“All right,” the tattoo artist says, wiping my wrist. “Check it out.”
I glance down at the gray shaded beautiful butterfly and smile. “It’s perfect.”
I show it to Chase, who nods in agreement. “Perfect.”
“Where to next?” Micaela asks once we’re paid up and standing outside. “I’m for once not pregnant. I vote we get drunk.” Her husband laughs.
“You guys can go,” Chase says, wrapping his arms around me. “I’m taking my wife back to our hotel room and not coming out until tomorrow morning.” I tilt my face up to look at him and he waggles his brows suggestively.
“I’m down for hitting a club,” Lexi says. She pulls me into a tight hug. “Enjoy your wedding night. Congratulations. I love you and I’m so proud of you.” She chokes up on the last word and hugs me tighter.
“I love you more, Lex.”
We break apart—both of us wiping the tears from our eyes—and everyone else hugs and congratulates Chase and me, before we go our separate ways.
When we arrive back at the room, I tell Chase I’d like to freshen up, and of course he insists we shower together. The entire time we’re washing up, we can’t keep our hands and mouths off each other. I think we both want to have sex in the shower, but at the same time, we also want to make love for the first time as husband and wife in the bed. When we get out, I brush my teeth and am about to take my birth control pill when Chase plucks it out of my hand.
“What if you stopped taking this?”
“My pill?” I’m confused. If I don’t take it, I’ll… “You want to have another baby?”
“Only if you do.” He smiles shyly. “You and Lexi are close in age and get along well. And my sister and I were too, until…” He swallows thickly. “Until the drugs, we were best friends.”
I encircle my arms around his waist. “I wish I could’ve met her.”
“I wish you could’ve too.” He kisses the top of my head. “What do you think?”
I back up and he holds up the packet of pills. Doing the math in my head, I figure out that if we were to get pregnant now, Hazel and the baby would be just under two years apart. That’s if I get pregnant right away. I’ve been on the pill for years, so it could take months…
“Okay,” I tell him. “No more pill. Whatever happens, happens.”
“Hell yes.” Chase’s lips curve into a sexy smirk. “Let’s get started now.”
He lifts me over his shoulder, fireman style, and stalks over to the huge bed, dropping me onto the center of the mattress.
“Wait! I didn’t get to put on my sexy bridal lingerie.” I picked it out especially for tonight. It even matches my wedding dress.
“You can show me after,” Chase growls. “Right now, I need to be inside my wife.” His mouth crashes against mine and all thoughts of my lingerie disappear as I get lost in my husband.
Chase
Four Months Later
“I’m pregnant.” Georgia lifts the stick with the bold word PREGNANT written out. “Oh my God! I’m pregnant.” Her eyes light up and a huge grin splays across her face.
“You’re pregnant.” I pull her into my arms, both shocked and elated. Neither of us thought she’d get pregnant so quickly, so when she missed her period a couple weeks ago, she was in denial. Until the morning sickness started and we agreed it was time to take a test.
“Mama! Dada!” Hazel yells from her crib, letting us know she’s awake from her nap.
Georgia wraps the stick up in toilet paper and drops it into the garbage, then washes her hands. When we walk into Hazel’s room, she’s bouncing up and down with the most adorable smile. “Up, please,” she says, the word please coming out like peeze. I lift her out of her crib and place her on her changing table so I can change her diaper.
“I can’t believe by the end of this year, we’re going to have another little one,” Georgia says, kissing Hazel’s forehead. “I think we should look for our own place.”
My head jerks up. “To buy?”
“Well, yeah.” She shrugs. “Maybe in the same neighborhood as my parents or near Lexi…”
My brain starts calculating how much a house in one of those areas will cost. I spent the majority of my savings on Georgia’s ring, and I still need to pay her back for the attorney.
“Hey,” she says, picking up Hazel and setting her down. “If you want to stay here, we can. It was just a thought.”
I watch as Hazel runs over to the corner of her room and drops into her oversized stuffed chair. It has her name stitched across the back and is pink, like most of the other stuff in her room. She grabs a book and opens it, mumbling to herself like she can actually read it.