Sliding out of bed, I tiptoe across the hall and stand silently in the doorway. Harrison has her swaddled in a pink blanket and is giving her a bottle of breastmilk. The breastfeeding thing just didn’t work out for me, even though I tried, but she just wouldn’t latch on. I decided to pump for now, which is nice too for Harrison. He gets to help feed her, something he couldn’t do those first few days when I was attempting to get her to latch on.
He gently rocks in the chair and keeps his eyes focused on her as he tells her a story. “King Harrison was determined, though. He knew in his heart his queen was the only woman for him, and it became more clear when he found out about Princess Sophia.”
He smiles down at the baby in his arms. “The king was an idiot, you see, like most men. Of course, Princess Sophia isn’t going to date until she’s thirty, so that’s nothing we need to worry about right now. This story is about the stupid king who let his queen get away. He was a total jackass, my little love,” he tells her.
A giggle slips from my mouth.
“Ahhh, Princess Sophia, I believe we’re not alone. No worries, though. It’s only the beautiful queen, and she could definitely vouch for how senseless the king was,” he says, his eyes dancing with laughter as I enter the room.
“I think the queen and the king were both a little dense,” I reply, stepping up beside the rocking chair. I reach down and run my index finger over her soft cheek, mesmerized by her tiny little features. Her mouth suckles hard on the bottle and her gray eyes watch every move her dad makes.
“Well, this is my bedtime story, and I say the king was the dumbass. Oh, shit. I probably shouldn’t say dumbass,” he stops, turning wide eyes at me. “Fuck, I said shit.”
I can’t help but laugh. With my arm around his shoulder, I snuggle against his head and watch our daughter eat. Her eyes start to droop and her sucking begins to slow. Her little belly is finally full, and she’s ready for a few more hours of sleep.
“Anyway, the day the princess was born was one of the happiest days of the king’s life. He couldn’t imagine his life any better than it was right then, in that moment. Except, maybe, if the queen officially wore a ring on her finger so that everything in the kingdom was complete,” he says. His words barely register. It isn’t until he opens our daughter’s tiny little hand that I see the diamond nestled inside.
A gasp spills from my lips as my eyes dart from his to the ring. He’s moving, gingerly getting up and pulling the bottle from our now-sleeping daughter’s lips. Harrison positions her on his shoulder as he drops to one knee. “Winnie, you are the love of my life. For a while, I was lost. Without you, I was nothing, just an empty shell. But now, with you and our daughter, I’m complete. Everything has fallen into place, and even though you’ve already agreed, I wanted to make it official. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving to you that I was worth the risk. Will you marry me?”
Through tear-filled eyes, I gaze down at the only man I’ve loved. It’s not the first time we’ve been in this exact position, though there wasn’t a baby in the picture the first time. But as I recall his first proposal, when we were so young and naïve about the world, I know that this proposal is the one I’ll forever remember. He’s holding our tiny daughter against his bare shoulder, gazing up at me with so much hope and love that it steals the very air I breathe. I know that our story isn’t your typical fairy tale. It wasn’t easy, and, at times, it wasn’t pretty. But it was ours.
Our story.
Our love.
So there’s only one answer I can give him. One answer that speaks from the depths of my soul. “Yes.”
The smile that spreads across his handsome face is my favorite. It radiates happiness and love, and as he slips the ring onto my finger, I can’t help but pray my smile is the exact same.
“I know I’ve already asked a thousand times, and you’ve agreed, but Sophia and I were talking a few nights ago and she told me a ring would make it official,” he says, grinning widely up at me as he wraps his big hands around my shaky ones.
I can’t help but giggle. “Oh, she did, did she?”
“She did,” he confirms. “She’s very wise, just like her mom.”
Gently, he stands up, holding Sophia tightly in his arms. The image is enough to send my hormones into overdrive. It hasn’t even been two weeks, but I’m already craving him like a drunk longs for a nip of whiskey. I’m not sure I’ll survive these next few weeks.
“Stop looking at me like that,” he demands, lightly patting our daughter’s back in an attempt to get a burp.
