“I’m joking. You know I love you.”
Grayson laughs and walks out of the room. Beckett starts to fuss in the background, and Nick hands the phone off to Jessa.
“Sorry, Nora, but I’ve gotta go. Feeding time.?
??
“Okay. I’ll see you guys soon.”
I end the call and slide farther beneath the comforter. I haven’t heard the pitter patter of little feet yet, so if I’m lucky, I might be able to catch an extra few minutes of sleep while Grayson makes breakfast.
My eyes are closed, and I’m about to drift off when I hear a soft knock on the door.
I crack an eye open and lift my head to see three smiling faces staring back at me from the doorway.
They’re all getting so big, growing right before my eyes. School gets out in two weeks, and then we’re hitting the road for my summer tour. I’m excited to spend the next few months with them, because right now they still think I’m cool. One of these days it won’t be like that, and I’ll have to bribe them to hang out with me.
“Good morning, sleepyheads,” I say, pushing up onto my elbows.
“Can we come in?” Jack asks.
“Always.” I sit up and pat the bed beside me.
“We have something for you,” Nora says.
“You do?”
Jack and Emma crawl onto the bed and settle in beside me, while Henry claims my lap.
“Mine first,” Henry says, holding out an orange piece of paper. It’s cut into a heart, and on the front it says: I love you.
“Did you make this?” I ask.
“By myself,” he says, bobbing his head. “Open it.”
I open the heart. Two words are scrawled across it in his sloppy preschool handwriting: Can we.
“Hmm. Can we what?” I ask.
“Now mine.” Emma holds out her heart. It’s pink and has purple stars drawn all over the front.
“Open it,” she says, wiggling beside me.
I open the second heart and read. “Call you,” I say out loud.
Jack doesn’t say a word, just hands me his blue heart. On the front is a picture of two people, presumably him and me. I open the heart and read the single word.
Mom.
“Can we call you Mom?” Jack asks sheepishly.
I drop the heart and cup a hand to my mouth. There’s no sense in holding back the tears, because they’re already here. I blink up to see all three kids watching me carefully.
I wrap my arms around them and pull them in. Little arms tangle around my neck, holding me while I cry. When I finally pull back, I wipe the wetness from my face and kiss each kid.
“So?” Jack asks.
“Yes.” I nod, wiping away a fresh wave of tears. “I would love it if you called me Mom.”