“Is that a yes?” I coax, leaning down to press my lips to hers.
“You’re ridiculous!”
I trail my mouth to her throat, my lips hovering over her hammering pulse, “That didn’t answer my question, cricket. It’s really simple. Yes or no.”
“Yes,” she answers me softly.
“Oh, thank fuck,” I kiss her again, “I thought you were gonna say no and then this was going to be really awkward.”
She laughs between kisses, everything in me lightening, the confessions we have spilled here in the dark of my bedroom finally putting us both on a path that maybe we needed to be on together to end up where we are right now.
“Do we still want babies?” She asks when I eventually let her catch her breath. Not sure how I’m meant to stop now she’s technically officially mine.
No more agonizing on long nights when she’s on a date with another man. No more watching other men try to flirt with her, no more watching her give out her number. She is mine.
Mine to love.
To worship.
To please.
I get to do everything I have wanted to do since I was just a kid. Take her on real dates, buy her chocolates and flowers, and kiss her any time I damn well want.
“I’ll give you however many babies you want, cricket,” I promise.
“Even if I said I wanted a whole horde of kids?” She teases.
“They’ll be part of you, and nothing would be better than having mini you’s running around.”
Wow.I’m going to need to rein it back or something before I scare her off.
“How have you held all this in?” Sidney jokes, “You always been this sappy, Calahan?”
I clear my throat and rub at the nape of my neck, feeling my cheeks burn just a little.
When I don’t answer her, she grabs my face and kisses me.
“Hey now, I never said I didn’t like it.”
“We can have the babies, and a white picket fence with a house on a quiet street with a garden and a dog.”
“You’re scared of dogs.”
“Just the little ones,” I shiver dramatically, “little demons.”
I won’t even pretend I’m not scared of those little chihuahuas and terriers. I had one run-in when I was seven and I’ve hated them since. Even have the faded scars on my ankles to prove it.
Sidney laughs, “No little ones, promise.” She says seriously. “We really gonna do this, Noah?”
“We are,” I cradle her face, “All of it.”
“When I created those pages in my scrapbook, it was you I thought about.” She admits it so quietly, but it may as well have been screamed from the highest mountain for the whole world to hear. I know how much those pages meant, those goals, and it was me she dreamed about this whole time. “I’ve always known it was you, but I didn’t think you felt the same way.”
“Well, now you do,” I settle into the bed beside her and drag her toward me, her back to my chest, and breathe her in. “And we get to make up for all that lost time.”
“Have we lost time, though?” She asks.
I suppose the answer to that is yes and no. We already have the foundation, the sturdy backbone of our relationship, built over years of trust and love. The years have passed us with no strings, no expectations, and built us to be the way we are today. Do I wish we could have started sooner? I think I always will wishthat, but then I’m not sure we would be who we are today.
