Brandon was staring straight ahead now, his own eyes tearing up. “I’ve had some bad days in my life,” he whispered. “But that was by far the worst one ever.”
“Medication or not, I can promise you this with absolute certainty. Those thoughts will never cross my mind again. It’s not about just me anymore. I live for you, Brandon. And I’d never do that to you. Ever.”
She kissed his hand and he pulled her hand to him gently. “Good,” he said, kissing her hand too. “Because I don’t know about me saving you, but I know you saved me.” He shook his head as a single tear slid down the side of his face, and he leaned in and kissed her. “I live for you too, baby.
Epilogue
Mrs. Billings
My wife
My princess
My love
My world
Lost for a moment, still staring at the tattoo he’d gotten on his upper arm just over a year ago, Brandon’s train of thought was derailed as Regina gasped and Buddy, their six-month-old beagle, barked.
“Artie baby, not so fast!”
Brandon glanced up at the tall slide his son was now rushing up the ladder of. He tugged on Buddy’s leash to calm him then smiled. “He’s all right,” he assured her, wrapping his arm around her from behind and rubbing her pregnant belly.
“He wants to keep up with all the other boys, but he’s the littlest one,” she said.
Brandon watched as his son effortlessly climbed the ladder and reached the top, holding his hand out for him to see. He gave his son the thumbs up and smiled. A few years ago, having a family of his own was the furthest thing on his mind. Now here he was with a wife, a son, another one on the way, and a dog.
Artie grabbed hold of the pole on top of the slide and swung himself out over the open slide, laughing and making Regina gasp again and pull away from Brandon.
“Arturo Stephen Billings, don’t you dare do that again!”
Brandon made eye contact with Artie and shot him a warning look. His son sat down on the slide and slid down hands in the air. He came down so fast he flew into another boy at the bottom and they both fell into the sand. The other boy, at least two years older and twice his size, got up then shoved Artie back into the sand. Artie rolled around, laughing.
Regina started to charge. “Hey! That’s not nice!” she said to the other boy who’d already started walking away but turned to look at her.
“Relax,” Brandon assured her again. “He loves that shit. It’s just horseplay, baby. It’s what boys do.”
Artie was already running back to climb the ladder of the slide. One of the other boys pushed him aside and climbed up before him.
“No pushing!” Regina yelled out, glaring at the other boy.
Artie didn’t even flinch as he rushed up behind the other boy, laughing. Brandon watched, chuckling and calming Regina the whole time. It was the same thing every time they came to the park. By the time they packed things up, Brandon could see his son wouldn’t even make it out of the parking lot awake. As usual, he made Dad proud, playing hard and keeping up with the big boys the entire time.
Brandon chased him down and tackled him on the grass. Buddy joined in the fun, jumping all over them both. This was something he’d never had the pleasure of doing with his own dad, and it was something he knew Artie loved. It was now one of his most favorite things to do with his boy—wrestle and see how much Artie enjoyed their time together.
“Time to go,” he said as Artie tried to squirm away, laughing hysterically, and Brandon tickled him. “I said it’s time to go. Hey,” he said as his son continued to squirm. “Who loves you?”
“Mommy!” Artie laughed.
“Who else?”
“Buddy!”
This was a game they played, and Artie loved teasing him. “Wise guy, huh,” Brandon tickled him even more making him squeal loudly. “Who else?”
“You!” he finally screeched. “You love me, Daddy.”
“You bet your butt I do,” Brandon said, standing up and pulling him up with him. “You have fun today, champ?” He asked him as he sat him on his shoulders.
“Yeah, fun!” Artie said, and Brandon felt him kiss him on the head.
“Next time maybe we leave Momma Bear home,” Brandon said with a smirk, and Regina peered at him menacingly. “She doesn’t get it.”
“No, Mommy come too.” Artie said.
“All right, all right,” Brandon said with a conceding smile in Regina’s direction. “I guess she can come with us next time.”
Once they had Artie in his car seat and they both sat up front, Brandon checked his rearview mirror and could see his son was already having a hard time keeping his heavy eyelids open. When he saw Brandon looking at him, he opened up his eyes wide in an effort to fight the inevitable slumber. His big blue eyes stared at him for a moment before the lashes came down again slowly.
“I don’t know why he tries to fight it.” Brandon smiled as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“I don’t know why he tries so hard to do everything those other boys do.” Regina frowned. “They’re all so much bigger than he is. Maybe there’s a park somewhere else for just little kids his age.”
“No way,” Brandon said, smiling. “He loves it. Besides, if we go somewhere with little kids, he’ll be doing all the pushing. Then you’ll have to hear it from all the other momma bears.”