Sometimes it still didn’t feel real. This life he’d built with you. Every once in a while he would pinch himself, convinced that all of it was a dream. What had he done to deserve you? With your endless love and patience. Your ability to put up with his closed-off, quiet personality. The way you still looked at him like he’d hung the damn moon even after all these years spent together.

He glances away from the television screen, only half paying attention to whatever football game he’d ended up watching. There you were, with your three month old daughter in your lap, making faces at her. She stares up at you with wonder in her eyes, lips parted in a gummy smile. The sight of it makes his chest ache. Then he hears it. That tiny huff of air that gives way to a laugh. A real one. Her first laugh.