“Like what?” I ask coyly.
“Like you want to strip naked and screw me senseless,” he whispers. Even in the dimly lit room, I can see the desire in his eyes.
“Oh, that’s exactly what I was thinking,” I reply, running my hands up his bare, muscular forearms.
“Sorry, Queen, but you’re out of luck. The doctor says six weeks.”
“What do doctors know anyway?” I tease—though, not really teasing.
“A lot more than gymrats, so I’m going to heed her advice.”
Sliding my hands up his arms and around his shoulders, I say, “Well, you know there are… other things we can do, right?”
“Keep talking.”
Just then, a small belch is released from our daughter, making us both smile. I lean forward and place a soft kiss on her forehead, rubbing her back as I go. Harrison slowly walks toward the crib, kisses Sophia in the same spot I just kissed, and gingerly sets her down in the middle. The bed is huge in comparison to her tiny body. We watch as she settles into position and falls fast asleep.
Together, we backtrack to the doorway, our attention still on the crib against the wall. We step out into the hallway and his arms wrap around my lower back. “Now, what was this about other things we can do?” he asks, kissing that magical spot behind my ear.
“I’d rather just show you.”
“He’s late,” Gabby says for the tenth time as she glances out the window. She’s holding her niece in her arms, while Chase stands close, stealing glances when he thinks no one is looking.
“He’ll be here. He wouldn’t have asked us to all meet him if he wasn’t going to show,” Harrison states, setting a bottle of water on the end table beside where I sit.
The detective in charge of the All Fit fire called this morning and asked for a few minutes. He wouldn’t tell us anything over the phone, but considering he also called Chase and Gabby, we’re hoping for good news.
Chase and Gabby arrived together. He’s still crashing on her couch, where he’s been stationed since the night of the fire. He insists it’s to protect her from whatever threat could be looming, but honestly, I’m not so sure anymore. She refuses to even look at him, and when we were alone in the kitchen, she wouldn’t elaborate on their roommating status.
After a few tense minutes, a car finally pulls into the driveway. Detective Benson slides out of the driver’s seat and makes his way to the front door. Before Harrison can get there, Chase has the door open and is greeting the older man.
“Thank you for seeing me on a Sunday afternoon,” the detective states, shaking everyone’s hand
as he enters.
“We’re hoping this call was because you’ve figured out who set the fire,” Harrison says, taking a seat beside me on the couch, while Gabby and Chase sit together with Sophia on the loveseat, and Detective Benson takes the recliner.
“We have, actually, and I wanted you to hear it from me,” he says, pulling a series of photos from a folder and handing them to Harrison.
The first one is an image of Gina entering the gym with a bag, the date and time stamped on the corner. Even though her head is down, there’s no disguising her tight tank top and the boobs she can barely conceal beneath it. The second image is of her going into the ladies’ locker room, again with her head down to avoid the cameras. The third photo is a clear image of her face, taken as she sneaks down the back hallway and toward the back door.
“This was taken by the camera I had installed without her knowledge,” Harrison informs, pointing to the picture of his former assistant.
“Correct. Clearly, she wasn’t aware of that camera or else she would have kept her head down as she left,” the detective answers.
“Where’s the bag she walked in with?” I ask before passing the photos over to Chase and Gabby.
“She left it behind in the locker room. It was nearly destroyed in the fire, but the fire marshal was able to determine that it was the point of origin for the blaze. It contained the accelerant she used. We believe she set the bag in the towel bin, and using a gasoline-soaked rag, set it all ablaze. She had enough accelerant in the bag that the fire spread quickly. Fortunately, your sprinkler system was top notch and helped keep it from getting out of control before the fire department arrived.”
Sophia begins to fuss a little, and before either Harrison or I can get up from the couch, Chase sets the photos down on the coffee table and takes his goddaughter. He props her on his shoulder like a pro and lightly rubs her back, without even breaking stride. Gabby is completely shocked by how natural he seems, considering the man was scared shitless of holding her only a handful of days ago. “I thought the cameras were offline,” he says quietly, cooing softly at the baby against his chest.