Two little words.
That’s all it takes to shift my world.
They’re not as life changing for me as the three words she first uttered years ago, but almost.
“We’re having a baby,” I say slowly, trying like fuck to wrap my head around this.
We’ve been trying to fall pregnant for years, and in my darkest moments, I’ve doubted this day would come. It came once before, and I thought that was our one and only shot. I didn’t fully believe we’d get another one, but here the fuck we are.
Fucking hell.
We’re. Pregnant.
I search Velvet’s eyes. “This is why you’ve been fuckin’ weird all day? Why you forced me to stop at that chemist on the way here and lost your shit when I told you we didn’t have time? And why you’ve come in here ten fuckin’ times?”
“It wasn’t ten fucking times,” she argues with me again. Fuck, I hope she never stops arguing with me. Ever. I live for her challenging me.
“It fuckin’ was.”
She pulls a face. The kind that says ‘really? You’re gonna fucking argue with me at a time like this?’ “It really wasn’t, but if you want to win this argument, I’ll let you. It took me a few times to bring myself to do the test.”
I grin, my heart exploding out of my chest and all the fuck over this public toilet in which I amnotgoing to fuck the mother of my child. “Sweet thing, I never wanna win an argument with you. I want our arguments to continue for life so I can get you all bothered and grumpy. You should know this by now.”
She shifts her hand from my arm to my chest, clutching a handful of my white button-down shirt. She suddenly looks like she’s not sure of herself and needs me in a way she doesn’t need me often. “We can’t lose this baby, Nash.”
Fuck.
What I hear in her voice slays me.
What I see in her eyes does too.
She’s right. We can’t lose this baby. It will kill her.
I wrap her in my arms. “We’re not losing this baby,” I say with the kind of determination and conviction I know she needs to hear right now. Velvet needs me to be her man. She needs me to stand in front of her and tell her I have not one fucking ounce of doubt that this baby will be born. I’ll do that for her today and I’ll do it every day until our child arrives. Without hesitation, I will be who she needs in those minutes when doubt and fear creep in.
She nods, still grasping my shirt. “We can do this,” she says so fucking softly I can barely hear the words coming out of her mouth.
I tighten my hold on her. “Yeah, baby, we can. And we fuckin’ will. You’re gonna be a mum.”
Tears fill her eyes and I cup the back of her head so I can bring her lips to mine. Kissing her like my life fucking depends on it, I give her all the love inside me.
This woman owns me.
Every fucking piece of me.
When I’m finished, I wipe her tears. “You think you’ve got a girl or a boy in there?”
My question achieves my goal; the tension in Velvet’s shoulders eases and she blesses me with one of her smiles I would die for. “I’m hoping for a girl. I’d love to watch you turn grey because of a daughter.”
“Fuck,” I groan, loving every second of this conversation. If we could, I’d have ten kids with Velvet just for these kinds of conversations. “I don’t know what I’m in for, do I?” I may already be a father, but I’ve never parented with Velvet as my partner.
She gives me more of that beautiful smile. “You have no idea, Nash Walker.”
“All I can say is thank fuck I’m doing this with you.”
“Because?”
“Because you’ve always got me, sweet thing. You might wanna see me turn grey, and you might laugh your ass off while I struggle to watch our child start dating, and you might pretend to take their side at times, but I know you’ll make sure I don’t fall.”
