"She didn't say much of anything." Ellie half-shrugs. "She didn't look well. She was so gaunt and I asked if I could help. I offered to buy her food and take her to a doctor."
That's not what she needed. Jennifer needed courage. She needed the courage to face her estranged husband to tell him that she had fucked a stranger she met in a bar and ended up pregnant. She obviously didn't do that. She's living with him in Texas now on a sprawling ranch, happy and child free. The shares of their tech company are riding high at the moment.
Their year-long separation was documented in the tabloids as he spent his time chasing after women half his age and she disappeared from the public eye.
Kristof will keep a distant eye on Jennifer in the event she ever decides to seek out May. I'll keep the blanket, the note and the information Kristof gathered to give to my daughter if I ever feel it's necessary.
I'm indebted to her that she didn't make another choice when she discovered she was pregnant. She made a choice to have our daughter and to give her to me and for that, I am eternally grateful.
"Do you think it was fate?" Ellie slides the bag back onto my lap. "Me and May, you and Annie? Was it all fate?"
I place the bag on the coffee table before I turn and face her. "I think fate is part of our story. I think risk is a bigger part. I took a risk for Annie. You took a fucking huge risk for May and we took a risk on each other."
"I'd risk anything for May." She scoots closer, her hands landing on my leg. "And I'd risk anything for you, Nolan."
"We're doing this until we die." I pull her into my lap. "You and I are in this until we're as old and gray as Jersey."
"I'm in." She kisses me softly. "You are my destiny. I can't even try and deny that."
"You're mine. I'll cherish you forever and celebrate every day I get to love you."
"I'll do the same. You, me and May."
Epilogue
One Year Later
Nolan
"I'm not a doctor." Ellie hands the piece of paper back to me. "What does any of this mean?"
I look down at the complex terminology splattered across the page. "It means that I can be up to full speed in no time flat. All we need to do is book an appointment and a new baby brother or sister for May B will be on the way."
Her brow furrows as she rips the paper from my hands. "We already did the home study for the adoption. Why are you having an appointment on your own? Also, May would tell you no speeding in that new car you bought."
"I bought that car so we could take Sunday drives out of this city. I bought it for all of us."
"You bought it so you could race around and pump up your ego." She waves her hands in the air as she puffs up her cheeks. "I'm on to you, Nolan Black."
"You're not a detective yet, Ellie Black," I point out. "I realize you will be one day because you are rocking the shit out of that administrative job you have at police headquarters."
"I am doing a great job." She tugs on the bottom of her T-shirt. Actually, it's my T-shirt. It's that boyband farewell tour shirt that my wife has now claimed as hers.
"I’m going to have the surgery to reverse the vasectomy." I catch the paper as it flutters out of her hand toward the floor. "I want us to have a baby, Ellie. I want to see you pregnant. I want it all."
"We're adopting a baby, Nolan." Her bottom lip quivers. "He's three, but you know what I mean. Jonas is going to be our son in just a few months."
"I'm already lining up season's tickets for the Yankees for my boy and me." I tap the brim of the Yankees cap on my head. "I'm talking about another child, Ellie. One that we create. It'll be a little bit of you and a little bit of me."
Her mouth falls open. I'm tempted to take advantage of that since both May and our foster son, Jonas, are with my parents at the shoebox apartment right now. They're cleaning the place out so they can move in. They promised to stay in New York full time to get to know our new son. Our blonde haired, blue eyed little boy loves them just as much as May does.
"We have such a beautiful family right now." She holds her hands next to her chest. "Do we have room for a baby, Nolan?"
"You fired all the nannies but Tilde, Ellie. We have all the room in the world."
She did that. The day after we got married six months ago, Ellie cleaned house. She kept Tilde on board so she could take care of May after she was done at her half days of school and to look after Jonas. Ellie and I are around the rest of the time so we can help our son adjust to being a part of our family and to listen to May tell us how much she wants a donkey.
In just a few weeks our daughter will start first grade and both Ellie and I will be there to watch her walk up the front steps of the school to start a new chapter of her life. Ellie is Mommy to May now. May asked the morning of our wedding if it was okay to call her that. The answer got caught behind Ellie's tears. I shed more than my share that day too.