Our Lizzie is 19 days old today. The day doesn't hold any particular significance for her – she is just a happy little girl who sleeps a lot and still manages to keep her mum and me surprisingly busy.
The first thing I see upon waking up this morning is her, this wonderful woman, with a big smile on her face, bright green eyes looking right at me.
"Good morning, my darling. I love you." Her voice gives me goosebumps and almost makes my heart stop: She remembers! Of course she does.
I love her, too, but I can't find my voice so I just smile hoping she'll understand and she does. She who has come to know me so well over the past year that it almost scares me. I reach out to cup her face, her skin soft and still warm from sleep, and run my fingers through her hair. It feels familiar and exciting at the same time. Sharon. She is my best friend, my wife, the mother of our daughter. Her lips taste sweet as I pull her against me.
"I love you, Sharon," I finally manage to whisper.
/
I do realise that I might be biased, but I don't actually think I am. Sharon is just such a great mother. She always knows what Lizzie needs, whether she is hungry or tired or needs to be changed or just wants to be held. I tried to tell her, but she shook her head and laughed a little.
"That's incredibly flattering, Andy, but don't idiolise me. I'm just a mother looking after her child – and don't forget how much you do for Lizzie and me. I wouldn't have gotten through these past weeks without you. You're always here for Lizzie. All I do is feed her."
Well, that's not strictly true, because she does so much more. At least now that Lizzie is here I can finally play my part in taking care of her.
/
I remember the day we came back from the hospital. She tried to put on a brave face, but I could tell she was exhausted just from the short trip home. We sat in the nursery, Sharon in her rocking chair, holding a now sleeping Lizzie and we looked at each other.
"She's finally here," I said quietly and got up to stand beside Sharon.
"That she is – and we'll be busy raising her for the next twenty years! Are you ready for that?"
I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. "I am, sweetheart. I've never been more ready for anything in my life."
"We'll be old and grey by the time she goes to college," she mused running her hand over Lizzie's dark hair.
"Well, I'm grey already and you'll be as stunning as ever."
"You do realise it's only my hairdresser that keeps me looking like this?"
"Really? Damn, couldn't you have told me that before? It's too late to change my mind now."
Sharon laughed her wonderfully deep full laugh, the skin around her eyes crinkling in merriment. She held out a hand to me. "Now help this old woman get up. I'd like to take a shower while Lizzie's still asleep. Would you look after her?"
I helped her up and wrapped my arms around her, placing a kiss on Lizzie's head, when Sharon cast me a long look through her eyelashes. "I'm glad you won't change your mind, Andy, because I couldn't imagine being with anyone but you," she stopped and smiled, "Grey hair and all."
While Sharon was in the shower, I changed Lizzie and then lay down on our bed with her on my chest. She squirmed a bit, but then she settled against me, smacking her little lips. Barely six pounds, so tiny, but so warm and alive, with her sweet baby smell and a hint of her mother's scent clinging to her. By the time Sharon joined us, Lizzie was fast asleep again.
I turned to look at my wife, stretched out against my side, her head resting on my shoulder, legs intertwined with mine, one arm slung over me and Lizzie. Her eyes were heavy lidded and I placed a kiss on her forehead causing her to hum happily. I was so grateful to have her with me again, so grateful that both she and Lizzie were well. What more could I want from life? She yawned and I could feel her body grow limp against me when she suddenly stirred.
"Lizzie?"
"Lizzie is right here, sweetheart. You're home, go back to sleep."
She opened her eyes briefly to look at Lizzie, then me and mumbled "Cradle."
"I'll put her in the cradle before I fall asleep."
Her eyes fell closed, but I could feel her smile and shake her head against my neck as she spoke again. "Can you put her in the cradle and hold me?"
Yes, now it was time for just the two of us.
"Missed you," her voice barely a whisper, "I've been looking forward to this for the past week, Andy. To be back here with you and with Lizzie, to curl up with you in our bed."
"It was lonely here without you, but your pillow still smelled of you," I admitted sheepishly.
"Did it? You've changed the sheets though." I almost had to laugh. Of course she would notice that and the analytical part of her mind wouldn't be able to not point it out.
"This morning only. I figured my wife would like a nice clean bed to come home to."
"I do, but what I care about is the man I come home to, Andy."
She can make my heart miss a beat with seemingly no effort at all. I have no idea what I have done to deserve being the man this wonderful woman comes home to, but I know I am going to do everything I can to make sure it will continue to be me. She snuggled closer and gave me a tender kiss. "How are you, darling?"
"Good."
She chuckled. "Yeah? Just good?"
"Sweetheart, I'm the happiest man in the world today. You are right here in my arms, our Lizzie is with us – I couldn't be any happier. So yeah, I'm good, real good."
Sharon cupped my cheek with her left hand and kissed me again, with even more tenderness than last time. God, these lips!
"Last time we lay here together I was in labour," she whispered into our kiss. "It's only been a week, but it feels much longer."
"That was one damned long week! God, Sharon, it's so good to have you back home, so good to hold you in my arms again. I missed you!"
"I missed you, too. I missed just being alone with you."
