Her Heart's Desire

“Yes,” she cried. “That’s a picture of Baby Mangum. It’s too early to determine if it’s a boy or girl yet. And I wouldn’t want to know anyway…not without you.”

Ivan leaned over and kissed his wife reverently on the lips. “This is the best gift in the world, sweetheart. Thank you.” His voice was heavy with emotion. He wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumb.

“I can’t take all the credit. You helped.”

Ivan stared at his baby’s sonogram again. “I’m going to be a daddy.” He looked up at her. “When?”

“Our baby will be making his or her grand entrance sometime in July.”

Ivan did the calculations. He started to laugh. “I’ll bet we created this wonderful little person the night we got engaged.”

“In this bed,” she mused. “Talk about amazing.”

Ivan leaned Tiffany back, and then settled right beside her. He rested his head on his hand. The other one traced a path from her heart to her stomach. “I can’t believe we made a baby.” He touched her face. “He or she is our engagement and wedding gift.”

“You said we work well together,” she reminded him.

“Well, the proof of our handiwork is snuggled safe and sound in here,” he said, rubbing her stomach.

“Honestly, I’m still in shock. It’s hard to process all of the good fortune we’ve had in such a short amount of time. We found each other, we fell in love…got engaged…got pregnant…”

“And got married—all within a few months.”

“Don’t forget the cottage we now own.”

“Just in time,” he said seriously.

“Ivan, our baby isn’t going to need all that space.”

“Trust me, we’ll need it. Once our family and friends find out you’re pregnant, they’ll be permanent fixtures.”

Suddenly recognition dawned on Tiffany’s face. She started laughing.

Ivan stared at her. “What?”

Tears of joy trickled down her face. She glanced lovingly at her husband, the man she’d fallen in love with the moment she saw him. Their love was the kind that dreams were made of.

Ivan sat up. “Tiffany, will you please tell me what’s going on?”

“Nothing…everything,” she exclaimed. “Ivan, I just can’t believe our good fortune. I’ve never been happier in my life.”

“Me neither, sweetheart, but I’ll need a new charm.”

She looked at him questioningly.

“Remember the charm you gave me for my engagement gift? There were two swans entwined as a symbol of our love. Now we’ll need three.”