Leah remembered making this exact drive just days ago, how downtrodden she’d felt. She’d been so sure that the next years of her life were going to be desperate and miserable. That she’d be looking frantically for jobs and childcare, working as many hours as she could at whatever work she could find, while her mom was loudly disappointed and disapproving in the background.
And meanwhile, Emily would start growing up sleeping in her Pack-n-Play in a living room, with a mommy who was barely around and a grandmother who disapproved of her existence.
But now...
Now, the most wonderful man she’d ever met was driving her and her daughter home. And home meant a cozy little house right next to one of the most beautiful places in the world. And she and Emily were going to live there.
And Jeff loved them both. And for him, that meant forever.
They stopped and picked up pizza in town, just before they made it home, and then Leah helped Jeff unload the trailer—which mostly meant helping to balance some of the larger and more unwieldy things. Jeff was strong enough to lift everything they’d packed up all by himself.
“Whoof,” said Jeff, once they were done. “I say we set everything up tomorrow. It’s my day off, so there’s plenty of time.”
“I second the motion,” Leah said, yawning and lifting a hungry Emily from her Pack-n-Play. “There’s pizza to eat.”
Jeff built a fire, and they took turns feeding Emily and scarfing down pizza while it crackled away. Watching Jeff do “here comes the airplane!” with Emily’s little spoon made Leah’s heart grow in her chest. At this rate, she thought, pretty soon there wouldn’t be room for it in there.
“What are you smiling at?” Jeff asked, grinning over from the other side of the table.
“You and our daughter.” Leah smiled back.
Jeff’s grin transformed at that, from something silly to something...joyous. He looked like he was glowing with happiness.
“Ah ah ah!” Emily said, smacking her hand down on her high chair’s tray.
“What’s that?” Jeff asked, turning back to her. “You want Daddy to feed you? Well, it’s your lucky day, because Daddy has some food right here.” He held out the spoon again.
“I love you,” Leah said, without even meaning to, like the words came straight from her heart to her mouth without her brain needing to be involved at all.
Jeff looked back at her and smiled. “I love you, too.”
After dinner, it was bath time, and bedtime. Jeff disappeared into the kitchen to do the few dishes they’d used, and once Emily was sleeping peacefully, Leah steeled herself for one final task and went to find her phone.
She dialed, and waited. When the call was answered, she took a deep breath. “Hi, Mom. I have some news.”
***
Twenty minutes later, Leah hung up and rubbed her eyes. Jeff, who’d been watching sympathetically from the sofa, came over and wrapped her up in a hug. “That didn’t sound like fun.”
Leah shrugged. “She’s never going to think I’m making a good decision. Once she calms down about that, I think she’ll be happy that I’m not showing up on her doorstep with a baby, but...” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe when you’re still around after ten years, she’ll change her mind about this being the biggest mistake of my life, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
“I’m sorry,” Jeff said in
to her hair.
“It’s okay.” Leah looked up at him. “It’s really okay, because you’re my family now.”
Jeff kissed her deeply. Leah opened her mouth for it, and pulled him in, letting the phone call fall away in the face of her mate’s obvious love for her.
They kissed for a long, long time, and somewhere in there, clothes started disappearing. Soon, Leah was panting into Jeff’s mouth, desire flooding her body.
“Naked,” she told him. “Come on.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, grinning, and stripped off the rest of his clothes while she did the same.
She thought about leading him to the bedroom, but the fire was still burning next to them, and the way the light rippled over his body, leaving his muscles alternately lit and shadowed, was hypnotic.
She wanted him right here. Surprising herself with her own assertiveness, Leah pushed Jeff down onto the carpet in front of the fireplace, straddling him and leaning down to kiss him.