“Hey, yourself,” I say back.

He waits. He knows me well. He grazes his hand over mine and there’s that familiar clink as our wedding rings scrape together. It sounds like home.

It’s hard to believe we’ve come so far, isn’t it? When you and I first met, things were… well. Things weren’t the best. I was a scared little boy in charge of another scared little boy. But, hey. No need to rehash old details. Chances are if you’ve made it this far, you know all this. It’s just strange to think where we’re at now, especially when you consider how we started out.

Of course, it’s also strange to think how much things are about to change again. But this time, it’s by our own choice.

And that doesn’t make it any less terrifying.

“Did you finish?” I ask Otter. “Setting up the room?”

“For the most part,” he says. “Want to come see?”

I chuckle nervously. “I don’t know.”

He kisses my neck. “It’s not as scary as you think. I promise.”

“It’s very scary,” I remind him.

He laughs in my ear. It’s a husky sound, and I consider whether we have enough time to allow me to climb him like a tree. Probably not. Besides, my nerves probably would ruin any shenanigans we could get up to. I’m kind of dumb like that.

“You sure about this?” he asks me.

“It’s a little late for that.”

“Nah,” he says easily. “We can always just say no.”

I shake my head. “And then what?”

He shrugs. “And then we move on.”

“What if…?” I stop. I told myself I wasn’t going to do this anymore.

But I can’t hide it from him. “You’ll do good, Bear. We both will. Look at Ty.”

I sigh. “I know.” Well, I think I do, anyway. Sort of. “Okay. Show me.”

I take one last look into Ty’s room before I shut the door behind me. He’ll be home soon. I won’t have to worry much anymore. At least about that.

I follow Otter down the hall to the spare bedroom next to ours, though I don’t know if I can call it the spare room anymore.

Not when it’s going to belong to our son in another four months or so.

Shit. That’s a thought I never believed I’d have.

Otter opens the door, and inside is the result of his loving, painstaking labor over the past couple of weeks. What had once been a cluttered office we rarely used is now a bright and airy room painted the palest of blues. Cartoon elephants and tigers are stenciled onto the walls, prancing in a field of green grass and pretty flowers. The ceiling above is painted with clouds, and in the corner is the sun. When you turn off the lights at night, little stars stuck to the ceiling shine down, put up by Otter and me as we followed along with the images of constellations off his laptop to mimic the night sky during summer.