Jauregui.

epilogue

"Mom, you need to stop pacing! It's making me so nervous!" Averi exclaimed, looking over at her mother, who was walking across the room, back and forth. Again and again.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it! My little girl is having a little baby of her own! Forgive me for feeling a little emotional," Lauren exclaimed, stopping in her tracks and turning towards her daughter, who was lying on the hospital bed. Every few minutes, her face would scrunch up as yet another contraction came to be.

"Would you tell her to chill?" Averi grumbled at her husband, standing next to her, as he held her hand tightly. She watched as his blue eyes widened and he gulped, turning to face the older woman in front of them.

"Jack, one word out of you and I swear --" Lauren began, making intense eye contact with the younger man. "I am nearly twice your age, but I won't hesitate to mess you up."

The six-foot brunette man quickly put his arms in the air in surrender. He turned to look over at his wife, "Sorry babe, no can do."

Averi muttered a few choice words beneath her breath as she readjusted herself in the tiny hospital bed, scanning the room for the hundredth time, so as to distract herself. Once again, her eyes landed on the tiny hospital bassinet that would soon house a child, for the next few days. Averi felt her breath hitch as feelings of doubt began to resurface; feelings that had dissipated for many, many years. Was she even ready to be a mother? What if raised a child that turned out to have all of her problems? What if her own past issues caused her to fuck up this baby's precious life? Regardless, it was too late now, another voice in her head spoke, as she furrowed her brows and clenched her jaw through yet another contraction.

"Sweetheart, please don't do that." She felt the presence of her husband loom over her, as he took a seat in the blue hospital-provided chair that was placed next to the head of the bed. Averi felt Jack's warm hand envelope her cold one as he gently rubbed her thumb, causing her body to begin to relax.

"Do what?" The green-eyed girl asked, feigning confusion as she averted her eyes from Jack's. She knew exactly what he was talking about. After nearly eleven years together, with three of those years being a married couple, Jack could read Averi like Averi's tattered first-edition copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, and vice versa.

"Don't let the anxiety and doubt get to you. Those thoughts aren't real or representative of the wonderful woman who is my wife. You are ready. You are going to be a great mother, because you already have been. I am in awe of how you have carried yourself and me through this pregnancy, every single day. You amaze me and have been the best mom to our baby inside your tummy, and now you are going to be an even better mom when they decide to make their appearance," Jack finished, placing a gentle kiss on Averi's knuckles, before squeezing her hand delicately.

Averi felt tears well up in her eyes as she met Jack's eyes, beyond thankful for him. Quietly sitting in the corner witnessing the delicate exchange amongst her daughter and son-in-law, Lauren couldn't help but let a few tears of her own fall down her face. She was beyond thankful that her daughter had found someone that treated her as kindly as Jack did. She couldn't ask for anything more.

"Thank you," Averi quietly responded, taking in a breath as she grounded herself. Jack was right, and his words meant more to Averi than she could ever explain.

After her fair-share of toxic ex-boyfriends throughout her teenage years, Averi had sworn off boys when she entered college. She had a seven-year-plan: focus on school, obtain a double major in business and psychology, and go to law school where she could help to reform the foster care system as an attorney. And then, maybe meet a guy. That was her plan, crystal clear. Enter Jack Hamilton Wyatt, a tall brown-hair, blue-eyed lacrosse player from Rhode Island, who was also attending Boston College, with hopes of becoming a physician. It just so happened that Jack and Averi coincidentally sat next to each other in their statistics course, which was a non-negotiable general-education requirement from the school for incoming freshman. Due to the course, paired with a lousy professor who could not differentiate theoretical probability from empirical probability, Jack and Averi spent a lot of time in the school library together and what started off as a harmless friendship amongst two confused classmates led to something much more deep and beautiful.