Conning me? Wrangling me?
“Lexie, you make it sound like an extended warranty on a used car. We’re talking about a baby. Our baby.”
“I know,” she whispers, her voice quivering. “Our baby.”
I’m fucking woozy with the news. I’m so fucking happy that I feel like I might pass out right here and now. But I take strength from her fingers knitted in mine. From her courage at telling me this, now, here, today.
“Do you have any fucking clue how badly I’ve wanted this?”
She takes a deep, long inhale and I can almost hear her smile.
“Have you?”
“For my whole life.”
“But, Marshall, what are we going to do? About my classes? About the baby? About…about everything.”
She does this thing where she worries way out into the future. Not me. I’m a ten-days-ahead man. Sometimes it makes her nuts, but it hasn’t failed me yet.
“Plans were made to be screwed up, Lexie. And I promise you. I don’t care if we have to hire an army of nannies. I’ll make sure that you have the time to study and to work. Don’t worry about that. Don’t worry about anything.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and now can I please look at you, because I don’t care about all those fucking superstitions.”
She silences me with a kiss, a giggling, delighted kiss. “No, you may not, mister. I will see you in a second at the end of the aisle.”
The door clicks shut. Once I hear her footsteps go quiet down the hallway, I open my eyes. And sweep the tears of happiness from my cheeks.
Then I give my tie one last check, make sure I’ve got the rings, and open the door to the rest of our lives. To the future that I never felt I deserved to dream about.
To the peace that I yearned to find, but never knew how or where. Until now. Until her.
Until us.
CHAPTER 13
Lexie
Epilogue 16 Years Later
Marshall and I stand in the driveway, watching our oldest, Sarah, drive away with her driving instructor for her very first lesson. I grip Marshall’s hand so hard that I worry I’m going to break his fingers.
“She’ll be fine,” he says, grimacing himself as he watches her come to a jerky stop at the end of our long, oak-shrouded driveway.
“You promise?”
“I promise,” he answers as we turn back toward the house together.
Not for the first time, not even for the thousandth, his confidence and certainty rubs off on me, and I manage to put aside my motherly worry. At least for a while. He and I walk up the steps together and I lead him around the side of the wrap-around porch.
I do a quick mental check. Sarah is doing her driving lesson for the next hour. Tommy, who just turned 13, is at karate until six. And little Nellie, who is seven and a half, is at Bee and Insect Day Camp.
She’ll come back sunburned and bee-stung and so very happy. That’s my girl.
And that means that for the first time this summer, we have the house all to ourselves. I lead him into the kitchen, plant my hands on the island’s granite countertop, and hoist myself up, sexily swinging one sandal from a fingertip as I watch him. Every time I look at him, it feels just as exciting as the first time.
Electric heat through every vein.
“Do you know that this is the first time we’ve been alone in…”
“Four months, three days, and six hours.” Marshall’s jaw locks as he looks at his watch.
“Way too long.”
“You’re telling me.”
And I start to unbutton his shirt.
From the countertop next to me, he grabs the stoneware honeypot that always sits there, filled with fresh honey from our very own hives. He dips his finger into the liquid, then brings it to my lips. I suck it clean, watching him all the time, being dirty about it.
“Fuck, yes,” he growls.
He’s in shorts today, no belt, so it’s easy access. Without ever taking my eyes off him, I find his cock, yank down his boxers, and work its length firmly, greedily, with a spit of saliva to wet my palm.
He slides me closer to the edge of the counter, the cold granite kissing my skin. And then I wrap my legs around him and arch my back as he presses inside me. He growls as he hits my cervix. A greedy, primal sound that is reserved for this moment alone.
“I’m gonna fuck another baby into you today, Lexie,” he hisses through gritted teeth.