Page 77 of Until the End

“You knowyou made us all look bad with this little stunt,” Teddy teases me. I take a sip of my beer, grinning around the mouth of the bottle.

“I still can’t believe you managed to find the perfect house without any input from Ginny.” Michael shakes his head.

Standing in our brand-new backyard in LA, I’m surrounded by our family. It took us two months to finally get the keys to the house, but the minute we did, we invited everyone to come out for a housewarming party. We want our family to feel like they’re welcome to come out here any time they want. Ginny and I both are going to be spending a lot of time in LA, and we want to ensure our family never feels left out of our lives while we’re here.

We also needed to get everything settled here because the baby is due in the next two months, and we wanted to be in Sonoma when she’s born.

Ginny’s album was released two weeks ago, and it’s gone over like gangbusters. People have been listening to it like crazy, and it’s shot up the charts like a rocket. I don’t fullyunderstand the platinum, gold, whatever, but I do know Ginny has been all over the news with accolades for this album.

I couldn’t be prouder of her. We’ll get a few months to settle into life with our baby girl, and then Ginny is going on tour for the next year. She said, depending on how she’s feeling, she might be willing to go a little longer since she had to postpone the original start date. At this point, the execs at Muse are willing to do just about anything to keep her happy.

Ginny’s already started writing songs for a new album, but it’ll be a little while before she releases it.

In retaliation for surprising Ginny with the house, she and Tanya set up a social media page for me to start selling my art. While I was laid up after surgery, I started drawing to keep myself busy. Ginny, the little sneak, took pictures of my finished pieces and posted them to the page. Apparently, people enjoy them because they all sold within a month. We had to set up a website to keep up with the demands, and now I get to do something I love to bring in a little extra money for our family. I mostly credit the success to Ginny’s fame, but I’m having fun, nonetheless.

“I know my woman inside and out,” I respond. Ginny, Gia, and Lottie are lying in floaties, while Lottie’s sister and Ryan’s sister sit on the steps, chatting.

Ginny’s belly looks like she swallowed a basketball, and I have to help her put her shoes on. Doting on her has become one of my favorite things to do. She gets this soft look of love on her face every time I do something for her, and I’ve become addicted to seeing it.

“Have you picked out a name for the baby?” Ryan asks.

“Sort of. It took us forever to find ones we both like enough to put on a list.” I swear, it’s the only time Ginny and I have ever not seen eye to eye on something. I’m pretty sure she started coming up with the most bizarre names just to see myreaction. “As of right now, we have two names we’re waffling on—one I like the best and one Ginny likes the best. We want to wait until the baby is born before we pick one for sure.”

“Makes sense. That way, you can pick the one that’s best suited,” Michael says. His eyes haven’t left the pool, where Addie is stretched out on the stairs. I recognize the look of longing on his face because I wore it for years before Ginny was finally mine.

I don’t point it out, knowing it won’t do much good if he’s not willing to talk about it with us yet.

We hang out for a while, talking, eating, and laughing as we always do when we’re together. It’s late when Ginny and I finally make it up to our bedroom. She’s barely awake at this point, but she refused to go to bed any earlier.

I help her into her pajamas and get comfortable with the huge snake-like pillow that’s become my enemy. It’s prevented Ginny and me from cuddling the way we used to, but I swallow down my annoyance because I know she sleeps better when she’s wrapped up in it.

Once I get myself ready for bed, I slide under the covers and get as close to Ginny as the stupid pillow allows. With my hand on her belly, I whisper to our daughter. “Goodnight, peanut. Don’t be too hard on your momma’s bladder tonight, okay?”

Ginny snorts. “Too late.”

I move back up the bed until I can press a soft kiss to Ginny’s lips. “I love you so much, Goose. Thank you for making me the happiest man to walk this Earth.”

“I love you right back, Duck. I’m so lucky to call you mine.” Her voice is sleepy, her eyes drooping heavily while a smile tilts up the side of her mouth.

I lie there for a few minutes, stroking her soft hair and watching her sleep. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this would be my life. I’ve loved Ginny since I was a kid. Foryears, I believed she’d move on from our small town and live a grand life in the spotlight. I was fully prepared to cheer her on from the sidelines, but now that I have her in my arms, I’m never letting her go.

She’s the love of my life, the woman of my dreams, and the best partner I could ask for.

I’ll love her until the end of time.

Epilogue

Michael

I’m not looking for her. I’m simply seeing who made it to the family barbecue and who didn’t.

Although she should be at this one. She graduated from vet school last weekend. I figured she’d be home by now.

So where is she?

Nope.

Not thinking about her. I don’t care what she’s doing.

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