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December 23 - December 28, 2024
Rose whispers to me, “That’s me and you.” We’re about six years apart, like Sullivan and Winona. Two generations of sisters. I rest my chin on Rose’s shoulder, and she places her hand to my head lovingly. Sullivan stares in awe at the baby and she says, “I love you, Nona.”
Ryke & Daisy Meadows welcome the birth of their baby girl * * * WINONA BRIAR MEADOWS March 24th, 2024
It’s a surprise that he let the Batmobile bed into the house at all, but Lo loves Moffy more than he hates Batman.
He just gave me his summer reading list this morning. Instead of choosing the required three books, he wants to read every single one. Ten books. I never thought we’d have a child who likes reading outside of graphic novels and the occasional fantasy book. Then again, I never thought we’d have a baby that grew up to love Batman. Moffy has been full of surprises.
never thought he could be gentle, not even with his own kids, but he was wrong. He might not have the softest voice, but his innocence surfaces—innocence that we both lost at a young age. He finds and gives it all to them.
“I always believed in you, Lily, but that was…extraordinary.” “I didn’t blush. Not once.” Pride swells up, something so foreign that I hold on to it tight. “You’re amazing.” He kisses me once more. This time right on the lips—where the sentiment of his words sings through me.
Willow & Garrison Abbey welcome the birth of their baby girl * * * VADA LAUREN ABBEY May 11th, 2024
“‘For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief.’” I look at Eliot while I read the next line from memory, and he too, remembers it, mouthing all the words, “‘Mad indeed would I be…” I smile as his lips move. His memory matches mine. And I never forget anything.
Lily & Loren Hale welcome the birth of their baby girl * * * KINNEY HALE October 3rd, 2024
Rose is Catwoman to Connor’s Batman.
“We came up with his name!” We angle towards our nine-year-old son. “Let’s hear it,” Lo says. Moffy grins. “Gotham.” You should see Lo’s face. He looks dismayed and perturbed. Sometimes I think Moffy gravitates towards DC comics just to see Lo’s what-is-the-world-coming-to expression that pops up solely for moments like these. Moffy is already laughing again. “This better be your biggest joke all year,” Lo says. “No, really, that’s his name.” He calls out over his shoulder, “Right, Luna?” Luna nods rapidly. “Gotham!” She giggles when he licks her cheek. “Jesus Christ,” Lo says beneath his
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“I give my time to the people who are most important to me. Odds are that person isn’t you.”
He’d been my rival since I was a teenager, and I’d yet to fully understand what it meant to have him as a teammate.
It’s what I remember as I scream in a hospital. As I squeeze my husband’s hand. He towers beside me—as invincible as the day he leaned against that library table.
“Rose, darling.” Connor lifts my chin, and I meet his glassy blues, his grin terribly gorgeous. “We have a girl.”
“Audrey Virginia Cobalt.” After Virginia Woolf.
“Jane, Charlie, Beckett, Eliot, Tom, and Ben.” They radiate, and the room teems with power and vivacity. “We’d like you all to meet your new sister. Audrey Virginia Cobalt.” I have the baby in my arms to show them. Jane’s hands fly to her mouth, tears brimming. “A sister?” Over the years, she’s seen me with her aunts, the support and love we share for one another. Over the years, she’s waited, like us, to see if we’d have a girl. “Yes, a sister.” Jane cries into a smile.
Connor & Rose Cobalt welcome the birth of their baby girl * * * AUDREY VIRGINIA COBALT January 27th, 2025
There is love so deeply rooted between us. Beneath all the dark and the black and the tar that bleeds our souls. There is love. It exists, and I realize I’m about to lose it forever.
“Loren,” he says my name again. Is this the last time I’ll hear it? I keep my glare on the ceiling, tears still dripping out the corners. “You’re a better father,” he tells me. Stop crying. “A better husband.” Stop fucking crying. “A better man.”
“I’ve always loved you, son.” I know. He never let me forget it. “It was a decent ride. The whiskey could’ve been better towards the end.” I can’t laugh at the joke. He stayed sober. My dad stayed sober for a long time. For me. For Ryke. For Willow. For himself. “Will you remember?” he asks, fear creasing his eyes for the first time. “Remember what?” “That I loved you.”
“Your worth isn’t dictated by the number of friends you have. You can have zero friends and still be the most amazing, spectacular person in the whole galaxy. You want to know why?” “Why?” Her voice is meek, but the waterworks have ended. “Because the love friends give you isn’t even comparable to the love you give yourself. Do you love who you are, Luna Hale?” She nods vigorously. “Yes.”
