“I am absolutely and completely in love with you Tabitha Riley.”
“Me too!” she cries and I laugh. “I meant I love you,” she says bashfully. I decide not to remind her that she’s already told me that. Instead, I reach up and touch her lips to mine briefly, and then kiss her eyelids shut, taking her salty tears to my lips.
“That works out perfectly.”
“Works out?”
“Perfectly,” I repeat. “I always wanted the mother of my child to be completely in love with me.”
“The mother of… the mother of your… child?” she gasps.
“You could be pregnant, gorgeous, and if you aren’t…” I shrug. “You will be soon.”
“You want a child with me, Brody?” she asks, her eyes boring into mine.
“I want everything with you, Tabitha.” She smiles and her smile is so beautiful and so intense I can do nothing but stare at it, completely lost for words. Then she rises up on her knees and the smile shifts somehow. “What are you doing?” I ask, as she wraps her hand around my cock.
“Just trying to do my part, Brody. Just trying to do my part,” she responds as she slides me back inside her body and starts to ride me.
“Tabitha,” I groan, my eyes closing as I slide into her sweet heaven again.
“Give me your baby, Brody,” she pleads and I do my best to do exactly that, because when the woman you love asks for something you do everything in your power to give it to her.
And I always will.
Epilogue
Brody
One Year Later
“You okay?” I ask.
Tabitha clicks off her phone and lays it on the nightstand and then turns over to me.
“I’m fine. You have to quit worrying about me,” she says with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. She brings up her thumb and brushes a wrinkle out of my forehead.
“You should know by now, gorgeous, that’s never going to happen. I’m always going to worry about you—especially when you’re talking to her,” I answer honestly. I pull Tabitha into me, my hand automatically going to her rounded stomach. I stretch my hand across her stomach and the swell there, that is evidence of our child.
Turns out getting Tabitha pregnant wasn’t that easy—which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It gave us time to get to know each other and more time to practice making a baby.
Finally, it happened. Today, she is officially six months pregnant and I can’t wait to see our little girl. Tabitha’s hand—much like it does every morning—comes down to lay over mine and we hold her stomach together.
We hold our daughter together.
It doesn’t take long. It’s like our little cherub knows the exact moment her parents are waiting. She kicks out against our hands. And just like every time it happens, a wave of happiness surges through me that is beyond description.
“I’m fine and our daughter is fine. You need to quit worrying,” Tabitha says, drawing my attention back to her.
“I’d feel better about that if you’d quit talking to your sister,” I grumble. In the year since Tabitha’s family proved what utter assholes they were, she’s had very little contact with them. Her mother and father called on Tabitha’s birthday and invited her down for Christmas. We didn’t go. I made sure they understood that until they apologized and treated Tabitha with the respect she deserves, we never would. They’ve been quiet since and though I’m sure it upset Tabitha some, our lives together and the family we’re building has helped her fill that void.
We moved in together immediately, and I did the one thing I never thought I’d be willing to do. I’ve cut back on my work schedule. Yeah, my hours are still unpredictable at times, but I’m home almost every night with my girls and I never sleep without Tabitha in my arms.
I’ve always made Tabitha a priority in my life. She’s never had that and she—above anyone I’ve ever met—deserves it.
“Hilary wants to come in and go shopping for Sarah together,” Tabitha whispers.
My body goes tight. I’d just as soon not have those toxic people around our child. We’re naming our daughter Sarah Rose after my mother and Tabitha’s middle name Rose. My mother has taken Tabitha under her wing and I know there is genuine love between them. I have a suspicion that has helped Tabitha heal from her family’s wounds too.
“Tabitha, those people…”
“Shh… You don’t have to say it, Brody. I know. Hilary is trying, especially since she’s found out what a snake Robbie is. She wants to be a part of her niece’s life.”
“I won’t have those people hurting you again, gorgeous. You can deny it all you want, but I saw the pain in your eyes for months after that scene at the wedding. I will not have you hurting like that again.”
“My hero,” Tabitha says softly, a smile spreading across her lips.