BONUS CHAPTER- Daddy On Duty

Wyatt's POV

"I've got this," I announced cheerfully.

Anna smiled as if she already knew I was about to fail.

Tobias stayed stretched across the couch, committed to doing nothing. "Famous last words."

"I have run two companies simultaneously," I reminded them. "One eight-month-old should be easy."

The truth was, neither Avery nor I had stepped into an office in weeks.

Paris had opened exactly the way we’d dreamed it would. Monochrome was thriving across California, New York and Paris, Kane Ventures and Sterling’s Industry had never been stronger.

While we took this time with Theodore, Elise kept Monochrome running with the same steady brilliance she’d always had.

Marcus handled Kane Ventures, and Nate quietly kept Sterling industries moving without missing a beat.

Looking at him now, calm, confident and whole again, I couldn’t help feeling proud. After everything life had thrown at him, he’d found his way back.

Our son, Theodore Kane Sterling chose that exact moment to unleash the loudest cry his tiny lungs could manage.

I walked over with far more confidence than I actually deserved. "He's hungry."

I picked him up and offered the bottle. He swatted it away and kept wailing.

“He’s sleepy then.” I rocked him gently.

He wasn’t impressed.

"He misses his mother.”

Anna walked through with a laundry basket and paused. She looked at red-faced Theo, looked at me holding him awkwardly.

"Wyatt," she said.

"Yes?"

"He needs his diaper changed."

I glanced at Theodore. He stared back at me, still crying.

From the couch Tobias started laughing so hard he fell off.

Marcus pulled out his phone. “Documenting history.”

I changed my first diaper.

I had prepared for this. I had watched videos. I was ready or so I thought.

Theodore was not impressed by any of that.

The second I laid him down, he started kicking. I struggled to get the old diaper off and reached for the new one.

He peed, straight at me.

"Theodore!" I yanked my hand back.

Tobias fell off the couch.

"The tiny man," he wheezed from the floor, "has defeated the almighty Kane Sterling."

I got the new diaper on but it was backwards.

Anna noticed. She walked over and fixed the diaper without saying a word.

Theodore stopped crying almost immediately and looked up at me with complete satisfaction.

I narrowed my eyes. "You did that on purpose Theo!”

He yawned.

Avery walked in ten minutes later.

She stopped in the doorway and took everything in. Tobias recovering on the couch, Marcus with his phone, powder on my shirt, and Theo happy in Anna’s arms with the fixed diaper.

She folded her arms and looked at me. "Should I ask?"

"No," I said.

She glanced at Marcus’s phone, my messy shirt, then Tobias waving from the floor.

“He did great.”

“Backwards,” Marcus corrected.

"Thank you, Marcus.”

Avery pressed her lips together. Her shoulders shook as she tried not to laugh. She took Theo from Anna and kissed his head. He grabbed her hair with both fists.

“Were you giving your dad a hard time?” she murmured.

Theo made a happy sound.

That evening after everyone left, we sat on the floor. Theo on his play mat. Avery leaned against the couch. I watched him bat at toys.

I leaned toward him, grinning. "Theo. Say Dada."

He looked at me with big eyes.

“Dada,” I repeated clearly.

He reached toward me and opened his mouth.

"Mama.”

The room exploded with laughter.

"We practiced," I pointed at him. "Theo. We practiced. Say Dada. Da-da."

He looked serious. "Mama.”

Avery laughed so hard tears rolled down her cheeks. She leaned against the couch, trying to catch her breath, but every time she looked at me, she started all over again.

"This is betrayal," I said, looking at our son.

He wrapped his tiny fingers around mine.

I tried to stay offended but it lasted about three seconds.

Then I laughed, Avery laughed with me, and Theo answered with a happy little squeal, completely unaware he’d just won the argument.

I woke up with a stiff neck and an aching shoulder.

Theodore was asleep against my chest, warm and impossibly small, one tiny hand wrapped around my finger.

Somewhere along the way, I’d fallen asleep too.

Soft footsteps pulled me from the quiet.

Avery stood in the doorway, watching us. She didn’t say anything at first. She just smiled.

She walked over and kissed my forehead. “My boys,” she whispered.

"We weren't sleeping," I said.

She laughed quietly. “Liar.”

Theo stirred and tightened his grip on my finger.

Avery rested her head on my shoulder while our son slept peacefully on my chest.

The apartment was quiet, peaceful and full.

This wasn’t the ending of our story.

It was simply the beginning of the life we’d fought so hard to have.

THE END