“Oh, good. I worried that you would think it’s too soon or something.”
“Not a chance,” I tell her, looking at the sonogram picture again.
“So about London?”
“I am taking you on a grand museum tour as well as a private collection tour of some friends of mine. Three months of art in London, Paris, and Rome.”
“What?” she asks excitedly.
“I’ve worked it all out. Down to the last day,” I say pulling the schedule out and showing
it to her.
“Holy shit, G. You know the Duke of Galloway? This is going to be just like Pride and Prejudice,” she says practically squirming in her seat. She pretty much watches that movie every night before bed and I’ll admit that’s where I got the idea from.
“We went to college together. He has some Rembrandt’s that I think you’ll like.”
“Holy shit,” she says again. It seems to be all she can say. I chuckle. As soon as we can
get up, I make good on my internal promise to peel her out of that dress and fuck her until sun comes up.
Sometimes, all it takes is a single look at someone and they are ingrained in your soul
forever. I’ll never forget her sitting in that chair and reading a book as long as I live. One single look and I was hooked. She’s my everything and I’ll go to the ends of the Earth a million times if I have to in order to keep her.
I’ll thank God every day that I had to go to that set. It truly was a miracle that I was there at all and now that she’s mine, I’ll never let her go.
Epilogue
Cecilia
Fifteen Years Later
It’s been fifteen years since I met the love of my life. Fifteen years spent in wedded bliss with my one and only. So much has happened since I met G, our three-month honeymoon turned into a one-month honeymoon because I was so sick with our first son Danny.
After Danny was born, we had a hard time conceiving again. After two years of trying and nothing happening, we decided to talk to some specialists to see what was going on. They could never definitively say why we weren’t having any luck conceiving even after they did over a hundred tests. Gerard said he was fine with just Danny but in my heart, I knew that I was meant to have more children. I wanted Danny to grow up with a sibling. So, we talked to the doctors and decided to try IVF. Two years later, I was on my fourth round of IVF. I decided it would be my last. I couldn’t put my body through that anymore and I was just starting to get more depressed the longer it took. I finally got pregnant again with not one but three babies. Eight months later I gave birth to three beautiful baby girls. Jill came in at four pounds. Faith at three pounds, four ounces, and finally Amy at three pounds even.
They had to spend a month in the hospital before they were able to come home, and our little family was complete. From day one Danny has had the overprotective big brother role down and it has only gotten worse in the years he has played the role.
Between him and his father, we will be lucky if the girls go on a date before they turn twenty-one. When the triplets turned five, I decided that I wanted to go to college and get my bachelor’s degree in Art history.
While I was at school, G took time off from work to take care of the kids because I didn’t want them raised by nannies and for them to feel like their parents didn’t love them. Gerard is the most amazing father to our children, the unconditional love and support he shows our children amazes me. I don’t know how it is possible, but I fall more and more in love with that man every day.
Today is my first gallery showing and I have worked my ass off to get here. That doesn’t mean I am not having a freak out moment.
“G, I don’t think I can do this,” I tell my husband nervously.
“Doll face, you have given birth to four beautiful children. You can do anything,” Gerard says wrapping his arms around my waist. I immediately melt into his embrace and let out a sigh.
“That didn’t involve two hundred strangers.” He chuckles and kisses the top of my head.
“True, you worked your ass off, baby. Raising four kids taking care of me and putting this on the back burner for so long. This is going to be an amazing show and after I have a surprise for you.”
I turn around in his arms and look up at him. His brown hair is starting to turn gray at the temples. He grew out his facial hair into a nice beard that I fucking love. He is my sexy silver fox and I can’t get enough of him.