Epilogue
Walker
Two Years Later
“You’re sure about this?”
Hannah asks me for the eleventh time this morning, and I just pleasantly smile at her.
I know she’s nervous, I am, too. But I’m not nervous about the decision I’ve made, or about what role I’m about to take on. I fully understand and relish those things. I’m just nervous that I’m going to mess all of my wording up in front of the judge.
“I cannot wait for Noelle and Breanna to be my daughters.” I smooth a curl off her cheek. “I just don’t want to say the wrong things.”
My wife leans into me, pressing a sweet kiss to my cheek. “This is all just formality, remember? We’ve already signed the documents, and the girls have given their statements. You won’t say anything to mess it up. I’ve seen how much you love them, the judge will, too.”
I twirl the ring on my left hand absentmindedly, like I always do nowadays when I need reassurance.
“How did I land such a smart woman?” I rub my nose against hers.
“Hmm, because I decided to give you the time of day.” There is teasing behind her voice, but Hannah leans into me, our lips grazing.
“All right, you two, stop making out. Your daughters are ready to be one hundred percent yours,” Dahlia interrupts us in the hallway, rolling her eyes.
We take a deep breath, clasp our hands together, and walk toward the courtroom.
It’s been about a year since we tied the knot, in this very building. Hannah didn’t want anything over the top, and would barely agree to a simple reception afterward. She said she’d had the full-blown wedding, and it was the marriage that had ended in shattered dreams. This time, all she cared about was going home with her husband, me, afterward and living the happiest life we could.
I think we’ve done a good job of that so far, but I also want to celebrate finally making this woman my wife. So we came down to the courthouse with our girls and closest friends and family to slide rings on each other’s fingers and promise to spend forever together. Then, we went back to my place, where I set up a big white tent with her favorite Hawaiian food, and we had a big party on the lawn.
It was perfect. And next to that day, this one will go down as the most perfect day in my life.
There was a bit of drama surrounding our engagement at first. Dad was up in arms, especially since he thought Hannah was distracting me from baseball or my future as a Callahan. But Mom and Sinclair had whipped him in line after a few particularly heated fights between the four of us.
Plus, Mom is obsessed with Noelle and Breanna. She found the grandmother gene none of us ever knew she had, and she was in the courthouse today loaded down with gifts and promises of a trip to Disney World. The girls also have Sinclair wrapped around their fingers, which is hilarious to see. But considering how far he’s come from that fateful night years ago, it isn’t a surprise.
That doesn’t mean our journey to the altar, and to me adopting the girls, aside from my family issues, has been without its hiccups.
After his prison sentence, Shane got out and barely contacted Hannah about the girls. The selfish prick went to Philadelphia, the only place in the state he could find to party, and went on a bender that was well-documented by the tabloids. The last two years of his life has been a lot of the same. He’s attempted to avoid violating probation, but he’s been in and out of the trashy magazines for hiring prostitutes, trying to sell his own memorabilia, and generally just being an asshole.
He ended up having to settle the divorce with Hannah by providing her with a lump sum of three million dollars, which is chump change in comparison to what he made over the years they were married, if you ask me. Hannah, however, was more than happy with it … and to wash her hands of him.
I begged her a couple of times, while he was still in jail, to just walk away from him with nothing. I would take care of her, Noelle, and Breanna. But she didn’t want that. She said their biological father owed them something, college funds, and she couldn’t just waltz from one rich husband to the next. I never saw it that way, but I know she’s self-conscious about it. So I let her duke it out with him in divorce mediation, and she came out the winner.
I also worried, at times, that my schedule would remind her so much of what her first marriage was. I was still on the road a lot with the team. Last year, we won another World Series, and this year, we are on track to make the playoffs.
But Hannah would have told me if she was distressed, and we always communicate. She’s doing incredibly at the salon; after finishing cosmetology school during the first year we were engaged, her work began to speak for itself. She’s now the most popular hairdresser at Siesta, the salon she started at all those years ago. With both girls in school full time, she gets to work during the day doing what she loves, and then come home to be a mom. I take on a majority of the parenting duties when I’m home, and whenever they can, my girls join me on road trips.
“Mommy! Pop!” Noelle cries when we come around the corner. “Watch my dress twirl!”
My heart practically codes in my chest at her and Breanna’s nickname for me. Pop, because I wasn’t their daddy, but I was the special father who had chosen to be there for them. In my mind, and I hope in theirs, that’s even more special than them being born to me.
“Show me, real quick!” I say, lending her my finger so she can do a ballerina twirl.
She does, her special purple dress ruffling around her, and Breanna runs up to try to imitate her sister.
“Pick me up, Pop!” she demands, her cuddly personality coming out even as she’s about to start kindergarten.
“Let me take that rascal.” Sinclair steals Breanna up into a wrestled hug, and she laughs.
“Uncle Sin! We have to go,” Noelle bosses him.
He salutes with his free hand, Breanna wriggling in his other arm. “Yes, drill sergeant.”
My entire family seems to be lining the halls as we walk to the courtroom, along with Hayes and Colleen. They are going through the adoption process as well, although their situation is more complicated with all of the foster requirements and their eight-year-old soon-to-be son being a ward of the state. But they knew the minute they met Isiah that he’s supposed to be a part of their family. They’re here to support us, but also to be given some hope. They still have months to go before their day in court comes, but it’s nice to be able to give them a reason to smile today.
The four of us, Hannah, Noelle, Breanna, and me walk into the room together, hand in hand. After a short introduction, reading of the adoption laws, and some questions for me, the judge declares us a family. Our friends and family whoop and cheer, tears all around the room, and I pull my women in for a tight, long hug.
After, when we decide to go out for ice cream on Breanna’s suggestion, I steal Hannah away for a moment.
“Now that we’re a family, do you feel like adding to it?” I whisper in her ear, wrapping my arms around her waist.
“You better be talking about a puppy.” Hannah laughs sarcastically.
“Hmm, think about how fun it will be. Practicing. All those hours between the sheets, trying to make a little boy like me or another little girl with your curls …” My hand drifts lower, palming her ass through that enticing sundress.