Unbreak My Heart(56)

“You think I always knew?”

She nods. “Sometimes we know the truth, but we can’t face it for whatever reason.”

I wrap an arm around her and tug her close. Sandy lies at our feet, watching.

“Do you remember this day?” I ask, showing her the picture of her hair blowing in the breeze, her gaze trained on the lens.

She studies the shot of herself near a cherry blossom tree, and soon a smile forms. “I think that’s the day we went to the Imperial Gardens. The cherry blossoms were beautiful.”

I turn to the next shot, the one of her outside the pachinko parlor.

“That was later the same day. It was cold at night, so I changed my outfit. And then we sang karaoke.”

I place the photos on the table and bring her close, wrapping both arms tightly around her. “We should do karaoke again.”

“So you can serenade me with Rick Astley?”

“Rick Astley, Ed Sheeran. Whatever it takes, Holland. I will do whatever it takes to keep you.”

“You have me, Andrew.”

“But I want to keep earning you, every day.”

She smiles and leans her head back, looking up at me. “Just keep being you.”

“I will.” I drop a kiss to her forehead, thinking again how lucky I am for this second chance with her. “It’s funny how Ian was trying to play matchmaker from the grave.”

She sighs softly, snuggling closer. “You beat him to it though. You had me back before he sent you his directive.”

“I didn’t need to be told that twice. I needed you back. I wanted you back.”

I tug her up from the couch and take her to bed, where I show her all the ways I plan to keep her happy.

Happy with me.





Epilogue





Four months later



Holland and Kana take me out to dinner to celebrate.

My firm landed its first international client.

One of Jeremy’s investment start-ups is located here and needed an American lawyer. My buddy really is a rock star kind of friend.

I still haven’t taken the Bar yet—that hell awaits me in a few more months, but I’m working closely with the other attorneys in Los Angeles, helping this start-up with its business needs here.

“Just a few more months and I can file some lawsuits and stir things up,” I say as I raise a glass of sake.

Holland tips her cup to mine. “Or slap up some personal injury billboards at Shibuya Crossing.”

But we both know I’ll do neither. I like my simple life.

Kana lifts her water glass to toast. “To the soon-to-be newest lawyer in the Peterson family,” she says, then winces, setting a hand on her enormous belly. Hats off to her—I’ve no clue how she can be comfortable doing anything, even eating a meal.

“Is it a contraction?” Holland asks, on alert.

“I’m not sure.”

Kana breathes out hard then winces once more, until she smiles again. “Probably just Braxton Hicks. Let’s keep eating. It’ll take my mind off it.”

“Let’s pig out, then,” Holland says, but she watches her like a hawk the rest of the meal and insists on sharing a cab home with her.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” Kana says as we drop her off.

“Call me if they increase in frequency. I’ll go with you to the hospital,” Holland says.

“My mom can help too,” Kana says, since her family lives on the outskirts of Tokyo. She has parents and a sister, and they’re all excited to welcome the newest family member.

So am I. I can’t wait to meet my niece or nephew.

The next day when my class ends, Holland is waiting for me outside the door, ready to burst.

She grabs my hand. “Kana went into labor in the middle of the night. She had the baby! Let’s go!”



*

Thirty minutes later, I’m walking into the hospital room to meet my brother’s daughter.

Emotion wells up inside me as I cross the threshold. This is a moment I’ll want to remember for all time. This is the stuff that matters, the people we write letters for. This little person will change the course of lives.

Kana looks exhausted but ecstatic, holding her baby in the hospital bed. The tiny person in her arms is gorgeous, with a shock of black hair and a scrunched-up face. “Her name is Anna.”

“That’s a beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” I say reverently.

“Her full name is Anna Miyoshi Peterson,” she adds, and my throat hitches. Over the first name, my mother’s, and the last name too.

I look away briefly. “That’s perfect.”

“Do you want to hold her?”

I nod. “I do.”

I take Anna and hold her, and I can’t stop looking at this creation, who’s part her mom and part her dad.

I still don’t know if I believe in God or religion, but at that moment, I decide I do believe in something greater, something truer, something bigger than my brother.

I believe in this world.

I believe in hope.

I believe that love is stronger than death.

I don’t know that Ian is watching over his infant daughter, but I know this—I am.

And I will.

I know something else, something that will be true her whole entire life. I lean in close to my little niece, making sure she hears me, making certain she knows. “Your daddy loves you so much.”