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Shit We could turn into coift bag and flowers on the dresser and then kick off my shoes and tear offunderneath it Leaving onher in even closer She co intofrorant neck, thankful to have her inhave you been here?"

"I just got hoet hoht, too excited to see my wife To be home I’m never home if I’ all ot up before Oent to school and h his alar class" She sounds irritated and I can’t bla up since he started college So easy to do during fresh up at me as she reaches for me and winds her arht be too tired" I drop a kiss on the tip of her nose

"It’s normal I went to the doctor Friday, re"

Unable to help myself, I reach down and settleto start showing?"

"I bet you’d like that, huh? Your poor fat wife" She laughs somewhat self-consciously "I still have a few months before that happens"

"Oh" I’ inside of her But I’m patient It’ll happen "Are you still tired?"

"Sort of" She yawns, doesn’t even bother covering it up "I tossed and turned a lot last night"

"Why?"

"Too anxious for you to come home" She offers irl rarely acts shy She’s bold and deterht ferocious No one crosses Fable She’s fking tough

Right now, though? She looks ready to slip behind a giant wall so she can hide

"Are you okay?" I ask because I’ like normal and yeah, maybe I can blame the hormones and the baby, but ood I just …" Her voice drifts off and she leans into ainst ainst my skin, her lips on me, damp and plush, and she kissesthat’s happened"

"What do youon the ends of her hair to force her to look atmine "I feel like I deceived you somehow, and that was never my intention I was scared and I didn’t knohat to do I didn’t kno to tell you that I was pregnant I needed advice, so I went to Jen And then it all backfired The last thing I wanted was for you to find out you’re going to be a father fro to do what you thought was right by going to Jen," I say softly, but she shakes her head

"Yeah, and what I thought was doing the right thing turned out to be totally wrong What if I do thatwith our baby? Soment isn’t the best and I do duht end up a shitty one, you know My mom ful She’s still awful And I have no idea whoup was not so great," Fable ad" When she looks up at ly, I continue "I had terrible examples, too, you know My dad wasn’t around ers against ed with steel

I chuckle, and she drops her fingers fro situation as a kid was pretty fked up, too, Fable"

"So what are we going to do? How are we going to do this? I don’t kno to be a mother and you don’t kno to be a father" She pauses as if she just realized so to be a total wreck as parents, aren’t we?"

"Hey" I cup her cheeks withher to stare intolost and worried and in desperate need of reassurance "Reether? Remember how fked up that all was? We knee didn’t make any sense but it happened anyway We realized the only e ether"

"Okay," she whispers with a little nod "But what does that have to do with our being parents?"

"We work as a couple We’ll work as parents, Fable I have faith in that and you should, too," I say vehe at how soft her skin is "We’re going toparents, don’t you think?"

"Not if you use language like that around our child," she sniffs, h "I’e Ever It’s awful"

"Neither do you, baby," I say just before I lean in to kiss her

"Hey, I’ve really cleaned up my act," she protests once I break the kiss "I’ve been especially good these past feeeks Do you know the baby can hear pretty ht now?"

"The baby doesn’t even have ears yet," I re Trust me So keep it clean"

"Now the baby’s a she?" I like the idea of a blond little girl with flashing green eyes and a sassy attitude running around I like that a lot

"I go back and forth One day it’s a boy, the next it’s a girl We do want to find out what the baby’s sex is, right? I don’t think I can stand waiting until I deliver," she ad The idea of it being a surprise … I don’t like that" I’ve never been a fan of surprises They make me uneasy

"That’s how they did it in the olden days," she points out, oh so helpfully

"This isn’t the olden days anyy" I kiss her again because she’s so hard to resist Just like that I’m swept up in the taste of her lips, the feel of her, the little sounds she makes

Then I remember what I left on the dresser and I pull away frorab the flowers, thrusting them toward her She takes them from me, her expression one of shock

"What are these for?"

"U up the gift bag and hand that over to her as well "And a gift"