“No offense… but yes, so, so, so happy.”
“Offense?” She laughs. “Girl, you got your dream life. As if I’d be offended.”
After saying goodbye – Egil giving her lots of doggie kisses – I walk to the window and look down on the city, my belly swirling with excitement and hope and just a little nervousness.
But just like usual lately, the nerves are buried beneath everything else, all the building blocks of optimism that Asher, our fate-fueled romance, and our engagement have instilled in me.
Egil follows me into the study. Asher put in a new desk last week, so that there are two in here, on opposite ends of the room. I smile when I remember his explanation.
“They have to be on opposite ends…” He said, his hands on my hips possessively. “Otherwise, we’d never get any work done.”
Egil curls up at my feet as I disappear into the world of journal articles and primary sources, trying to keep my mind focused on my research reading and not the little white stick that sits on the corner of my desk.
But I can’t resist the urge to pick it up, examining it as though it’s going to disappear.
A bright smile lights my cheeks up every time I look at it, every time I imagine Asher’s face when I tell him.
The old Autumn might’ve dwelled on all the ways this could go wrong, but I’m done with that sort of thinking. I’m done torturing myself so needlessly.
With Asher to support me, I know I never have to think like that again.
“Autumn.”
I look up to find Asher standing in the doorway. Egil is at his feet, but he’s yawning and stretching, as though he’s only just woken up. In the first few days of my staying here, Egil would still bark when I returned home.
But now, if I’m here, he feels comfortable enough to lazily walk around.
“What’s that?” Asher strides across the room, staring down, his eyebrows raised. “Is it… is it what I think it is?”
His voice trembles. It’s like he’s trying to contain a cheer. Like he can’t let himself go there before he’s certain.
“Yes,” I whisper, and then I say it louder, “Yes, Asher. It is. It’s…”
I leap to my feet and walk around the desk, showing him the pregnancy test.
“Positive, it’s positive. We’re going to have a baby.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” he roars, looping his arms around me and lifting me off my feet.
I giggle as he spins me around, my feet flying off the floor, my world getting blurry. He puts me down and cradles my face in his hands, smiling in a way he never did before. The smile is wide and bright and unashamed. The smile is nothing like a smirk, nothing like a carnal twist of his lips.
It's unblemished happiness, hope, love, all bundled up in the shape of his lips.
“I love you,” he says, resting his forehead against mine. “I love you so much. And I love our baby. I love our life.”
“I love you too,” I whisper, as tears slide warmly down my cheeks. “So, so much.”
We embrace, kiss, and then Egil whines and starts pawing at us. I giggle and Asher chuckles, leaning down and scooping the little man up.
“Don’t worry, little guy,” I say, softly stroking his ears. “Nobody’s going to forget about you.”
He grins, his tongue hanging out, as though he’s as happy about the news as we are.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
Asher
I stand at the altar, my hands behind my back, mostly to stop myself from fidgeting. We decided to wait until after our child was born to get married, plus Autumn said she wanted some time to recover afterward.
When I suggested we make our wedding day exactly a year after the date of our engagement, my woman gifted me with a beaming smile.
Now, as I stand beneath the altar and the music plays, I take in a slow breath, my gaze moving over the crowd.
My mom stands in the front row, with little Lila cradled in her arms. Lila was Autumn’s mother’s name. When I gently suggested that we might want to name our daughter that – careful because I didn’t want to upset her – Autumn’s face broke into a broad smile and tears streamed down her cheeks.
“It’s the hormones.”
She giggled, pawing at her cheeks, but we both knew it was more than that.
Mom offers me a smile as she softly holds her granddaughter. Ever since returning from Spain for the wedding and to meet their grandchild, my mom and dad have been great. At first, I thought they’d changed since being overseas, but then it hit me.
I’ve changed.
Autumn has changed me.
I thought I’d let go of all my childhood resentment, but it wasn’t until I met the woman of my dreams that I was able to fully let everything go.