"Love you too, Ty."
I lie there listening to him breathe and think about everything we've been through to get here, and everything that's still ahead of us, and how this messy, beautiful family is exactly where I'm supposed to be.
TYLER
EPILOGUE
It's Harper's first birthday, and I wake up feeling like my heart might burst.
Ten months. Three hundred and some days since a baby showed up on my doorstep and changed my entire life. Since Nora walked through my door, and became everything I didn't know I was missing.
The weather is perfect. The backyard is decorated with pink balloons, streamers, a banner that says HARPER IS ONE, strung between two trees, tables set up with food, cake, and everything Nora has been organizing for weeks.
Nora's been running on four hours of sleep for three days, and she looks radiant, which is either love or insanity and probably both.
Harper is toddling around the backyard in her birthday dress, pink with ONE embroidered on the chest, investigating every pumpkin and balloon with the serious curiosity that is distinctly her own.
"Everything looks perfect, Red."
"The banner's crooked."
"It's fine."
"And I forgot to get extraice?—"
I pull her into my arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Everything is perfect. Harper's happy. We're happy. That's all that matters."
She relaxes against me for a moment before Harper makes a beeline for the cake table, and we both lunge to stop her.
"Not yet, baby girl," I say, scooping her up. "Guests first, cake later."
Emma and Chase arrive with their kids, Ethan running straight for the bounce house we rented, Sofia toddling after him. Diane comes with them, immediately pulling Harper into her arms and getting teary-eyed.
"One year old," she says. "I can't believe it."
"Me neither."
Maya and Jackson arrive next, driving up from Hartford. Liam and Michelle with their kids, Danny with his girlfriend, Carter and Williams from the team, people I've gotten close to this season, who showed up for the trial, who celebrated the verdict.
By two-thirty, the backyard is full of people who have become family over the past year. People who supported us through everything, who watched Harper grow from a scared infant to the confident one-year-old currently charming everyone within reach.
I carry Harper around, showing her off, unable to stop grinning. She's wearing her birthday dress and a small crown that keeps sliding sideways, and she's absolutely loving all the attention.
"She's gotten so big," Maya says, taking Harper for a cuddle. "I remember when she was tiny, and you had no idea what you were doing."
"I still have no idea what I'm doing," I say. "I'm just better at faking it."
"That's parenting," Emma says. "Welcome to the club."
Nora slides her arm around my waist. I pull her in, press a kiss to her temple, and feel Emma watching us with that particular expression of someone who's been waiting for something to come together and is deeply satisfied.
"Stop looking at us like that," I tell her.
"I'm not looking at you like anything. I'm looking at my niece."
"Harper's behind me."
"Then I'm looking at your back. It's a very nice back."