Page 24 of Jamison's Story
“I couldn’t forget my sister,” I tell Nanci, letting her open the envelope that was in her bag. Her eyes widen and I laugh when she just stares at me in shock. “For your salon you want to open. Jamison and company also said that any maintenance needs are covered for life so don’t be stingy.”
“Are you kidding me? This is way too much, Natalie,” Nanci says, shaking her head as her hand shakes.
“It was Jamison’s way of saying thanks for letting me stay with you and Mike and also showing me that being in love doesn’t require massive displays or fighting to be true. So, you’re going to take that building and finally open your own place. Get away from that manager you hate and be your own boss.”
“And if you need any help with the bookkeeping and such, I know a great company to use,” Jasmine tells her, giving her a hug as well.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Nanci states, and I hug her again before giving Greg a smile.
“What’s that grin about? You didn’t have to get me anything, honey,” Greg says, and I smile deeper as Annie comes over with the last bag.
“Well, this one is from me and Momma Annie,” I tell him, handing him the bag. He takes out the papers, looking at them in confusion and I add, “This is the transfer of the Cartwright Endowment for Early Childhood Education from me to you.”
“Natalie told us that you were the only one that stayed by her side when everything happened at school and that you’ve been working on your degree for five years but still have three semesters to go,” Annie says pulling a nod from him. “Since it’s our endowment and Jamison is covering Natalie’s schooling costs, rather than not have someone utilize the award, we’re giving it to you along with funding your continuing pursuit of your master’s degree in psychology as well.”
“Are you kidding me? You’re seriously giving me…seriously?” Greg splutters and I hug him with a nod.
“Seriously, and so you’re aware, it means room and board so no more living with five roommates and working all the time, all textbooks, and a car,” I add, handing over the set of keys for the new one that we chose last weekend.
“Okay, there is no way I’m letting you walk away from that man now, so let’s get you moving up that aisle, honey,” Greg states and I don’t argue in the least.
I’m marrying the most amazing man ever and gaining an incredible family. I thought if I could just get Craig out of my life things would be good. No way did I ever expect any of this…not in a million years.
Epilogue
Jamison
I move into the center, looking for my wife. At times I can’t believe I’ve been married to her for five years now. It seems like I just saw her coming out of the bathroom in all her beautiful glory, but now, we have a two and a half year old little man Simon that I love more than anything. Being a dad is the best job ever and I’ll be becoming dad all over again in five or so months.
Which is why I’m coming for my wife today. She’s been at the daycare center the family operates and she helps oversee for her allotted time this week.
I don’t normally have an issue with it because she brings Simon with her, but with the news we got at the doctor’s office two weeks ago, she agreed to limit her time here until after the babies are born. Yes…babies. My wife is giving me more than one this time, so she has to take better care of herself than she did when she was carrying Simon.
She never put him at risk, she just kept pushing until she’d nearly drop from exhaustion. I won’t begin to let that happen this time.
I find her in the middle of a ring of kids, and I move into the room, pulling a happy ‘daddy’ from Simon who is sitting right next to her, his hand on her leg being the possessive little man he is. All the kids love Natalie, so he tends to let them know that she’s his mommy not theirs, the same way I let other men know Natalie’s my woman when we’re out somewhere.
There are times when I almost wish I still had security on her when she was out of the house, so I’d know they stayed far away, but there hasn’t been a need for it since Craig was killed. His father ended up in prison for accessory to murder, so we haven’t heard from him in years either. It’s been an interesting five years for our family—and not just the one Natalie and I have made together.
Thankfully, all my brothers and sisters are happy with their lives now, despite some rough moments during the last few years. That has to be saying something about how our parents raised us though.
Thirteen kids all happy at the same time…doesn’t seem possible, but we are. Even Joe although he’s still single.
Natalie looks up and I tap on my watch, lifting a brow her way, earning a bit of an eye-roll in return, but she finishes the story and gets up, heading over to me with Simon trailing right behind her. She slips into my hold, and I drop a kiss onto the top of her head as the other workers come in to take over the group.
“Everything okay Natalie?” Linda asks looking between us. She’s a little leery of men still but I don’t blame her. She’s only been out of her ten-year abusive relationship for six months now. She lives in the complex and with her background in teaching preschool, is a perfect fit to help with the daycare center. Her four kids are all school age, but they come here when they’re out.
“All good, someone was just reminding me I’m over my time limit for the week,” Natalie says, smiling gently when the woman’s eyes tighten. “I’m pregnant.”
“With triplets,” I add resting my hand on her stomach as the woman’s jaw dropped. “You weren’t here when she was pregnant with Simon, but someone doesn’t know that Mommy has to rest so she doesn’t overdo it. So I made her promise that she would limit her time here, let the family help with Simon, so she would rest more.”
“Congratulations,” Linda says giving us a smile, and I take my girl home, making sure her legs aren’t swelling.
She’s only three months along but with the extra babies, we know she’ll go early. Which she does at thirty-five weeks, after four weeks of bedrest, leaving me worried about all of them. Dr. Miller handles the c-section beautifully, and I know Natalie hates that she can’t hold our babies, but they let each of them rest against her chest before they need to take them to ensure they’re breathing properly.
I feel like I can breathe again once we’re all in a room, the babies doing great thanks to the steroids Natalie took to help their lungs develop quicker. They’re all little. Our boy the biggest at five pounds, three ounces. Our sweet girls that turned out to not be identical, surprising us all, were four pounds, eight ounces, and four pounds, four ounces each.
They look tiny in Natalie’s arms, and I drop a kiss onto the top of her head, thankful they’re all doing well as the afternoon arrives along with the rest of the family. Jasmine gushes over all of them, asking if we’ve finally decided on names, and I laugh at her reaction to them.