Page 104 of Love Is Ale You Need

I peer at Rylee from the corner of my eye. “Don’t worry, you can start now.”

“Trust me, I’m not worrying.”

“Just say it. Daddy. It rolls off the tongue.” I smirk.

She sucks in a short breath as her eyes pinch closed.

“You doing all right?

“Yeah. Contractions.”

I press the gas pedal to the floor.

* * *

Seven hours and a possibly broken hand later, I’m sitting on the bed next to Rylee as she’s holding our little acorn. “We made that.” I stare at the chubby cheeks and button nose swaddled in a blanket.

“We did. What do you think is a good name?”

“We weren’t sticking with Acorn?”

“As much as Abby would love that, no.” She runs the tip of her finger over the bridge of our daughter’s nose and peers up at me. “What about Kaelyn?”

“Let’s ask her.” I lean down to our acorn. “What do you think? Do you like Kaelyn?” Her little mouth wiggles open and she squeaks out a noise. “I think that’s a yes.”

“I think so too.” Rylee beams up at me.

I wrap my arm around Rylee as we both lovingly glance down at our daughter. “Welcome to the world Kaelyn Marcie Wilson.”

EPILOGUE

ONE MONTH LATER

Rylee

My eyelids crack open, and I stretch my legs, the couch is not as comfortable as my bed. Noise echoing from the basement draws my attention. I roll off the couch, almost tripping over the stack of college enrollment papers. Trey encouraged me to finish my degree since I was only twelve credits shy from graduating. I told him I don’t have plans of leaving Porter’s to pursue a different career, and he told me to do it for myself. Finish what I started. Then he showed me exactly what finishing what you start means… from between my legs. When he does things like that, I can’t argue with his logic.

I tiptoe across the room and slink down the stairs, eavesdropping on the conversation.

“I’ll have another apple ale,” Abby says.

“Coming right up,” Trey says, followed by the clanking of glasses. “Wait a second. Do I need to check your ID?”

“I’m seven.”

“So, you’re not driving?”

She bellows out an infectious laugh. “I can’t drive.”

“Okay. Just checking.”

After Kyle attacked Trey, the court charged him with aggravated assault, resulting in the revocation of his parental rights of Abby. With the way Trey has stepped up as a father figure, she’s hardly even noticed. He thinks of Abby as if she is his biological daughter. Last week, he started the adoption paperwork so it can be official. Every day I fall harder and harder for him, if that’s even possible.

At the bottom of the stairs, I come to a stop and rest my shoulder against the wall. Trey’s standing behind the bar, Kaelyn’s strapped to his chest in a tactical baby harness, as Abby sits on a stool across from him. A golden liquid pours into a glass from the tap, filling it to the rim. He slides it across the bar in front of Abby. She lifts it and takes a big gulp.

“Ah! That’s a good ale.” Abby sets down the glass.

I drop from the last step and stroll to the bar. “So, this is what you do while I nap?” I quirk an eyebrow.

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