Page 129 of Mark Us Little Bear
“Born to be wild.” Kan squeaks a few feet away.
He sang this line a million times since we got here.
“I love him. Look at him, sitting on Emilia’s shoulder and singing all day.” Bradley is hypnotized—it was love at first sight.
“You kids want some cake?” Emilia shouts, grinning at Ronnie from ear to ear, looking like a rockstar with multiple chains around her neck and leather pants. “I missed you, blondie. It’s good seeing you.” He beams back and salutes her.
“We’re coming.” He tells her and whispers to us. “When Luka renovated his building, I was watching it with her and she grilled my ass all the time, asking if I had someone to take care of me. We were twenty, maybe twenty-one, and she said I have a flash in my eyes that bears an unspoken battle and an unspoken truth.”
“That’s deep.” I gulp.
“That’s us.”
As we get out of the water, I repeat his words in my head, and the ending of our book flashes before my eyes. He is right, we should publish it because it deserves to be heard. It deserves to be out there.
Sometimes life brings you twice as promised, so why fight it when you can enjoy the ride…
“Save me a piece,” I announce as I skip all the way to the house, up the stairs to the second floor, and down the hall to our room. Tiny drops of water cascade down my legs, tickling and itching my skin at once. I barge inside and grab the laptop.
As I open it the file pops up like someone wrote something before me. Or maybe the two of them while they were inside this room before I came…
I scroll down a paragraph and my breath gets caught in my throat.
Mark us Little Bear and you will be embedded in our memory forever. The more you inject yourself into our system the harder it is to let you go. And we don’t want to let you go. Stay here with us, we will remind you daily how special you are. How worthy you are. How lucky we are to have found each other.
Epilogue
Seven years later
Istep out of the door into the backyard, the Meiss brothers are in the midst of an intense football game with their partners and a few of our friends and family. The same energetic shouts, endless laughter, and clever jokes linger in the air. My four-year-old twin daughters hold my hands on either side, dancing to the song Euphoria by Alex Band—one of our favorite songs.
We’re all gathered in Tiffany’s house to honor and celebrate Drew like we’ve done every year since our first time here. The only difference is that over the years the number of participants grew. This year we’re also celebrating Amber’s tenth bestseller book which she published a few months ago and made number one on various charts. I’m so proud of her, she’s come a long way and worked nonstop to get her stories out there. She bled her heart out to each one; got her heart broken; and earned sweet tears and laughter.
“Dad, look at Teddy,” Jade giggles as she gives him more treats and he licks her hand while her sister Drew bends down to pethis head. They already decided that Jade wants to be a chef and Drew wants to become a tattoo artist. Bradley brings them nonstop to the tattoo shop to hang with him, Uncle Luka, andhistwo daughters.
I love it when he does because we call Amber to take a break from writing and I get to eat lunch with the loves of my life almost every day—no candies for lunch anymore.
After a trip we took to England, four years ago, we found out Amber was pregnant. But it wasn’t a regular pregnancy it was a rare case of heteropaternal superfecundation—twins who have two different fathers.
Out of everyone in the world, it happened to us. I didn’t believe it at first, the chances were slim, and only a few cases of this type of pregnancy were reported around the world. Yet it was true and when I look at my daughters it’s hard to miss it. Jade has dark blond hair, blue eyes, Amber’s fierce attitude, and a cute little freckled face—a perfect combination of Amber and me.
“Dad, I’m going to the kitchen,” she announces as she whips around and tosses her hair back, “Grandpa is making food.” Her smile widens and I already know I’m in trouble. She has that mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Go ahead, princess.”
On the other hand, Drew is a perfect combination of Bradley and Amber. Her long black hair flows down her back, her golden eyes are identical to Amber’s. She’s quieter and shy but has one of the most captivating smiles.
I pick her up for a dance. She puts her head on my shoulder and I kiss her puffy cheeks and cute button nose.
“I love you, princess.” I subtly rock from side to side.
Her hands stretch to the side before they loop around me. “I love you, dad.” She is our little couch potato, always falling asleep before everyone and her hooded lids are already signaling to me it’s sleepy time.
Before we walk inside the house I take a final look and breathe this place in deeply. It holds so many memories for so many people. It’s where we opened our hearts for the first time, had some of the most memorable occasions, vowed to love and protect each other without getting married because we wanted to despite the limitations, and told our families we were expecting twins.
I don’t know where I would’ve ended up if I hadn’t let Bradley crash on one of the beds in my apartment and turned Amber down that night when she needed us the most. Maybe I would’ve ended up in the same place but maybe, just maybe, Ialmostmissed my happy ending with my favorite humans in the whole world.
Luckily I didn’t.
