BONUS CHAPTER A          their little life

"This just feels really big."

IT WAS OCTOBER WHEN Tally stood in the middle of the kitchen, barefoot and in one of Joe's old LSU sweatshirts. Her hands were deep in their drawer of random things and her heart thudded against her ribcage so hard that it hurt.

She wasn't usually nervous around Joe anymore. Not for a while- they'd built a life together. One that felt quiet and happy and steady. But this? This was so different. Her fingers brushed over chapstick tubes, receipts, a loose hair tie or three. Where the hell was the onesie?

Her phone was propped up in the corner, right against the coffee pot, angled just right. She checked it a million times to make sure she'd get his reaction. Josh had helped her run a test run, pretending to be Joe and react to the shocking news. Before he left, he gave Tally the tightest his and whispered, "You got this, Tuls."

Just thinking about her best friend made her heart soften- he was the first to know, after all.

It was just a few days ago. Josh had opened the door, bedheaded and with a mouthful of cereal. Tally stood on the welcome mat with her hands shaking behind her back. After staring at the positive pregnancy test for probably an hour to make sure it was real, she had driven over to his apartment, crying and shaking and laughing the entire way there.

Josh had blinked. "Are you okay?"

Tally had let out an awkward laugh that sounded like a hiccup. She had shoved the test into his hand. He himself had to stare at it for a while before wrapping her in a bear-tight hug and yelling about how excited Joe was gonna be.

Now there she is- two seconds from dumping her purse out. Her heart thudded in her chest, but if she didn't do it now, she never would. "Babe, could you come here for a second?"

"Yeah?" Joe calls casually, seemingly unbothered to Tally. Her hands shook as she moved from the drawer and to her purse. "I know I putt in here. Jesus, did I put it in the car? Is it in the bedroom?" She muttered to herself, hands shaking. She didn't know where she put the damn thing- she also didn't know that right behind her, Joe had gotten down on one knee and held out a red, velvet box.

"No, it was- oh, wait, yes!"

She held the two in her hand, adjusting her grip so he could see booth the onesie and the test. Just as Joe called her name, she turned.

"Talullah-"

"Oh my God."

Because she's holding a tiny, baby onesie, pale yellow, with the words 'You + Me = Three' stitched across the front.

And he's down on one knee.

They both stared at each other, mouths hanging open in shock.

Joe's eyes searched Tally's face while his heart was somewhere between his ribs and his throat. Tally stood in his oversized sweatshirt, her face pale and hands trembling.

"You-" Joe started, blinking once, then again, like he was trying to make sure he was seeing everything correctly. "Are you- Tuls-"

"I was- I didn't know how to tell you," she whispered, eyes glassy, and sunk to the floor in front of him. He laughed, breathless in disbelief. "I was gonna propose." His voice cracked as he lifted the box a little higher as if she hadn't already noticed it.

"And I was gonna tell you we're pregnant," Tally said, and let out a stunned laugh that turned into a sob. He's still staring, wide-eyed. "I- Are you really pregnant?"

She nodded- then she cried, soft tears trailing down her face. "Josh helped me pick it out. He said yellow because- because we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet."

Joe pressed his hand over his mouth to hold in the choked noise between a laugh and a gasp. He set down the ring box to cup her face and wipe the tears from her cheeks. "Oh my God. Tally, you're gonna be a mom. I'm gonna-"

"You're gonna be a dad," she breathed, half-laughing, half-crying. He fumbled to grab the box again, hands shaking. He held it up, still on his knees. "Okay, wait, wait, I still wanna do this right."

Tally nodded eagerly, eyes shining as Joe straightened his posture. "Talullah Rosaline Purdy," he announced. "I love you. I want to marry you. I want to raise this baby with you. And I had an entire speech prepared because I thought I was gonna be the one surprising you, but I can't remember a single thing I was going to say. So... will you marry me?"

Tally laughed and threw herself into his arms. "Yes, a million times yes."

In mid-March, Tally stood near the fridge, hand on her barely-there bump. She clutched the white envelope that held the answer- the beginning of their everything.

It was just the two of them. Now that the moment was there, her palms were clammy and her heart beat like it was trying to run away.

Joe wore that lopsided smile he always did when he was trying not to make her more nervous. "You okay, baby?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "This just feels really big."

He crossed the kitchen in three slow steps to wrap his arms around her, pressing a kiss to the curve of her neck. "It is really big," he says quietly. "It's us."

Then, with trembling hands, she opened the envelope.

