“Maybe you should sit down,” Matthew says to me, but the movement makes him stop talking because he looks up at me, his eyes wide with excitement. “Holy shit.” He places his other hand on my stomach, covering it now. Leaning in, he puts his lips close to my stomach. “She said yes.” He kisses my stomach, but his child must get it because he kicks me again. “He really likes the sound of my voice.”
I roll my eyes at Matthew. He leans in, continuing to talk to the baby while the baby continues to kick, my hand going on top of his head and my ring getting a glimmer of light. Yup, hold onto it, forever.
“You’re my perfect,” he says to me. I smile at him, kissing his lips. “Something so perfect.”
Epilogue
Matthew
July 17 (Two weeks overdue.)
“I think this is it,” Karrie says from the couch.
At this point, it’s almost like crying wolf. We are sitting in our house that I just bought. That’s right, our house. We went on to win the Stanley Cup, a feeling that’s beyond words. While we were in the playoffs, the house next to Mom and Cooper happened to go on the market. I did the only thing I could. I put in an offer without even seeing the house, without even telling her. That didn’t go off well for a couple of reasons. One, she was pregnant and hormonal and honestly she hated everything about me at that point. Well, except for my dick. That she took full advantage of. It seems those hormones were in full effect when it came to sex.
Once we finished, we packed up our stuff and came down to what she is calling our weekend cottage. Except it comes with ten bedrooms, fifteen bathrooms, a movie theater, game room, and a home gym. We got here with just three weeks to spare till her due date. She brought her file with her and luckily she fell in love with the ob-gyn here. What I wasn’t counting on was for my house to be a revolving door. My sisters are always here. Allison comes over for coffee every single morning, regardless of if we are up. My brother even comes over, which is huge for him since he is deep into hockey training. Vivienne came down and is now here till the baby comes out, along with Doug, who bought a house around the corner.
“I’m serious, Matthew, I think this is it.”
I look over at my wife—oh yeah, that, too. We didn’t have the big wedding everyone wanted. That’s going to come later, and I couldn’t give a shit. I just wanted her with my name and ring before she gave birth to my child. She might have fought me a tad. Thankfully, I never threw out those cuffs.
“Babe, the doctor said she’s inducing you tomorrow.” I turn back to the television while she gasps. I look back to see her looking down at the water that is now seeping into the couch. I jump up, my hands going to my head. “Holy shit, this is it.” I start to jog upstairs to get the bags out of our closet. I run to the nursery that my mother set up for us as her present to us, grabbing the bag that Karrie packed for the baby. I’m about to run back downstairs when she waddles up the stairs. I love her to death, but this baby is huge. She looks like she has five babies in there. “Where are you going?” I ask her, yelling while I’m watching her walk to our bedroom.
“I’m taking a shower. We had sex tonight. I need to clean up.”
“Karrie, you can’t be serious right now. Your water broke. It’s leaking all into our couch, which we will need a new one now. Vivienne!” I yell down the hall toward her wing.
“Matthew, it will take me five min—” She stops talking while she holds her stomach.
My heart beats fast. “Oh my God, do you need to push?” I ask her, dumping the bags on the floor, getting my phone out, about to call 9-1-1 when she opens her eyes and looks at me. “We should time the contractions. I’ll be back.” She walks away, taking off the big shirt she is wearing. “I can’t wait to be able to see my vagina again. And toes.”
“Vivienne!” I yell again, louder this time.
“Mon Dieu, qu’est-ce qui se passe?” My gosh, what is going on, she says in French.
“The baby is coming.” I pick up the bags. “Her water broke.”
Vivienne starts jumping up and down and running back to her room.
“What is wrong with everyone? We need to get to the hospital.” I pull out my phone, calling Cooper. He answers after one ring. “Her water broke.”
“Where are you?” he asks right away, telling Mom that Karrie’s water broke. I hear rustling and yelling from his side of the phone.