His jaw set, and he nodded, sitting down heavily on the chair beside me.
The next hour was a whirlwind as the doctor came in and asked a bunch of questions before ushering me to the room where he performed an ultrasound. A few minutes later, he came over with a tiny strip of paper, four pictures of my womb inside. A tiny blob was in a corner, and he pointed to it.
“That is your baby,” he said. “It looks like you are about five weeks pregnant and it’s doing fine.”
Aiden and I curled together, staring at the paper as the doctor left. Aiden leaned over, pressing a kiss to the top of my head, and I leaned up to look at him. The smile that I thought I would never feel again just hours ago stretched across my face.
“I love you,” Aiden said. “I love you, and I will be here for you and our baby.”
“Our baby,” I repeated. “Ours.”
“Ours,” he said and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to my lips.
“I love you too,” I whispered.
“Always.”
29
Aiden
It’d been a week since we got back to my cabin after Desiree was released from the hospital. She was only there for a few hours, but those few hours changed my world forever. The news and the expressions of love she shared with me felt like someone had lifted a black veil off the visions of my future. Before I just thought that I would be happy to live in solitude in a cabin in the mountain. Now, I knew I wouldn’t be alone and would have a family to surround me.
Desiree’s rental had been let go since the landlord wasn’t entirely happy about the front door and a window being broken. I offered to pay for the damages, but I also had another plan for her. Rather than try to talk the landlord into letting her stay, I offered another option: that she move in with me.
She was hesitant for only a moment, worried that the cabin was too small. The grin that spread on my face in that moment probably radiated its own light. I laughed and held her close.
“Brett and I have already talked about it,” I said. “As soon as it warms up enough, we are going to build a spare room onto the cabin.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I even have some plans on how to decorate it. But I need your input first, of course.”
She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me on the cheek before burying her face under my chin. I held her tight and spun her around before setting her back on the floor. Then, taking her hand, I brought her into the hallway and pointed out the section of the wall we were going to knock down.
“It’ll only take a couple of days to build the room,” I said. “Then we can fill it with anything you want to decorate it with.”
“I love you,” she said, leaning her head into my chest.
“I love you so much.” I kissed the top of her head. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I didn’t think it was possible.”
A little later that day, we decided to take care of a few other things that we needed if we were going to go through with the merging of our lives. I rented a moving truck, and Brett met me at her place to empty it out and move it to the cabin. Some of it had to be put in the storage shed, but she said she didn’t mind. It was all things that I already had in the cabin and she’d bought for cheap. The important stuff made it inside and began to make the place feel a lot more like the home of a couple than a lonely veteran.
We ordered a pizza and shared it with Brett as a thank-you for helping us move. Nothing would ever make up for how much he helped us with everything else, but he insisted it was only what a friend should do. I promised him that I would be there for him, though. Anything he ever needed, I’d be there for. But for helping us move her stuff, pizza and beer were all he requested.
After Brett left, we headed back out for one last piece of merging our lives for the day. We went all the way into the nearest big town where my cell provider’s store was. I brought her in, had her choose a new phone, and put it on my plan. They were even able to change over her old number to it. She had me call her before we even left the building so the first call was from me. I texted her too, so I had that first as well.
On the way home, she pulled herself closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder over the center console. I smiled as I pulled into the driveway. Throwing the truck into park, I kissed her head, and she stirred from the brief dozing nap she had been taking.