Joe felt her go still in his arms. When she turned, tears were already slipping down her cheeks. He took the paper with careful hands. He read it once. Then again. His entire face shifted- eyes wide, mouth open in a quiet, disbelieving grin. "A girl?"

His laugh was soft and stunned as he lifted his girls. Tally clung to him, burying her face in his neck. "She's gonna have your eyes," he whispered. He just knew it.

In the early summer, the Purdy's backyard was coated in a honey colored haze. Strings of lights swayed between the trees, and chairs lined in rows sat beneath the homemade arch Tally's dad built by hand.

Her fingers curled around his arm as they stood on the back porch. Her dress fluttered in the afternoon breeze- soft, off-white lace that made her look like something out of a dream. Tee had just finished throwing petals down the aisle- it was Tally's turn now.

Joe waited at the end of the makeshift aisle. His cream-colored suit was perfectly tailored, smile soft and watery with emotions. Ja'Marr stood at his side, and Josh was already crying behind where Tally would stand. Tally's uncle stood at the arch, smiling in awe at his niece. Joe could barely breathe- he had never seen anyone more beautiful in his entire life. 

The vows were spoken in quiet voices. Josh cried harder than anyone else- including Joe. Joe's hands trembled as he held hers. Tally's voice shook. They kissed before her uncle would even finish the pronouncement.

Before they walked down the aisle as husband and wife, Joe pulled open his jacket to reveal a lining of soft, pink satin. Excited cheers and fresh tears echoed through the backyard, and the couple left everyone outside in shock and with Josh's wails of emotion.

It was in the middle of a hot July afternoon when it happened.

Joe forgot how to use his keys. He'd been deemed Joseph by his very in pain, very frustrated wife. Tally bit down on the seatbelt when the pain would come in sharp, steady waves. Her phone lit up with texts from Josh and Marren and Tee and half their world. She couldn't answer- she was breathing like her lungs were on fire. Her parents were still in Arizona and Josh was stuck in traffic.

The hospital room was quiet and dim, despite the steady beeping of monitors and Joe whispered every comforting word he could think of. She barely heard him. She only gripped his hand like it was the only thing keeping her tethered.

"You've got her, baby," he breathed, kissing her bare shoulder.

And with one last breath, one final push- a cry. High, thin, and so full of life that it cut straight through Tally. And when that baby cried, suddenly nothing else in the world mattered more to Joe.

She relaxed back onto the pillows, shaking and crying. She felt a strange kind of empty and full, all at once.

Joe let out a soft, tearful laugh. "Oh my God," he whispered, watching as the nurse handed Tally a bundle wrapped in white. "She's here."

She barely had the stretch to lift her arms- but she did. And there she was.

Iris Josephine Burrow. Tiny, warm, and red-faced. Her cries softened the moment she was pressed against her mom's chest.

Joe kissed his wife's head over and over. "You did it, Tuls. I'm so proud of you." He leaned over her shoulder, letting the tears drip down his cheeks. "She's perfect."

An hour later, Josh finally burst into the room with a bouquet of wildflowers and a handful of tissues. His shirt was inside out and his eyes were already glossy. The moment he saw Iris, he froze.

Then he took her in his arms- carefully, like she was made of spun sugar, and absolutely crumbled under the blue-eyed baby's grasp. "She looks like Tally," he sniffed, looking up at the couple with a tear-stricken face. "Thank God."

Back at home, it was just past midnight. Josh was asleep in the recliner, mouth hanging open, a tiny, pink sock on his shoulder. Tally was laying Iris down in her bassinet in her nursery. Moonlight filtered in through the curtains, casting soft, silver light across the walls. The baby was fast asleep, her fists curled up under her chin like she was dreaming of sunshine.

Joe stood in the doorway, watching them with something stronger than awe. He'd never seen anything more beautiful. 

Tally watches their daughter as he moves to stand beside her. Looking at her round cheeks and little nose, she knew that it was all worth it. The tears, the pain, everything her and Joe had gone through the past few years. It was nothing in comparison to the love they felt for their daughter. The pair look down at their baby before Joe breathes, "She's unreal."

"She's ours," she says, voice soft. "We made her."

They stand in the silence, Joe's hand resting on her arm. He presses his head against hers. "You know what's wild?"

"What?"

"This all started with me giving you a concussion."

Tally giggles, eyes glassy with that kind of love that only grows in the quiet. "And now we've got her."

Joe kissed the side of her head. They stay like that for a lng time- no cameras, no noise, no plans for tomorrow.

Just this.

Their little life.

The best thing they'd ever made.