Page 62 of Claimed By the Silver Fox

My hand flies to my mouth, tears pricking my eyes at once. I don’t think I realized it until that moment, but it’s exactly what I was hoping to hear. A little girl. I would have adored this child no matter what, but this feels like a chance to put so much right—to bring things full circle, to be able to give her the childhood and girlhood that I dreamed of when I was little.

“Are you alright?” Antonio asks, and I nod. He glances to the doctor. “Would you give us a moment?”

“Of course,” she agrees, rising to her feet and cleaning off my belly before she leaves the room. I turn to Antonio, heart fluttering with excitement, the image of my little girl already burned on to my brain.

“A baby girl,” I whisper to him, and he cups my face in his hands.

“A baby girl,” he repeats, and he leans down to drop a kiss on my forehead. I wrap my arms around him, holding him right, reminding myself that he’s the reason all of this is happening—he’s the person who will raise this child with me, her father, the father she deserves.

“I can’t believe it,” I whisper to him. “A daughter. We’re going to have a daughter.”

When he draws back, he takes my hands in his and kisses them. “And she’s going to be just as beautiful and brilliant as her mother,” he replies.

My heart swells. Know that he believes in me like that, that he has my back in such a profound way…I’m not sure I’ll ever get over it. I gaze up at him for a second, drinking him in, soaking in the moment as best I can.

My husband, the father of my child. The love of my life.

“I love you,” I whisper, and he grins, the same way he always does when I say those words, as if they haven’t lost any part of their appeal over all the times I’ve said them.

“I love you too,” he replies.

And as he pulls me into another embrace, I think of my sweet child, my sweet little girl, growing inside of me. The last part of our family to slot into place, before everything is perfect. After feeling so lost, feeling like I would never have a place to call mine, I know that I have found it—and it’s right here, in his arms.

Where I belong.

The End.