I had been a wife before, and it hadn’t ended well for me. But, this time, I was determined to do it differently, to do it better. This time was different anyway because, without any thought, without any action, without so much as a good therapy session, I had fallen into Parker. I trusted him so fully that my old worry of never being able to commit to another person had vanished. It never even crossed my mind. And maybe it was because I had committed to four people—to Parker, to these two babies of ours, and to Greer, the woman that, though I once feared she would always be between us, had somehow become the glue that held us together.

I wondered what he had said to Greer in this very same moment. I wondered how she had felt. All those years ago, Parker had walked into marriage wide-eyed, naïve, and fresh. Tonight, he knew what could happen, knew the risks. He was a soldier choosing to go back to war.

To walk back into the line of fire was a big love, a love so big maybe I couldn’t even comprehend it.

“Everyone is looking,” I whispered.

“Sorry,” he whispered back. “I was going to do this later on the dock, but I couldn’t wait any longer.”

I smiled at him and took the ring out of his hand. “I love you, Parker.” I took his hands in mine and said, “Let’s do this.” I kissed him to applause around the table and then turned back to the moms. “But not until after the babies. They don’t need the stress of wedding planning with Elizabeth Saxton and Olivia Thaysden while they’re forming neurons.”

Mom looked at me with mock seriousness and said, “Whatever the new mistress of Dogwood wishes.”

Now, bouncing down the highway in the U-Haul, thirty-five weeks pregnant, that night felt like a faraway dream, like something so wonderful it couldn’t have been true. Tying up the loose ends and coming home felt right.

Maybe it hadn’t all happened in the usual way, but it had happened. I had grown two human beings that, even if they were born right now on the sidewalk, would be healthy, viable little people. It is the most ordinary thing in the world until it happens to you. And then it is extraordinary beyond belief.

Twenty-seven bathroom breaks and an overnight stay in DC later, my little map dot, our beautiful home, came into view. And, roughly every ten feet, another red and white SAXTON FOR MAYOR sign appeared.

Parker groaned. “He’s going to make us work polls, isn’t he?”

I patted his arm. “Well, before that, he’s going to make us put out signs. I told him you would do it, because I couldn’t, with my swollen ankles and everything.”

“And he let you off the hook that easily?”

I smirked. “Nope. He sent me compression socks.”

Parker burst out laughing as we pulled into the driveway of Dogwood. “When are you going to run for mayor?” he asked. The babies kicked sharply, voicing their disapproval. Or maybe they just knew that they were home.