Page 118 of Mad Love

He sweeps me up into his arms, and his lips never leave mine as he carries me upstairs.

EPILOGUE

NUGGETS

Two and a half months later

WESTON

We’re at Bowie’s house and the chatter of all of our kids in the connecting room is at a dull roar. Cassidy is carrying Caleb everywhere and he’s putting up with it, a sure sign that he adores her because my boy loves to be on the move.

“I cannot believe you’re engaged, man,” Rhodes says. “But what Ireallycan’t believe is that you went to Turks and Caicos for two weeks but didn’t propose to her until you got home. What happened there?”

They all laugh and I shrug, grinning and not giving a single shit that they’re making fun of me.

“I wanted us to have our own day to celebrate. It didn’t feel right for it to be the day we met, on a trip where we were honoring her sister.”

“Oh shit,” Rhodes says, his head falling back.

“I swear, Rhodes,” Bowie says, shaking his head.

“You’re telling me you thought of that already?” Rhodes looks at Bowie incredulously.

“Uh, yeah.” Bowie’s hands fly up. “It’s kind of hard to forget.”

“Well, congratulations. We’re so happy for you,” Henley says.

“I can’t believe you’re gonna be the only married one out of all of us,” Penn says, shaking his head. “I love Sadie, but I donotknow how to feel about this.”

“Be happy for me.” I reach out and shake his shoulder until his eyes look a little less crazed.

“First a baby, then a wife,” he keeps going. “Next thing you know, you’ll be having more babies.”

“I cannot wait for that day.” I get caught in a daydream, envisioning Sadie with a baby bump, smiling up at me with her radiant smile.

She’s made my house a home, and the thought of us filling it up with more kids makes me happier than I thought possible. She says she’s getting her interior design urges out of her system by making our house less of a bachelor pad. She’s done some decorating for the guys too, but for now, her priority is Caleb. I’ll support whatever she chooses to do in the future. I’m just so glad she’s going to be my wife. And my family could not be happier for us—even Olivia. It might be a while before Sadie and Oliviaare as close as Sadie and Felicity are, but they’re headed in the right direction.

Rhodes dropping The Single Dad Playbook in the middle of the table pulls me out of my sweet thoughts.

“It’s time for you to take a look at this if you’re already thinking of having another baby,” Rhodes says.

I grin good-naturedly. “Bring it.”

I flip the pages, laughing when it stops on:

Being a dad is like constipation. You think you’re backed up because you don’t eat enough fiber, but there’s also the water and the vegetables and the exercise, and maybe a weird twist in your intestines that you didn’t even consider.

~Rhodes

“These nuggets of wisdom, I tell ya.” I shake my head and keep flipping, stopping next on a diagram Rhodes drew of the levels of agitation a dad can reach in a single day.

I keep going.

Becca taught me to stop and appreciate the little things. She noticed the simplest things that my eyes had learned to skim over, and once I tried to pay attention the way she did, it opened a whole new world for me.

~Bowie

“Keep going,” Rhodes says.