video continues with Crawl, of all people going around the bar at the clubhouse where Pam hosted my baby shower, asking everyone what they think the sex of our baby will be. Apparently, he's great at making videos. I didn't ask what kind. I really didn't want to know any further information other than he can operate a camera and edit the footage.

Eventually, he reaches Smoke and me. He's hugging me from behind. Both his hands and mine rests on my stomach, cradling my bump. "I'm your mom and this is your dad. He thinks you're a…"

"Boy." My husband smiles big and kisses the side of my head.

"And I don't have a guess. All that matters to me is that you're healthy."

My cell vibrates as I shovel a bite of ice cream into my mouth, not caring if it's going to make me fat. Smoke loves my curves. Especially how large my breasts have gotten. He loves to freak me out by telling me he's going to taste my breastmilk. We've gotten very adventurous since we got married, but I think he's finally hit on one of my hard limits.

I pause the video and glance at the display screen. There's an unknown caller from Alabama. Probably a stupid scam robocall, but I answer it anyway.

"Hello."

"Hey beautiful." My heart drops a little at the sound of Creed's voice. "Don't hang up."

"You shouldn't be calling me."

"I asked your man first. It's cool."

"Okay," I hedge, wondering why he's calling. We've not spoken since California and there's really nothing to say.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I ran out on you. I had to go, and you dropped a bomb on me and I panicked. I'm not proud of that. Anyway, I hear you got married and life is good for you. I'm happy for you. That's all I wanted to say."

"You didn't have to call, but thank you."

"Yeah. I did. Someone important to me said I need to get right with my past and the way I've treated the women in my life. So, this is me doing that."

"Someone special, huh? Who's the lucky girl?"

"I gotta go. Tell Smoke if he doesn't treat you right, I'll find a man who will."

I laugh. "He's very good to me and I think I'll keep that to myself. And, hey. Whoever she is, tell her you're worth it."

"All right. I'm a tell her. Bye, beautiful."

The call ends and I start to dial Smoke, but a knock at the door prevents me.

I place my bowl on the end table and shove up off the couch.

Peering through the peephole, I spy Sabrina holding a gift bag. We've not spoken since our last fight. One of many, but I open the door.

We all deserve a second chance.