“I will have you, Michael. I love you too.”
Joy filled him. She loved him!
“Michael, I have to tell you something.”
“What, baby?”
“It’s a miracle. We…we’re going to have a baby.”
“So it is mine?”
“You know?”
“Kevin told me. I don’t think he thought it was a secret, so don’t get mad at him.”
“I’m not mad at him, and yes, of course it’s yours. I had no idea. I thought I was infertile, and you used condoms. But I haven’t been with anyone else. It has to be yours.”
A primal desire to run to the top of a mountain and roar surged through Michael. The woman he loved carried his child.
“Listen, baby,” he said, pushing her hair off her moist brow. “You need to take care of yourself. I’m not leaving your side. We need to get you healed up good as new, okay?”
“Yes, I can do it, now that you’re here. I can do it for you and our baby.”
“I know you can. God, I love you so much. As soon as you’re all better, will you do something for me?”
“Anything, Michael.”’
He smiled. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, and the look on her face made his heart melt. “Yes, Michael, I will marry you.”
* * *
Seven months later
“Had enough?” Michael eased the baby from Stacy’s arms and set him in the bassinet next to Stacy’s hospital bed.
Stacy smiled. “That baby sure knows how to eat for only being a little over twenty-four hours old.”
“I can certainly understand that.” Michael leaned down and kissed Stacy’s cheek. “I can’t resist those breasts of yours either. They were the first thing I noticed about you, remember?”
Warmth crept up Stacy’s neck as the memory emerged. Michael, dressed in jeans and a white shirt, looking like the male model he was, ogling her chest and saying “that’s a nice shirt.” How far they’d come since then, but Stacy wouldn’t change a minute of their time together. They’d been married six months and still her husband could make her blush. She hoped that never changed.
“Hey. Can you hand me the laptop? There’s something I need to do.”
“No working, baby. I thought we agreed you’re taking some time off. Now that I’m managing the Chicago Playboys, you can ease up on the writing.”
Michael was proving to be great at his new job, a real asset to the male revue. “See? With your talent and intelligence, you never needed a sugar mama.”
“I still got the woman I wanted though.” He reached for the laptop. “What do you want this for? I’m serious about you not working. You just gave birth, for God’s sake.”
“I’m not going to work.” Exhaustion overwhelmed her, but it paled in comparison to her deep happiness and contentment. “But there are some people who are waiting to hear the good news.”
Michael set the laptop on her lap. Stacy fired it up and logged into the Cougar Club.
StacyStarr: It’s a boy!