The alarm goes off and I step towards the sink. I take a breath before I look down and see the two bold blue lines. I’m filled with so much excitement I start jumping up and down. I want to text Tasha and tell her, but Bear is going to be the first to know.
Grabbing the stick I run to the bedroom and go into the closet. I had a feeling I’m pregnant because my breasts have been tender and I haven’t had a period since I met Bear. Those two things made me pretty sure I was, but I wanted to see a test before I told Bear. I know he’s going to be over the moon, and I didn’t want to get him too excited before I was one hundred percent sure.
I find what I’m looking for in the closet and pull it out. I set it down on the bed, smiling as I hold the sign I made a few nights ago. He was at the gym late, so I had a little time to make it.
I strip off the shirt I’m wearing and grab a pair of high heels and the very skimpy gold bikini I ordered online. It doesn’t fit the best. I’m not sure that it’s supposed to because it doesn’t cover up much. Not that I’m planning on wearing it for long.
I get dressed and my boobs practically fall out of the top. I go to the bathroom and put on a little makeup, then take my hair down. I grab the sign off the bed and go to the living room, knowing Bear should be back any second.
I sent him out to get us breakfast from my favorite diner. They have the best chocolate chip pancakes. It’s also the same diner he’d gotten into it with the owner. Bear had gone back and the two of them smoothed things over. I can’t be mad at someone trying to protect Bear. It took me a while to get Bear to see that, but eventually he did and now we eat there almost twice a week. They even have a table just for us.
I don’t have to wait long before I hear Bear with his keys on the other side of the door. I hold up the sign over my head and try to contain my excitement. On the sign is Round One with our names written under it in gold letters. I pop my hip out trying to look like one of those women in the rings.
When the door opens I drop the sign down in front of me and gasp when I see Rico standing there with Bear. Bear’s mouth falls open and I feel my face flush.
Bear turns around and shoves Rico back out, slamming the door in his face.
“Hey, you got my food!” Rico bangs on the door.
“Fuck off,” Bear shouts back as he drops the bag of food and comes over to me.
“Doll face, what are you wearing?”
I lift the sign back up and shoot him a smile.
“Do you like it? Does it make me look like a ring girl?” I ask. I do a small shake and somehow my boobs mange to stay in the top. Barely.
“No fucking clue what they look like, but you’re always the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I smile at his sweet words, believing him. Bear has never made me doubt that I’m his one and only. Just like he is mine.
I turn the sign around with shaky hands. “Will you think that when I get bigger?” I tease then watch his eyes move to the sign.
This side reads Round Two: Bear, Pepper and Baby.
“Doll face?” His voice as low as his eyes fill with tears. “Are you serious?”
“I’m pregnant,” I say, and he wraps me in his arms, picking me up and twirling me around.
I drop the sign to the ground as his kisses me and carries me to our bedroom.
“I’m going to be the best dad in the world. I promise,” he vows.
“I never doubted it for a second.”
He lays me down on our bed and comes over on top of me. He smiles so big I think his face might break. “How many more rounds do you think we’ll have?” he asks, and I know he means kids.
“As many as we want,” I tell him as I pull him down to meet my kiss.
I have no doubts there are going to be lots and lots of babies with the way the two of us can’t keep our hands off each other.
Epilogue
Pepper
Seven months later…
I don’t question it when Bear opens the door of the SUV for me so I can get in. We only live a few blocks away, but I’m so full from lunch I don’t even want to walk that far. He leans over and helps me buckle my seatbelt, making sure it’s right around my big belly. He kisses me, then my belly, before he shuts the door and comes around to the driver’s side and hops in. When he pulls away from the restaurant he doesn’t go to our apartment.