Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
The reception was simple but perfect. Tables dotted the lawn, string lights twinkled overhead, and food prepared by half the town covered every surface. Luca gave a toast that made everyone cry, talking about how happy he was to have a mom who kept her promises. My mother danced with Colby and whispered something in his ear that made him nod seriously.
But my favorite moment came later, as the sun was setting and most of our guests had gone home. I found Colby sitting on our back steps, jacket discarded, and tie loosened, watching Luca chase fireflies in the gathering dusk.
“Happy?” he asked as I settled beside him.
“Incredibly.” I leaned against his shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of his cologne mixed with April evening air. “You?”
“I keep thinking about that first night when you agreed to marry me. How desperate I was, how sure I was that I was asking you to give up everything for us.”
“You were asking me to give up everything. My independence, my careful distance, my fear of being left behind.” I turned to look at him. “But what I got in return was so much better.”
“What did you get?”
“Everything I never knew I wanted. A husband who sees me completely. A son who loves me unconditionally. A life that’s messy and real and chosen every single day.”
Colby was quiet for a moment. “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if we’d been brave enough to admit our feelings from the beginning?”
I’d thought about that question many times over the past months. “I think we needed time to build the foundation first. Trust and friendship and partnership. This feels too right to have been an accident.”
“You think we were meant to be?”
“I think we were meant to choose each other. And we did, over and over, until it became the most natural thing in the world.”
Luca ran over to us, breathless and grinning, his hands cupped around something that glowed softly in the twilight.
“Look,” he said, opening his palms to reveal a firefly blinking lazily against his skin. “I caught one!”
“Make a wish,” I said automatically.
He closed his eyes tight, concentrating fiercely. After a moment, he opened his hands and we watched the firefly float away into the evening air.
“What did you wish for?” Colby asked.
“That we’ll always be happy like this,” Luca said simply. “And that we can have pancakes for breakfast tomorrow.”
I laughed despite the tears in my eyes. “I think both of those wishes can come true.”
As we sat there on our back steps, watching fireflies dance in our yard while our son caught magic in his hands, I knew his wish had already come true. We were happy. We were together. And most importantly, we were here by choice.
Six months ago, I’d been terrified of loving too much, of wanting something I might lose. Now I understood that the only real tragedy would have been missing this, missing the chance to be part of something bigger than myself, to love and be loved completely, to build a family from choice and commitment and the simple decision to show up for each other every single day.
“I love you,” I said to both of them, and felt the truth of it settle into my bones like a promise I intended to keep forever.
“We love you too,” Luca said, settling between us on the steps.
And as the stars emerged above our house, above our family, above the life we’d built together one careful choice at a time, I finally understood what home really meant.
It meant this.
It meant us.
It meant knowing that no matter what tomorrow brought, we’d face it together.
The temporary wife had become something permanent, something real, something chosen.
And it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever been part of.