We kissed again and it felt like getting to know her all over again. I don't know how long that kiss lasted, but we broke off several times to breathe and then our lips found their way to another again. Not in the intense way that makes me want to rip off her clothes, but in a warm caress making up for all the time we missed this past week. I committed her taste to memory, the feeling of her lips against mine, the soft moans and hums, buried my hands in her wonderful hair not wanting to let go ever again. For the first time since I'd found her in the rocking chair telling me she was in labour, I truly relaxed. Everything had gone well. Against all odds, Sharon had given birth to a healthy girl. Yes, she was tired and exhausted, but she would be okay. They would both be okay. There had been a time when we had not dared to hope for this, a time when we had been so scared - but now Lizzie was here, sleeping peacefully just a few feet away.
"Did you sleep at all this past week?" Her hand that touched my cheek was warm and familiar.
"Not much."
"You seem exhausted, Andy. When was the last time you really slept? Since before the case? Ten days?"
"Thereabouts, yeah." Why was she asking me these questions? She was the one who had just given birth, she shouldn't be worrying about me – and yet she was. "Now that you're back I can sleep again. I'll be fine, Sharon."
"With a newborn baby?"
"Sweetheart, please don't worry about me. You are here now, and you are both well. That's all that matters."
That night, I slept properly for the first time since Lizzie's birth with Sharon curled up in my arms and our girl safe in the cradle her big brother had built for her. It didn't matter that Lizzie woke up every few hours wanting to be fed. They were here, and they were well.
/
During the first few days at home we didn't do much more than take care of Lizzie, eat and sleep. We developed our routine and Sharon, no longer on bedrest, started to reclaim the condo.
"Damnit, Sharon – you scared me!" I had been standing in the kitchen when she suddenly walked in.
"Scared you? Don't you remember me? I'm your wife, I live here with you, Andy."
Yes, my wife and her unbeatable logic.
"It's just that I'm not used to you being so mobile anymore."
"So you're telling me you preferred me on bedrest? So I would stay out of your hair?" she laughed and patted my belly affectionately before raising herself on her toes to kiss me. "I'm afraid you're going to have to learn to share my condo with me once again."
"I just didn't expect you here. I love seeing you up and about. You know that! Are you hungry?"
"How could I, Andy? You fed me just a few hours ago."
"You're feeding Lizzie, the least I can do is make sure you have enough to eat yourself."
"Is there any minestrone left, and maybe some of the meatballs, too?"
"You're in luck. Take a seat, I'll get a bowl ready for you."
"Uh, no. I know you aren't going to let me fix my own food, but I have been sitting down for the past five months - at least let me stand here and watch you."
"We've got ourselves a deal. How many meatballs?"
"Four."
It had been years since I had last made meatballs, but that's what Sharon had asked for and who was I to say to no to her? Sometime soon, I would have get used to cooking meat and fish again anyway because Sharon had insisted we would not raise Lizzie as a vegetarian. Plus, Naomi had said the meat would help Sharon with her anaemia.
"Andy? I think the soup is about ready. It's been boiling for a while and I maybe have half an hour before Lizzie wakes up again."
"Hard to think you once complained about 72 hour reporting cycles," I mused while ladling the soup into a bowl.
Sharon looked up from the cutlery drawer. "I never complained, Andy."
"Every single time, sweetheart, every single time you investigated me, you complained."
"Yes, about you, Andy, not about the reporting cycle!" Sharon smirked and sat down at the table looking at me expectantly. "So, are you going to feed the mother of your child or am I going hungry today?"
/
"You're making dinner?" I hear Sharon's voice. I thought she was still with Lizzie but apparently our little girl has fallen asleep more quickly tonight. Sharon wraps her arms around me, resting her head against my back like she has so often done.
"I would have taken you to the best restaurant in town tonight to celebrate, but I figured we'd both be happier at home with Lizzie."
"You remembered!" I can hear the joy in her voice and turn around to look at her. She wears very little make-up, there is a burp cloth on her shoulder, her blouse is still half-unbuttoned after nursing and there's a stain from when Lizzie spit up on her earlier today. She's always so perfectly put together, but for some reason seeing her like this touches me even more. She's all Lizzie's mum and she couldn't be more beautiful.
"Of course, how could I ever forget? How does homemade pasta sound to you, monkeygirl?"
"That sounds absolutely perfect, Andy. I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate today with you. What a year! Never thought a kiss would lead to all this."
"We've certainly gotten a lot more than what I ever dared hope for."
"Gosh, yes! Do I have time for a shower?"
"We have all the time in the world, Sharon, but you are perfect just the way you are."
"Baby spit and all." Our eyes lock for a moment and then I can see the sparkle in hers.
"You know, maybe I'll save the shower for after we're done with the flour."
Before I even realise what is happening she has reached behind me, grabbed a handful of flour and in a gesture that could otherwise be described as loving, ran her fingers through my hair.
Our joint laughter rings through the condo before we start to kiss – one year after our first kiss in the exact same spot.
Author's note: I said this was going to be the last chapter, but apparently the Flynns still have more to tell!