Page 34 of Last Second Chance

“Yeah, I heard you get up in the middle of the night twice.”

He was right about that. Gwen was going through a sleep regression. I’d read that it could happen around her age, but it was still tough to deal with the sleepless nights. I was usually up at least two times, rocking her back to sleep.

Scott was willing to help, of course, but I was still breastfeeding, so it made more sense for me to take care of our one-year-old daughter at night. Nothing helped her go back to sleep faster than breastmilk.

Scott pulled on his pajama pants and left the room, heading to the nursery. I stood too, stretching my arms over my head until my shoulders popped. I went into the bathroom, relieving myself and cleaning up all evidence of the sex we’d had. It was nice to not have to deal with the hassle of condoms now that I was on birth control, but I always had to take the time to do this.

Splashing water on my face, I left the bathroom and got dressed. Scott was still in the nursery—probably changing a dirty diaper—when I reached the kitchen, so I started a pot of coffee and began making breakfast. Gwen ate solid food for all three meals, so I started scrambling some eggs for us.

This house had been our home since we’d gotten engaged. When we returned from the island, we talked about moving in together, but neither of our apartments seemed like a good fit for the two of us to share. So, we’d started shopping for a new place. I had just started my new job, so money was tight, but Scott insisted on picking up the slack when we found this house for sale.

I had been resistant, but when we looked at this place, I fell in love. Plus, Scott pointed out two things that cinched the deal. The first thing was that we were about to be married and that meant shared finances. The second, more persuasive, thing he pointed out was how great this place would be for a family.

Now, here we were, raising our daughter in the perfect place for us, a three bedroom home with an open floor plan and fenced-in yard. We even had a cat.

“Mama.”

Gwen’s voice drew my attention behind me, where Scott was buckling her into her high chair on the other side of the kitchen island. Her blonde curls were getting so long, and I loved how they bounced around as she bobbed her head at me.

“Good morning, peanut.”

I turned back to the stove long enough to pull the pan of eggs off the burner and bring them over to the three plates I had lined up on the counter. Scott went for the coffee pot, pouring himself a mug of black coffee. I turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Don’t worry, I’m getting her some milk too,” he said quickly. “You know what they say, take care of yourself before you assist the children.”

I laughed. “Are you talking about oxygen masks on planes?”

He shrugged. “It applies.”

I just shook my head as he pulled a sippy cup out of the cabinet and filled it with whole milk. He also poured me a glass of orange juice, so I decided not to give him a hard time.

I made us some toast and we all sat around the kitchen island with our breakfast.

“Guess what, Gwen,” I said, making her look at me even as she shoved a fistful of eggs into her mouth. “You’re going to see Uncle Ben and Aunt Tatum today.”

She didn’t react to the news, but I knew she’d be excited when we got to the zoo and she saw Ben. He was one of her favorite people because he shamelessly made funny faces every time they saw each other.

Michael and Faith would be there too with their twin daughters, who were just a couple of years older than Gwen. They were all going to love seeing the animals, and I was excited to take about a million pictures of Gwen’s first trip to the zoo.

Sitting around the island, eating breakfast with my family, I couldn’t believe how happy I was. I had everything that I’d ever wanted in my life. A loving husband, a good career, and a child that I adored. It was all almost too good to be true, but I knew better than to lose faith in it like I did before.

I now knew that I never should have ended my relationship with Scott based on a lie. No matter how compelling the evidence was, I should have trusted him or at least given him a chance to explain himself. I’d gotten so caught up in my own hurt feelings that I nearly lost the best thing that ever happened to me.

The most amazing thing was that Scott never held it against me. He was too good of a man for that. I was so lucky to have him. No more regrets or stupid mistakes.

Life was amazing, and I was going to hold onto that forever.