Page 83 of Wreckage of Us
“What’s up, bud?” he picks his son off the bed, hugging him to his chest.
I look at our baby and just stare at her in awe.
“That’s your big brother, Charlie,” I murmur in her little ear.
“Can I call Unka WyattDadand AliMom?” The question freezes the smile on my face. I look at Dylan and worry about how he’ll react. He seems to be choked up.
“Would you like to?”
“They tell Parker to call them that,” he tells us, talking about his little cousin. “It confuses her if I call them something else, right?”
“Right,” Dylan murmurs and pulls Ethan closer to his chest. He kisses the side of his head, his eyes are glassy when he looks at me. I’m crying, too. This little boy has become such an important part in our lives. All of our lives.
“You can call all of us anything you want,” Dylan now messes his hair and kisses him again on his head. “As long as it’s not a bad word. Like what Ali used to call me when we stayed with them before, right?”
“You can’t call her Ali, Dad,” Ethan chastises him. “Unka Wyatt doesn’t like it.”
With that, he struggles out of his father’s arms, and he comes back to me. He climbs back on the hospital bed with a little bit of help from me, then puts his face close to Charlie.
“I like babies,” he informs us quietly.
We take a few minutes of being just the four of us. I realize that even though the family Dylan’s given me is not traditional, it is the best thing that could’ve happened to me. It is perfect.
“I love you,” Dylan mouths to me over Ethan’s head.
“I love you, too,” I respond.
That’s something I tell him a lot now.
Something I will tell him forever.
Epilogue Two
Dylan
quite a few years later
The house is quiet,too quiet, for the first time in a long time. I am not used to it. In fact, I despise it. I need noise and chatter. Especially Becca’s chatter. Being without her for the last week has been torture.
I walk to the back door and look outside, my eyes automatically going to the spot where the large bush used to be. We planted a tree there that summer after Charlie was born. It is massive now, only standing as a reminder of the years that have gone by.
The playhouse I built for Charlie is also starting to look sad. Becca keeps on telling me that I need to either tear it down or put a fresh coat of paint over it. I haven’t done either. But I know for sure that I won’t take it down. It’s perfect for when the grandkids are going to start visiting.
The thought of grandkids puts a smile on my face. Ethan called me earlier that he and his girlfriend were on their way to the hospital. She’s in labor. My first grandkid from my first kid. He hasn’t told me if it’s a boy or a girl, but I have a feeling that it’s a…
“I’m home,” Becca’s voice echoes through the house, seemingly out of nowhere. I turn around and watch her as she rushes to get to me, a huge smile on her face.
“Bex,” I open my arms, and she steps right into them. “I missed you so fuckin’ much, babe.”
“I kinda missed you, too,” she chuckles. “I thought you’d enjoy being home alone for a bit.”
“I thought I would,” I chuckle. “But it sucked ass.”
“You should’ve come with us, Dyl,” she runs her hands up and down my neck when I don’t let go of her, just holding her to my chest. “The girls were so much fun.”
Charlie is in grad school now after finishing college last year. She ended up going to Michigan, following in her uncle’s footsteps, and that’s where Becca was this past week.
Colton graduated from there way too many years ago, then went ahead and became a famous professional football player. Hard to believe he’s a father of four nowadays. His oldest just started high school, and he is ready to pull his hair out of his head. That’s how I felt too when Charlie turned into a beautiful young woman seemingly overnight.
