Page 83 of Only ever you-Ana & Byron
When he opened the drawer for the condoms, she stopped him with a hand to his wrist.
"No," she said. Her voice was low, but sure. "I want to feel all of you."
Byron's eyes flicked up to hers. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
He kissed her then, deeply. Slowly.
And when they lay down, it wasn't urgent or frantic.
It was a language of grief and of promises renewed not through words but through every caress and breath and sigh.
***
Chapter thirty-five
Epilogue
Ana had fallen pregnant again, not long after they moved into the farmhouse.
Almost immediately, in fact.
They had their genetic testing done just after the miscarriage, and the doctors had assured them that the chances of them having another child with Potter’s syndrome are minuscule to none.
Byron had blinked at the test while Ana had stared at it for a long time in disbelief.
"You do have super sperm " was her only comment.
Later that day, as the sun was setting ,they walked outside to sit beneath the old oak and talked about the future.
The pregnancy was smooth. Almost like an anti-climax, there was no bleeding, no ominous scans, no signs of trouble.
At 42 weeks, Deaglán Bartolini-Robertson arrived into the world in the laziest, most unbothered manner possible.
He didn't so much scream as yawn, and stared at the midwife like she'd interrupted a particularly good nap.
Byron cried.
Gray had teased him for weeks, but no one had missed the way his own eyes had shone when he first held the boy.
They had buried Conley's ashes beneath the great oak tree, just as they'd planned. The small bronze plaque nestled between the roots.
Ana went there every year with Byron on the day they lost him, and sometimes on quiet mornings.
When Deaglán was three and a bit, all legs and questions, Ana got pregnant again. This time, with a daughter.
"She looks exactly like him," Gray had said dryly the day she was born, watching the newborn wail like a fire alarm. "A handful, that one."
***
Now, the kids were in the back garden of the farmhouse, shrieking and running and launching mud at each other with unholy joy. Tomos was the leader by birthright, Deaglán his shadow, and Cadi's spitfire daughter, Niamh, the undisputed tyrant of them all.
From the patio, Cadi watched as Ana stood barefoot in the grass, mock-sparring with Byron while their toddler tugged at his leg . Baby Eshne had arrived early and already had attached herself to her brother like he was the sun she orbited. Ana and Byron did not need a reason to fight but this time, it had started with an argument regarding who was taller in year four of primary school.
Ana landed a punch to his chest.
"You've gone soft, coach."
