Page 102 of Lose to Win: Lost Trilogy: Part 3
Fair question. If Puck wants to change his last name, why not take his brother’s name?
“I already talked to him about it. He is fine with whatever I choose,” Puck explains and turns to face my father. “And I choose Stewart, sir.”
The pregnant pause following his statement sucks all the oxygen out of the room. I feel emotional, and I’ve never loved him more.
I grab his hand and squeeze it tight.
“We’re the Stewarts.”
I look at my father, waiting to see what he has to say about this development in the story of my life.
“Welcome to the family.” Dad takes a step forward to shake Puck’s hand. “Son.”
I let out a sob of happiness, which Arlene matches and just about falls over me and the baby when she comes to give us a hug. I’m sure that she and dad will get married soon, so she’ll have our last name as well.
We are the Stewart family.
Nothing ever sounded better.
The end
Epilogue
Emily
twelve years later
“Puck!”I yell for my husband as soon as I walk into the house. I trip over some toys, and I kick them to the side forcefully. I told the kids to clean everything up before I got home. Nothing looks done, and I am breathing fire.
We have five kids now. Puck wasted absolutely no time after Tommy was born. As soon as I was cleared for sex, I was pregnant again. Missy was born a month before Tommy’s first birthday. I was a mess at that party, and all the pictures taken at the time reflected it.
We were a bit smarter after that. Our twins, a boy, Alex, and a girl, Alayna, arrived two years after that. And three years after that, we had one more boy, Tyler.
“Momma, you’re home,” my six-year-old comes running to greet me. He is the only one who gets excited to see me nowadays when I get home. The rest of the Stewart tribe is too cool for public shows of affection.
“Tyler!” I pick him up and spin him around until he starts giggling. “You guys were supposed to pick all this mess up,” I chastise him right before dropping a kiss on his cheek, then setting him back down on the floor.
I am so mad at them right now, especially Puck. In fact, I am just mad at the world as a whole, and they’re all gonna hear about it.
“Momma, we had to help daddy with a surprise for you,” Tyler squeaks from next to me. He is smart enough to recognize the storm brewing in my eyes. “I’ll put all my toys away right now!” He rushes around on his thin legs, throwing anything he can put his hands on in a wooden chest that is specifically for that. For some reason, it always seems to be sitting there empty though, with everything that should be inside of it strewn all around it.
“Where is daddy?” I try to calm myself down when I hear the way my voice sounds. This is definitely my angry voice.
“He just went upstairs to shower, momma,” Tyler responds, eyes big in his head as he continues picking up all the mess he and his siblings made.
I put my hands on my hips and survey his small progress. “Where are the rest of the kids?”
“Outside, momma.”
As soon as the words leave his mouth, I turn on my heels to march out to the back yard.
“No, momma,” Tyler runs after me, literally grabbing me by the leg and hanging on for dear life.
“Ty, let go.” I try to shake him off with no success. “What’s going on?”
“You can’t go yet,” he yells back. “Daddy said it’s a surprise for you and we can’t let you see it without him.”
“Okay, I won’t go,” I promise him. He eyes me suspiciously for a second. Out of all our kids, Tyler acts the most like his uncle Blake. Always assessing the situation. “I’ll go upstairs to talk to him, okay?”
