“I believe in you, and you’ll create an amazing restaurant,” he says.
I throw myself into his arms, letting the papers flutter to the floor. I still can’t believe that after all this time, we found our way to each other. “You make me so happy!”
His arms go around me, holding me close. He’s always been my shelter in every storm, my silent guardian standing watch.
I pull away from him so I can stare up at his handsome face. “But um, I have something to tell you about your gift. Remember how we were supposed to go to Sweetgrass tonight for my next tattoo?”
He nods. He told me last week that he loves watching me get inked. Apparently, it’s something he finds very erotic. I was really looking forward to watching his face while I got one.
“Cash told me not to get it.”
He cups my face as his worried gaze surveys my body. “Are you sick? Look if you’re sick, we can reschedule the wedding and put off the honeymoon. Nothing is worth your health and shit, is it serious?”
“Well, I’m going to be sick for about the next nine months,” I explain.
It takes him a moment but when my meaning finally sinks in, he gives me the world’s biggest grin. “You mean, we’re pregnant?”
“I just found out yesterday when I finally got around to doing that preconception checkup. Guess it’s not recommended for pregnant women to get tattoos.”
He swings me up in his arms. “Forget the wedding. Forget the honeymoon and the bar. You’re going straight home to bed where you’ll stay for the next nine months.”
Honey circles around his legs, anxiously looking up at us. She’s used to seeing Ledger carry me, but she must sense his anxiety.
I laugh and smack his shoulder. “Stop being a caveman. Pregnant women get married and travel and run businesses all the time.”
“Not my woman,” he grumps as he marches toward the door.
That’s when I realize he’s not joking. I cross my arms over my chest. “You put me down right now, Ledger Nathaniel Kringle.”
He still doesn’t look like he’s going to do it, so I give him my best pout. He’s powerless if he thinks I’m sad. “I’ve been looking forward to this wedding for weeks now.”
He sets me on my feet and Honey immediately settles next to me. She’s my little watch dog. She’s seemed to fret over me more lately and I wonder if she could sense this pregnancy before even I knew.
Ledger presses a hand to my forehead like I might have developed a fever in the last two minutes. “OK but if you stop feeling well for any reason, you have to tell me. A wedding just finalizes what I’ve already known in my heart for ten years: you belong to me.”
Getting the news from Cash yesterday that I was carrying Ledger’s baby was one of the best moments of my life. “And you belong to me.”
“And together we’re starting a family,” he adds.
After years of being on my own, I finally have the family I’ve always longed for. I’m loved and wanted and treasured. But what makes me happiest is knowing that our little one is coming into the world already surrounded by so much love.
* * *