The Love of My Bully

He hated this.

Their third baby in five years. They were only going to have one. No, he only wanted to have one. Their first baby was … torture.

He’d hurt and bullied Pru for years, but nothing had prepared him for seeing the pain in her eyes during birth. When she held their first-born daughter, Katie, he still hadn’t wanted any more kids, but his wife, the love of his life, she had wanted more. The pain, she had told him, meant nothing.

Pru was one of the strongest women he’d ever known, and watching her give birth, not once, not twice, but now a third time, he didn’t know how she survived.

After another push, she collapsed to the bed, and she didn’t let go of his hands. He kissed her wet cheek. She was crying and sweating. “I don’t know if I can do this,” she said.

“You can, baby. He’s being a little bastard, I know, but when this is done, you can rest. I’m here with you.” He gripped her fingers tightly even though his had no feeling. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said, sobbing.

“Are you ready?” the doctor asked.

Pru nodded and Drake tensed up as she started to push again.

She let out a scream, giving another push, and it was exactly what was needed. He heard his baby boy cry out as Pru collapsed to the bed, gasping for breath. “I can’t do it again.”

“It’s okay. I’ve got you,” he said.

“Well done. You have a beautiful baby boy,” the doctor said, putting their latest addition into her arms.

Drake knew this feeling. The overwhelming love and contentment.

“Hello, Liam,” she said. “I’m your mommy.”

Their son opened his eyes.

“Your sisters are going to love you.”

Drake kissed his wife, and then his new son’s head.

Katie, Amy, and now Liam. His children.

“He’s perfect,” she said.

“The best,” Drake said. “This will be our last.”

“You keep on saying that, but we’ll see.” She lifted her hand for him to take. “I love you.”

“I love you. More than you could ever know.”

Epilogue Part Three

Ten more years later

“And she still fell in love with you?” Liam asked.

“Yes. You need to understand, though, I wasn’t a good man. I was an awful man. Your mother deserved someone far better than me.”

Pru smiled at her husband as he told the kids the story of how they came to be. He left out all the gory details of his parents, but he made sure his kids knew that he hadn’t been a good guy to start off with.

“But, Mom, how could have you ever loved a bully? I mean, you tell me not to allow Adam at school to even bother me. You encourage me to stick up for myself,” Katie said.

“I stuck up for myself against your father all the time.”

“She’s right,” Drake said. “Not a moment went by when your mother didn’t make me pay for what I did to her. I’m so pleased she never walked away.”

The alarm on the oven beeped and she got to her feet. “That’s dinner. Go and set the table, kids. Wash your hands, you know the drill.”

She waited for the chaos of their five kids to run off. Their last baby, another boy, had been their final. She’d been too ill to have anymore, and even though she would have loved for them to have a big family, she knew she wanted to be around to see them all grow up. The doctor had warned her about the damage more children would do and her body wasn’t strong enough. There was too high of a risk.

Drake and she had talked long and hard about what it meant to them to have no more kids. They had come to the decision together.

Drake grabbed her hand and pulled her down into his lap.

“What are you doing?” she asked, giggling.

“Do you realize we’ve been married twenty years now?”

“That we have. Does this mean you’re not going to be forgetting our anniversary this year?” she asked, teasing him.

“I never forget our anniversary. I seem to recall you going into labor and spoiling my big surprises.”

She laughed. “I’m such a horrible, bad person, right? Giving birth to our babies.”

“I love you,” he said.

“I love you too.”

“No, I was thinking about our past, what we went through. Thank you for never giving up on me. For giving me a chance.”

She touched his cheek. “Drake, you own my heart. There is nowhere else in the world I’d rather be than right here, right now.”

“Does that mean you’ve got a kiss for this old man?” he asked.

“Hey, you can’t be that old. Unless you’re calling me old?”