“Always.”
Epilogue
About Two Years Later
“Margot. You can say it. Margot.”
“Buh!” Caroline Lowell smacked her lips together. A bubble of spit dribbled from the corner of her mouth as she burbled incoherently, staring up at Margot with wide brown eyes.
Margot jostled the baby on her lap and snorted. “My name isn’t buh, but I have the utmost faith in you, Care Bear. It’s simple. Mar-go. Margot.”
Caroline Lowell clapped her chubby little hands together and giggled. “Buh!”
“I’m going to cut you some slack because you’re not even a year old. Or”—she rolled her eyes—“sorry, twelve months. Why does everyone do that? I don’t go around telling everyone I’m . . .” She did the math. “Three hundred seventy-two months, do I? No, because that would be ridiculous.”
Caroline laughed and kicked her legs, bouncing atop Margot’s thighs. Beneath her dress—a sparkling silver number with a full crinoline skirt dotted with multicolored glitter—she sported dark blue leggings. Atop her head, her crown of evergreen sprigs and eucalyptus sat askew. One tiny tuft of hair had been scraped into the world’s saddest ponytail atop the center of her mostly bald head. The silver bow meant to hold it in place kept sliding, her strawberry blond hair too fine, too sparse.
“You are great for my self-esteem, kid. I hope you still laugh at all my jokes once you can understand them.”
“Buh!” Caroline pointed at Margot’s half-empty bottle of beer. Not just any beer, but the recently released Aries brew from Bell and Blanchard Brewing Company in partnership with Oh My Stars. It was a hazy IPA with a slightly peppery bite that paired perfectly with the fruitiness of the Galaxy and Simcoe hops. Profitable and delicious. As far as Margot was concerned, it was the best business partnership she and Elle had made yet.
She glanced at the dance floor. Second-best business partnership.
“Yes, that’s beer,” Margot said, turning back to Caroline. “But you can’t have that for another . . .” She wrinkled her nose. “We’ll talk about it when you’re a little older, yeah?”
Caroline gurgled and lurched forward, smacking Margot’s cheek with damp fingers. Why Caroline had such sticky fingers was a touch unsettling. “Buh buh BUH!”
Margot nodded. “If you say so.”
Caroline dimpled and pressed her other hand to Margot’s cheek and—that hand wasn’t merely a little moist, it was covered in something. Something she smeared all over Margot’s cheek with undisguised glee, babbling excitedly, her fingers creeping closer to the edge of Margot’s mouth.
“What the fu—fudge is on my face?” she muttered, equally as horrified to find out what it was as she was to simply leave it there, ignorant. “This had better not be from your diaper.”
Reluctantly, she reached for her napkin and dabbed at her cheek. Caroline blew spit bubbles and watched with wide brown eyes. Margot sniffed and sighed in relief.
Frosting. It was the lemon buttercream from the wedding cake. Margot didn’t exactly want it on her face, but it could’ve been worse. It could’ve been far worse.
“How’d you get your hands on cake, Care Bear?”
Caroline gummed at her fist. More frosting seeped out from between her tiny dimpled knuckles.
“Okay.” Margot tossed her napkin on the table and stood, cradling Caroline to her chest, careful to keep her fingers from coming anywhere near her face. “Time to take you back to your parents, I think.”
The best part of being an honorary aunt? At the end of the day, Margot got to give Caroline back.
“Here.” Brendon was staring off into space, lids heavy like he was about to conk out at any moment, so she nudged him. He blinked blearily up at her, then smiled at Caroline. “I don’t know how, but she got into some frosting.”
He hummed softly and snagged the baby under the arms. “Curious Care Bear.”
“Sticky Care Bear,” Margot corrected.
Caroline cooed and Brendon cringed, one hand on her bottom.
“Wet Care Bear.”
Caroline pressed her face against his chest, wiping her spit on his shirt. “Buh.”
At first, Brendon looked disgusted, then resigned, before his face settled on a look of pure adoration as he pressed his lips to the top of Caroline’s mostly bald head. She had him wrapped around her pinky finger. To steal Brendon’s favorite word, he looked utterly smitten. “Buh’s right, baby. Let’s get you changed.”