My mouth drops open in shock.
And then she snorts. “Just kidding. Yeah, of course I’ve thought about it.”
“What else have you thought about?”
“Kids, dogs, life… with you.”
“You want kids?”
Her face softens. “I do. Do you?”
“Yes. Two.”
“Two kids?”
“Girls, please. I don’t think I could deal with a house full of boys.”
“Sure you could. You’ll be a wonderful father.”
It’s my turn to blush. Is there a better compliment than that? I don’t think so. I lean across my small counter and kiss her. “Thank you, honey.”
“And now you tell me what an amazing mom I’d be….”
“You know you’ll be an amazing mother. But if you must hear it, I’ll say it.”
She giggles. “Yeah, I’ll be a great mom.”
“Let’s get dressed and call your dad. Then we’ll call my parents.”
“Do we have to?” she whines. “Get dressed, I mean?”
“We’re going to FaceChat everyone. I guess we could do it nude if you want to.”
“No.” She blushes. “Clothes are a must in that instance.”
“As soon as we’re done, we’ll strip down again. I’ve got plans for you later.”
Epilogue
One year later
“Yes,”I say to Maxi, our new pup. Bending, I give her a treat and repeat the commands.
“You’re doing great, Alec,” my wife encourages me from my right.
“I’m getting there.” I’ve been taking classes on dog training from a place in Chicago for the past few months.
We’ve got a plan. We’ve given this a lot of thought, Matilda and me––making the choice to move out of the city was easy since our goal was to turn Matilda’s first love of training dogs for veterans into a business. She’s still doing that part of it, donating her time and expertise to training service dogs for vets, but if we’re going to make it a business, we’ve also got to train dogs to sell. If we can make that part grow, we can develop classes to train others as well as do basic dog training for everyone.
The decision to move further out of the city enabled us to buy a fixer-upper big enough for our future family along with a large empty lot next to the house to grow our business. Our location isn’t far from Oak Park so her dad can drive up to visit any time or hop on the train if wants.
In all, we’re pretty damn happy.
Yes, Matilda’s got some quirks that make me a little nuts, and I’m sure I’ve got some things she merely tolerates. It’s just part of marriage, something my brother Anthony never got the hang of. Vicky and Anthony got a divorce a few months ago. I’m pretty sure he’s happier, but it’s hard to tell with him. He’s clammed up about it to me, probably because I nip the whining in the bud every time he mentions Vicky’s name. Also, I think he’s still a little pissed off that I ended up with Matilda.
Example, the morning we called our families to announce our engagement, Anthony was over at her Uncle Chuck and Aunt Annabelle’s with Vicky. The second the words were out of our mouths about us getting married, I could see the expression on his face. It was angry and a little confused. Vicky’s wasn’t much better. I guess they didn’t know we were together. How could they when their whole lives revolved around their own drama?
Since then, he’s still been an asshole to my wife at times, which makes me want to punch his lights out. I mean, I don’t get it. Matilda’s the sweetest, kindest person in the world. And even though Anthony and Adrian, for that matter, are rather cold to her, she still insists on inviting them over here for family shit.
