Finding Home in Redemption

Bonus Epilogue # 2

Brennan - Life After Marriage

Almost two years after the wedding, I was standing in a hospital room holding my wife's hand as she gave birth to our son.

Jacob Isaac Murphy came in at a whopping nine pounds. Bentley swore she couldn't go through that again.

She did, though.

When Jake was four months old, Bentley came running into the bedroom and hurled a pregnancy test at my head.

"Look at what you've done!" she yelled, and I couldn't help but laugh. She narrowed her eyes but started to smile back. I grabbed her hand and pulled her onto my lap.

"So, you're pregnant?" I asked.

"Obviously. You did this on purpose."

"Baby, I didn't do it on purpose, but I'm not sad about it. Are you?"

"No, but I'm scared. Jake about killed me." I couldn't help but laugh again.

"I think you'll be okay. Maybe this one will be little," I said.

"What about school? I still have another year left for my bachelor's, and my goal is a master's. There's no way that's going to be possible."

"It's entirely possible. I promise you; you will get what you want. I'm here to help with the kids. After the baby is born, we can look into birth control so that we won't have any more kids for a while."

"For a while?" she laughed.

"Absolutely, I'm not done having babies yet," I said, pulling her to me so I could kiss her.

Ivy Kendall Murphy came in at six pounds seven ounces. She was her brothers exact opposite in every way. She had light brown hair where his was almost black. She was always getting into anything her hands could reach, and he was content just to observe. They were incredible.

After Bentley graduated with her Master's, we were celebrating her degree and my fortieth birthday when I got an incredible gift. Bentley came to me with paperwork I'd been dreaming of filling out. Adoption papers. 

Even though I was excited, I was also confused.

"Don't you want to get a job before we have more kids?" I asked.

"Not really, my goal was to get my degree, and I have it. I can apply to a few schools around here, but I'm not in a hurry. I've spent the last six years on school, and now I want to spend a couple on our family."

We started the process to adopt a child, and one day, two years later, we met Parker and Kelly. Parker, four, and Kelly, two, were brother and sister. They were pulled out of an incredibly tough situation and placed into foster care. With a mother that had overdosed on heroin and no idea who the father was, these kids were immediately put in the system.

For a week, we talked about it and tried to decide what was best for our family. We already had a five and six-year old, and we sat down with our kids to see what they had to say. They didn't understand why we hadn't already brought them home, so that's what we did.

It was tough for a while. They didn't understand stability or even eating on a schedule. I may not have ever been in my own biological mothers home, but I'd been placed with enough bad families to understand that. We worked diligently with them and did everything in our power to make sure our kids felt full of love, all four of them.

It took a good year for Parker to come to realize we weren't going anywhere. At first, he wouldn't let us out of his sight. Then, little by little, he allowed Bentley and I to walk into another room where we'd be out of sight, and finally, he was playing in the basement with Jake while I was upstairs and his mom was at work. We celebrated that night because we knew he finally felt like he was home.

Bentley's pregnancy with the twins came as a huge surprise to both of us. Since I didn't know my family and therefore had no idea if twins ran in it, she obviously blamed me. Walking into the bathroom and seeing ten different positive pregnancy tests made me turn tail and run. I didn't get very far when I felt the first test hit my back. I started laughing as she chased me through the house.

"Brennan Murphy! You are so sleeping on the sofa tonight!" she yelled.

I stopped running and turned to grab her before she slammed into my back.

"You've got to stop throwing stuff at me when you get pregnant," I laughed. "It's sending the wrong message to the kids."

She turned and looked into the hall where all four of our children looked amused.

"Right, sorry. Well," she said smiling at me then turning to the kids. "We're having another baby."

They all went wild and started screaming and jumping up and down. Kelly, who had just turned five, chose to jump on the couch and Ivy was doing a weird little victory dance.

"Santa did it!" Kelly screamed.

"What do you mean 'Santa'?" I asked.

"We asked Santa for a new baby," Parker explained. "He did it, Dad!"

Bentley's eyes were huge. I knew she was going to start checking the letters they sent to Santa in the mail from then on.

Graham and Rosa were born eight weeks early and had to stay in the NICU for nearly a month. The day we brought them home Bentley looked at me and asked if I'd had enough babies yet. At forty-six years old and married to the hottest school counselor in the world, with six kids, I'd say I had my dream life.

I always knew we should have done something a little more permanent than birth control pills, because a year after she had the twins, she was on a hospital bed again, pushing out another baby boy.

When Duke was six months old, she made the appointment to get her tubes tied, and for our anniversary I was gifted with an appointment of my own.

"We're not taking any chances, Brennan. My uterus loves holding babies, and you have potent baby makers, so this is it. You're getting a vasectomy."

Just the thought made my stomach turn, but I did it for her.

When I built our home in my early twenties, I'd had no idea who would fill these walls. Now, I couldn't imagine them being filled any other way.

I've spent more evenings than I can count sitting on my back porch watching my kids run around and play. It was hard to remember a time when I didn't have them.

Growing up, this is what I'd always wanted. This was my most sacred dream, and I never knew I'd end up finding my home in the same place I found my redemption.