Andy

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2 years later

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“And everyone is already at home?” Kyle asked from the back seat.

“Of course they are. Where do you think they’d be?” I asked and smiled at him through the rear-view mirror.

It was hard to pay attention on the road when I had my handsome man staring back at me, beaming brighter than ever.

A new chapter in our lives was about to start, and while I should have been stressed and nervous, I was more excited than anything. And happy. So happy I was almost in tears.

“Andy, pay attention to the road, please.”

“Yes, sorry,” I said and my gaze darted back to the last stretch home.

I drove through the town, seeing so many familiar faces, all waving at both Kyle and me. Everyone eager to look inside the car.

But this was one time when I didn’t mind this town’s gossip.

When the house came into view, so did the entire family standing at the porch outside.

Yaya was standing next to Dad and his partner, Nathan and Luke were there with their boyfriends, as was Charlie with his. Summer, Maya and Dawson were standing together, Dawson’s arms around both my daughters.

I stopped the car in front of the house and applied the parking break, before I got out, and opened the door for Kyle.

He got out, my ray of sunshine, my everything, holding him in his arms. Our fresh piece of sunshine.

We walked up the steps and Summer was the first to approach Kyle and grab our little boy’s legs.

“Oh my Lord, he’s the sweetest thing ever,” she said.

She’d grown so much since Kyle and I got together. She was becoming a young lady. She was almost as tall as Kyle now and already had more wisdom and strength than her dad.

Kyle smiled at her, and Summer stepped aside.

“Everyone,” Kyle said. I turned to admire the view of Kyle with our son. “This is Bo,” he said.

Yaya and Dad both waved at little Bo while Nathan and his boyfriend embraced each other smiling at Nathan’s younger brother.

Maya touched his hand and booped his nose which made Bo laugh the cutest laugh I’d heard in a long while.

“Bo is two years old, and he is now officially a Brady-Karagiannis” I said.

“Poor kid,” Nathan’s boyfriend chuckled and Nathan laughed.

I directed an eye-roll their way, but I couldn’t keep up the angry face when I was so happy inside.

It had been a long process, but quick at the same time. It almost felt like yesterday when we decided we wanted to do this, even though a year had passed.

And any doubts we may have had were obliterated the moment we set our eyes on Bo.

“Now, Bo might be two years old, but he hasn’t said his first words yet, which is absolutely fine and I’m sure he’ll get there. So nobody start worrying, okay?” Kyle said and everyone nodded.

Luke and his fiancé cooed at Bo before turning to each other.

“We should have one of those one day,” Luke said.

“I’d love that, my prince,” Luke’s fiancé replied.

“All that’s nonsense, anyway. Everyone has their own pace. Paul didn’t say his first words until he was three. He was just lazy,” Yaya said, and I laughed.

“Lazy? Try confused. I didn’t know what to speak. Greek or English.” Dad defended himself, but everyone else laughed.

“What do you say? Is Bo ready to meet his cousin,” Leo asked and the family cleared the way as he came from inside the house holding his own baby daughter.

Leo stood next to Kyle with his little bundle of joy.

“Hi Bo,” Leo said. “Nice to meet you. I’m uncle Leo and this is your cousin, Iris.”

Bo smiled. He hesitated for a few moments, but then he reached out and stroked baby Iris’s cheek and laughed making everyone else laugh too.

The entire family watched the two new members interacting for the first time just as Melody joined us outside, her new baby bump already showing.

Iris was eight months old, but she’d already stolen so many of our hearts. And after Melody gave birth to her, the most beautiful gift she could ever give Leo and Dawson, she’d decided she was done waiting for Mr. Right.

So, even though she’d only given birth to Iris eight months ago, she was already pregnant with her own child.

It was crazy and unbelievable how our lives had changed in the last three years.

Since Leo came home.

I never imagined my life would change so drastically at my age.

People my age had their path carved out for them. Their best years behind them.

Yet here we were, the Karagiannis family, with so many new chapters in our lives.

Dad and his girlfriend.

My brother with his baby daughter.

Me with a new kid to raise.

And everyone with their special someone. And happy.

“Come on. Let’s get Bo inside and feed him. He needs to try his Yaya’s food,” Yaya said.

“And his daddy’s,” I added, turning to Kyle who had slaved in the kitchen for hours to make food for Bo.

“It’s not a competition,” Kyle commented, but Yaya raised an eyebrow. “Okay, it is a little bit, I guess,” he corrected with a chuckle.

“Will you two ever stop?” Charlie said. “I mean, Kyle, I love you and everything, but Yaya taught you everything you know about cooking, so she’s obviously the better cook.”

Kyle gasped and everyone else laughed.

“Yes, but he also convinced this stubborn woman that we’re all capable of using her kitchen,” Dad added and patted Kyle’s back. “I didn’t think I’d ever get to make my own breakfast before I died.”

“Oh, shut up all of you. I’m not that bad,” Yaya said and tickled Bo’s neck making him laugh again.

“Yes you are,” everyone said almost in unison.

Kyle passed Bo to Yaya warning her he might be heavy for her, but Yaya had babysat so many babies in her life, she had no fear.

Yaya took Bo in and Kyle followed behind her, along with the rest of the family.

“So, how does it feel?” Evelyn asked, resting her arm on my back. “Becoming a dad for a fourth time?”

“Scary,” I said and Evelyn tilted her head with a questioning look.

“Scary? So it doesn’t get easier the more you have?”

“Hell no. I’m forty-five, going on forty-six with a new two-year-old boy to raise, who might also be autistic and who has a heritage I know nothing about. I’m scared I’ll get it all wrong, and screw it up, or that something will happen to me and I’ll leave Kyle on his own to raise our son.” I tried to make my words light, but their weight was real inside me.

“I’m sure his godfather can teach him what it means to be Chinese-American, and the rest…”

“Oh, yes, I know. I’m scared, but I’m also excited to take this next step. With Kyle by my side. I get to be a parent with him and we get to learn so much from Bo. It is scary, but I can’t wait,” I said.

“You’re gonna do great. I know it,” she said. “You’re a good guy, Andy. I think I approve of you.”

I raised an eyebrow at Evelyn.

“You think you approve of me? You’re not sure yet?”

“Gotta keep you on your toes, buddy. The chances of hurting my son might be slim now, but it doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you,” she elbowed me and walked away from me laughing out loud to herself.

I watched her go all the way to the kitchen to fuss over her grandson and I closed the front door behind me.

My gaze landed on Lucy’s picture hanging on the wall with the rest of the family, both old and new.

Her smile was warm and beautiful and she looked back at me full of joy.

It was as if I could hear her voice, feel her presence. As if she was standing next to me, giving me her strength and her love.

“I’m happy for all of you,” she’d say. “And I’m watching over you. Every single one of you.”

I wiped the tear hanging at the corner of my eye and joined the rest of my family. Summer. Nathan. Maya. Bo.

And Kyle.

He’d made all this possible. He unearthed the heart I’d burried with Lucy and showed me you can have more than one happy ever after.

Whoever said you only get one soulmate in a lifetime, never met Kyle.