“She talking to you yet?”
“Fuck if I know, bro. Fuck if I know.”Sixteen hours later…
It had started off with us just taking a bath together - something that we’d started doing after the babies were born and we wanted us time at night - but it had quickly ended up with her riding me until we were both panting and had a mess to clean up on the floor.
Afterward, as she lay back with her head on my stomach and my legs either side of her, I thought about how scared she’d looked last night. Twisting my hand so that I could connect our fingers, I watched as the light made the diamond in her ring twinkle. “I’m sorry for scaring you, sweetheart. I just figured it was one of those pranks that sounded like a rattler.”
Lifting the hand that had a waterproof dressing on it up to give it a kiss, she nodded slowly. “I know, just don’t do it again.”
“What were you guys up to when I burst in and dropped that bombshell on y’all?”
After spending three years together and having watched her reactions for a total of four years, my curiosity was piqued when she sat up and reached for a towel. “Nothing.”
Pulling her back to me and ignoring the tidal wave of water that joined the stuff that was already on the floor, I murmured in her ear, “Tell me, baby. What were y’all doing?”
Wincing, she twisted around to face me. “I had a surprise for you. It’s not important now, though.”
I had a brief moment of panic when I thought about what today’s date was and then released the breath I was holding again when I realized it wasn’t our anniversary. It also wasn’t her birthday or my birthday, and the twins didn’t turn two for another six months.
“What surprise? If you had one for me, it has to be special, right?”
Muttering under her breath, she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. When she opened them, she pasted a smile on her face. “We’re having babies,” she announced, then lifted her hands in the air. “Yay!” The tone she said them in didn’t match the words, that’s for sure.
The smile that had been on my face dropped, and I pushed the heel of my hands into my eyeballs. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
I loved my kids more than life, but they were a handful. We’d had sleepless nights with colic, acid reflux, tonsillitis, ear infections, them learning to walk… it was standard parenting things that every parent went through, but when it was me on my own because Rose was at work? Freaked me out every fucking time.
“Oh, no, honey, not us,” she chuckled, and I dropped my hands in relief. “No, Ranger and Riley are having puppies, the vet confirmed it today.”
This was possibly worse news. Shortly after he’d moved here, Alex had gotten a German Shepherd, one that he loved big time. She went everywhere with him, even into work. Four weeks ago, we’d babysat Riley while he was away and if she was pregnant…
“Ah fuck,” I groaned, whacking the back of my head off the lip of the tub. “He’s going to kill me.”
Rubbing my arm with her hand, she didn’t try to tell me otherwise. “Yeah, we’re gonna miss you.”
Five weeks later, four German Shepherd – Great Dane cross puppies were born. They were beautiful, they were huge, and I wanted them all.
Six weeks after that, we were sitting in the exact same spot when she broke the news to me again. This time we were the ones having the baby, and the irony was – I’d gotten her pregnant on the night we were in the tub and she’d told me Riley was having her babies. This time I didn’t freak out, but I did hope that it would be a girl who was just like her mother.