Friends come and fucking go. Family is forever.”
“Not my idea. They overheard Connor and me. We were talking about it, and then I caught them in the bathroom like this.” These are Rose’s sons. There is no question about it. Solidarity. For my daughter to have that. Christ. I internally shake my head, whiplashed. We speak of moving mountains, but sometimes people can completely rotate the world, just so someone else can land upright on their feet.
As we head home, I feel all the sentiments Lily told me earlier tonight. Our bad days have the ability to become better. It may be a horrible month. A horrible year. But there will be good days, good moments, great seconds. I vow to never forget that.
Because chocolate is the cure to most things. Cake is the cure to everything.
“I believe the human brain is capable of great and terrible things. We’re dreadfully complicated creatures.”
“Never sacrifice your personal style. Don’t be anyone but you.”
I’d do anything to ensure the safety and well-being of my family. Including, at the very last effort, physically barring my daughter from leaving the house in that dress. The reason why I’m so much better than everyone else: To win, I only ever need words.
I remember the day he turned eleven. He took a Harry Potter quiz, and he was sorted into a wizarding house. Maximoff Hale is a Hufflepuff. And he’s so goddamn strong.
“I can call you when I’m twenty and in college, can’t I?” he asks. “You’ll still be around to teach me how to fold?” Tears brim, and I nearly shed an actual tear. I skim my finger beneath my eye, avoiding smudged mascara. Having children has been like viewing Titanic a million times in succession. I could cry at the stupidest, silliest, most inane and nauseatingly adorable moments. I could cry at the sight of any of them, for any reason, for anything. I take a deep, vital breath that grips my heart. “Whenever you need me, I’ll always be here.”
“You like the book?” He sniffs loudly, rubbing his face dry before he talks. “It’s cool.” He opens it. “I like this line so far…” He passes me the philosophy novel and points. “If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.” Yeah. I like that fucking one, too.
We play a variation of the same game we created at Model UN. The day we met each other for the first time.
have everything I’ve desired. I have him. I have them. This dining room breathes life the way that I only imagined. What else left is there to say and do? I’m already triumphant. I’m already proud of him, of them and of me.
He’s my idealistic son that dreams in undiscovered colors.
Jane looks between Rose and me, and very strongly, she says, “Ensemble.” “Ensemble,” our children then exclaim at once. My lips pull upward into a blinding grin. Rose is moved, fingers to her own lips, and her fiery yellow-green eyes meet my calm deep blue. I skim the base of her neck with my hand. We draw our gazes to our children. Fire and water upon them. We tell all seven the one word that has breathed inside of us from the moment we met. We say, “Ensemble.” Together.
No words need to pass. No radio needs to be flipped on. Our music exists right here. We’re alive. We’re alive. God, we’re all fucking alive. In this present moment. In this place together.
Between years of missteps, fuck-ups, and setbacks, something beautiful and pure happened, and we’re viewing every little bit.
“I gave you my heart a long time ago, and I’m not sure I remind you enough that you still have it. All of it.” Lo leans into me and fits the jewelry around my neck.
And then an electric song full of heavy bass blares across the lake. Side-by-side on the canoe bench, we look out towards the west bank. Our four kids and floppy-eared basset hound stand on the hillside, a common spot because of the rope swing tied to a maple branch. Moffy raises a set of portable speakers, Bangarang by Skrillex booming. Luna, Xander, and Kinney—they wave out to us and lift up a sign together that reads: we love you! They were a part of this surprise all along.
“I think we finally deserve this.” Tears spill out of his eyes, and he says, “I believe it, too.”
With the six of us on this hill and the packed lake house behind us—I feel sentiments far beyond this sunrise, this morning, this moment. We filled an empty house. I’m thirty-seven. Just yesterday I was twenty and meeting some of these people—people that I’d spend my life with, that’d become my home. Just yesterday I was twenty—still deeply and desperately in love with my best friend. I grew older. We all grow older.
In a blink of an eye, our children will grow old too. And I’ll think: just yesterday they were twenty. Headed for college. Falling in love. Memories will flood behind us, the lake house no longer filled to the brim. As quiet as the moment we first walked in—and we’ll sit on this hill. Feeling the stillness that exists. And then we end—we end where we started. Just us. All six of us.
This may be the end of the series, but it’s not the end. We’ll keep writing. We hope you’ll keep reading. And just know that these books will never go away. There’s over 1 million words of Lily, Loren, Connor, Rose, Ryke & Daisy. That’s more than a lifetime. We won’t officially say goodbye because as J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan said, “Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.” Until next time.
