truth.”
“Just keeping him on his toes,” Jared said to Asher, and Jenny repositioned at the corner of the bed. Asal dug into the takeout and began distributing the meals.
“She’s beautiful.” Jenny sighed, scooting closer to Sugar.
“I know,” Sugar said.
“So?”
“So what?” Sugar asked.
“Come on. Don’t make me beg.”
“Oh.” She laughed. “You want a name.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Vi-vi!” Asal announced.
Jenny’s questioning glance left the newborn and went to Sugar. “That’s different.”
“Hello?” The deep, low baritone of Jared’s father announced his arrival before Sugar saw him.
“Hey, Pops.” Jared greeted his dad, but Asal was head greeter, repeating her arm-launching manner of saying hello.
“Grandpa.” She wrapped her arms around his neck but quickly wiggled away. “Grandma!”
Violet Westin barely had a foot in the room before Asal slingshot from one grandparent to the next. A round of hugs and kisses later, Asal dragged the older woman over to the baby. “Grandma, this is the other Violet.”
“Oh,” Jenny whispered.
Tingles ran down Sugar’s spine as she glanced up and watched her husband. The man could bark orders or speak volumes with his scary silences. At this moment, he crossed his thick arms over his impossibly broad chest and stood stoically.
“Hi, Violet. Meet your namesake.” Sugar gently tilted her elbow up, adjusting the sleeping baby, then relaxed her arm as Jared came up behind his mom.
“Mom.” He kissed the top of her head.
Asal crawled onto Sugar’s bed and snuggled in close. Jenny and Asher closed in too. This was family—everything Sugar had once thought a nightmare. The emotion and exhaustion hit her for a second as voices began to talk around her, and she let her eyelids slip. Maybe she tried to hide a tear. Maybe she was choked with emotion. Maybe taking it all in was too much. Or maybe this was just the perfect moment, and never did Sugar think that she’d be lucky enough to have a life like this.
She didn’t realize how hard she’d fought for the fairy tale or that she’d been going after it to begin with. But what a journey it had been, and they were only getting started.
***
Jared watched the two strongest women he knew—his wife and his mother—and then his chest pulled with a tightness that could only be explained as a surge of pride. Asal and Violet would be just as strong as the two women holding them.
His dad was a man of few words, and as he stepped over to Jared, slapping him on the back, Jared could sense the two of them felt the same satisfaction in how life had turned out. There were so many twists and turns along the way, so many ways that things could have been different, that Jared might never have met Sugar or experienced this level of gratification with Asal doting on Violet and his mother doting on Sugar.
For the moment, Jared swallowed away the tightness in his throat, and the memory of his sixteenth birthday surfaced. The range targets had been reset, and as sixteenth birthdays went, that one had kicked ass. Dad let him have full pick of all of his weapons. It was a dad-son day of ammo and target practice. Jared had played down how pumped he was, but between that and his mom offering to make his favorite dinner, that day couldn’t have been any better.
He loved the heavy weight of the .45 in his hand, the cold feel of the metal, and how it warmed to his touch. He’d caressed the side with his fingertip, and the target had been his. Jared hadn’t yet stepped to the line, and he knew that bull’s-eye would be hollowed out with his shots.
Dad had cleared his throat. “You given any thought to college?”
That was the one topic they didn’t talk much about. School had sent home letter after letter reminding his parents how he was a candidate for great things. He had grades and the leadership skills—qualities that colleges apparently recruited.
“No.” He’d stepped to the line, and
“Just keeping him on his toes,” Jared said to Asher, and Jenny repositioned at the corner of the bed. Asal dug into the takeout and began distributing the meals.
“She’s beautiful.” Jenny sighed, scooting closer to Sugar.
“I know,” Sugar said.
“So?”
“So what?” Sugar asked.
“Come on. Don’t make me beg.”
“Oh.” She laughed. “You want a name.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Vi-vi!” Asal announced.
Jenny’s questioning glance left the newborn and went to Sugar. “That’s different.”
“Hello?” The deep, low baritone of Jared’s father announced his arrival before Sugar saw him.
“Hey, Pops.” Jared greeted his dad, but Asal was head greeter, repeating her arm-launching manner of saying hello.
“Grandpa.” She wrapped her arms around his neck but quickly wiggled away. “Grandma!”
Violet Westin barely had a foot in the room before Asal slingshot from one grandparent to the next. A round of hugs and kisses later, Asal dragged the older woman over to the baby. “Grandma, this is the other Violet.”
“Oh,” Jenny whispered.
Tingles ran down Sugar’s spine as she glanced up and watched her husband. The man could bark orders or speak volumes with his scary silences. At this moment, he crossed his thick arms over his impossibly broad chest and stood stoically.
“Hi, Violet. Meet your namesake.” Sugar gently tilted her elbow up, adjusting the sleeping baby, then relaxed her arm as Jared came up behind his mom.
“Mom.” He kissed the top of her head.
Asal crawled onto Sugar’s bed and snuggled in close. Jenny and Asher closed in too. This was family—everything Sugar had once thought a nightmare. The emotion and exhaustion hit her for a second as voices began to talk around her, and she let her eyelids slip. Maybe she tried to hide a tear. Maybe she was choked with emotion. Maybe taking it all in was too much. Or maybe this was just the perfect moment, and never did Sugar think that she’d be lucky enough to have a life like this.
She didn’t realize how hard she’d fought for the fairy tale or that she’d been going after it to begin with. But what a journey it had been, and they were only getting started.
***
Jared watched the two strongest women he knew—his wife and his mother—and then his chest pulled with a tightness that could only be explained as a surge of pride. Asal and Violet would be just as strong as the two women holding them.
His dad was a man of few words, and as he stepped over to Jared, slapping him on the back, Jared could sense the two of them felt the same satisfaction in how life had turned out. There were so many twists and turns along the way, so many ways that things could have been different, that Jared might never have met Sugar or experienced this level of gratification with Asal doting on Violet and his mother doting on Sugar.
For the moment, Jared swallowed away the tightness in his throat, and the memory of his sixteenth birthday surfaced. The range targets had been reset, and as sixteenth birthdays went, that one had kicked ass. Dad let him have full pick of all of his weapons. It was a dad-son day of ammo and target practice. Jared had played down how pumped he was, but between that and his mom offering to make his favorite dinner, that day couldn’t have been any better.
He loved the heavy weight of the .45 in his hand, the cold feel of the metal, and how it warmed to his touch. He’d caressed the side with his fingertip, and the target had been his. Jared hadn’t yet stepped to the line, and he knew that bull’s-eye would be hollowed out with his shots.
Dad had cleared his throat. “You given any thought to college?”
That was the one topic they didn’t talk much about. School had sent home letter after letter reminding his parents how he was a candidate for great things. He had grades and the leadership skills—qualities that colleges apparently recruited.
“No.” He’d stepped to the line, and
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