I had no idea how much time passed, but eventually we came up for air, my mind dizzy from his kiss, along with my labored breathing.
“Let’s go feed you,wife,” he said to me, smiling. “I also want to dance with you and enjoy you in public for a bit before I take you back to the hotel and keep you there, possibly for twenty-four hours straight while I ravish your body from top to bottom.”
There were those damn shivers again.
I joined my hand with his, and we made our way tothe reception tent, but it was the promise of what was to come that had me most excited.
Eight Months Later
It was moving day today.
We were all set to move into our new home not far from where Hector’s old cabin had been, but this one would be ours. We’d played a role in the design of the home from the very beginning, and I couldn’t be happier with how it had turned out. It still had the cabin aesthetic, with a stone fireplace, natural wood elements throughout, and rustic touches right alongside modern features. I loved it.
The best part was the wraparound porch that had views similar to the old cabin, so we could sit out and enjoy many nights and mornings together when the sun wasn’t too intense.
The house had four bedrooms instead of three like the last one, because we wanted one extra in case my family wanted to come visit their grandchildren or nieces and nephews in the future.
I was standing in the doorway of one of those spare bedrooms when Hector came up behind me and hugged his arms around me. I smelled his freshly washed hair and soapy scent wrap around me and sighed.
“You thinking about what you want in this space?” he asked, noting that I had just been standing in the doorway staring.
That was because I had a secret. A secret I’d only found out about yesterday, but had been too busy to tell him because of all the last-minute packing and such.
I turned in his arms, wanting to keep his arms around me but needing to face him.
“Do you want to paint it blue or pink, or should we go with a more neutral color?” I asked, smirking at him.
He stared down at me with that impassive, silent-as-snowfall facial expression.
“You don’t need to decide right now,” I told him, smiling even bigger. “You’ve got about six more months to figure it out.”
Still silent, but his eyes got bigger, and I could feel his heart racing faster now.
“You’re pregnant?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
I nodded. “I just went to the doctor yesterday and got it confirmed.”
“Is it a boy or a girl?” he asked and then quickly waved his hand. “Never mind. Don’t care.”
He smiled down at me, and I was so happy that he was just as excited as I was.
“A baby…really?” he asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it.
I nodded and kissed him gently on the lips before pulling back. “You okay with this?”
“I know this is kind of fast, but I’m happy about that,” he responded. “I’m already in my forties, and I don’t want to be a super old dad.”
“You’re not old, but I get it,” I told him.
“No, but I don’t want to be fifty and still having kids, so you better get used to being pregnant, because I’m gonna keep giving you more babies until either you hit a number you’re happy with, or I hit fifty—whichever happens first.”
I laughed. “Two or three is fine with me.”
“I’m happy with that too,” he said, leaning down to kiss me, more intensely this time.
“You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Iris, and I will spend every day of the rest of my life showing you how much I love you.”
He started right then and there—lifting me and carrying me back to the bedroom so we could break in the new bed in the new house, followed by the couch, and then the shower. It took a lot longer to unpack the boxes, but it was totally worth it in the end.
