“It’s time for bed, baby,” he said, reaching for the back of her chair.
She pointed at one of the monitors, her mouth too full to talk.
“Nope.” Xander shook his head. “It’s after ten. You told me to give you an hour. I gave you three. You need rest. Come on.”
Earlier that week, they’d gone to Rylee’s OB appointment together. After checking her out, Dr. Felicia Grayson had smiled and said something Xander hadn’t been able to forget.
“Your cervix is already softening, Rylee. More than we typically see this early.”
Xander’s brows had furrowed. “Is that a problem?”
“No, no,” Dr. Grayson had said with a light laugh and a wave of her hand. “It just means her body may be getting ready to move quickly when labor starts, which is common in third pregnancies. I’d just recommend she take it a little easier from here on out. Any chance to put her feet up and enjoy this final stretch…” She’d looked at Rylee, gave her a wink. “Take it.”
At the time, Rylee had joked she had too much energy in her third trimester to do such a thing as rest. But Xander had promised himself he’d stay on top of it.
Tonight, at his insistence, she playfully rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but smile, giving him her hand so he could help her up and out of her seat.
His eyes landed on her round belly in her tee. He couldn’t help but smile at it before leaning around her to shut off the monitors.
He loved that Rylee was a career woman who knew how to balance. But he didn’t love that she was still working as hard as she was when she wasn’t pregnant. Her doctor had also suggested more rest since Rylee wasn’t getting enough sleep, and as soon as Xander heard that, he’d been on her about it, holding her accountable.
“You could’ve given me five more minutes,” she fussed as they arrived at the top of the basement stairs and Xander closed the door.
“Mmm-hmm.” He snickered. “I gave you three hours.”
She shook her head.
They made their way up the stairs to their bedroom, Rylee stopping at the children’s rooms to make sure they were sound asleep.
Her detour allowed Xander to step into their room and retrieve the photo on his phone that he wanted to show her.
She sighed as she walked into the room, shutting the door behind herself. “You think LJ was serious at dinner?”
Xander’s eyes were on his phone, scrolling. “About wanting to play soccer?”
“Yeah,” Rylee said, heading to the bathroom. “Because I love that boy with everything in me and think he’s talented, but he got two left feet. He should stick to being a science genius. I like that one better. It’s safer.”
Xander snickered, stopping on the photo.
The water was running in the bathroom, Rylee quickly brushing her teeth.
Xander took a seat on their bed, his heart starting to kick up in rhythm the moment he heard the water shut off.
He turned in the bed, kept one foot on the ground and a leg on the mattress as Rylee entered the room, pulling back the covers and getting in bed.
He swallowed hard and cleared his throat as she adjusted herself, giving him her attention.
She asked, “What’s up?”
“I got something I wanna show you.”
She blinked twice. “Okay.”
“But before I show you it,” he added, “I need you to hear me when I say that nothing changes unless you want it to, aight?”
Rylee giggled nervously. “Okay…”
He bit at his bottom lip as he laid his phone on the bed.
