Finding His Heart

I never imagined that when I saw sitting outside my office that she would ever feel the same way about me but finding my heart with her made all of this possible. She has given me everything I never knew I wanted. Before her, there was nothing I wanted. Then she was the only person who made me feel anything. She turned my house into a home and my life into something worth living. Every day I wake up and I’m better man just for knowing her.

Now that I’ve had her, tasted her, and loved her, I couldn’t handle it any other way. She is my heart, my breath, and my drive. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.

Perfection shouldn’t be so easily attainable, but luckily perfection loves me too. They said patience is a virtue and fuck did I have in spades. Now she’s mine and I’d like to see someone try and take her away from me. It won’t end well for them.

Epilogue

Nina

Ten Years Later

What do you get the man who has it all? I wonder as I scour the mall for probably the fiftieth time since last month. Our nine-year-old, Helena, is with me, bored as hell. I handed her my phone about an hour ago, but even that isn’t working anymore. I get it though. Summer vacation is supposed to be fun. I am sure it’s not traipsing store to store looking for something to get your dad for his “old man” birthday. She cracks me up. This is just his forty-second birthday, not even a milestone, but I try to make the day perfect for him. After Helena was born, we hadn’t gotten pregnant again, but not for lack of trying. I was very relieved that I was ready to have sex again well before the six weeks were up after I gave birth. That last three weeks was fucking torture, to be honest. Dr. Spencer says sometimes everything can be working but nothing happens. Instead of spending boatloads of money on something that wasn’t guaranteed, we opted to let God handle it, and it has finally paid off.

“Mom, I want to go swimming,” Helena whines, pulling on my arm.

“I know, baby. But we have to find something for daddy’s birthday,” I tell her.

“Why don’t you just make him something, like I did. He loves homemade gifts. He said so himself,” she says. I crouch down so that I am on her level.

“Baby, that is a perfect gift coming from you, but mommies and daddies don’t do that. That’s reserved for kids so that it’s super special when you make him things,” I tell her, hoping that makes sense.

“Oh. What if you just tell him about my brother or sister? Won’t that be special from you?”

I found out this morning that I am already twelve weeks pregnant. I didn’t have a sitter and we were already out when the doctor’s office called me back to squeeze me in. They let me take her in the room with me, because stranger danger. I gave her my phone and made her face the wall. It worked to prevent scarring her, but she still heard everything. I’ve been so busy with Helena’s summer activities and Thorne Cares, my charitable initiative, that I didn’t notice until yesterday that something was different.

“I think you are right, Hells Bells. That would be the perfect gift for Daddy,” I say kissing her forehead.

“Geez, mom. Did you have to do that?” she asks frantically wiping

her forehead off.

“I did,” I say taking my phone from her and taking her out to the

car.

I make a quick three-way video chat to my best friends, Fiona and Izzy to ask for their opinions on how to tell him the news.

“Girl, go for lingerie or just a fucking bow,” Izzy says in her signature style. Helena knows that anything Izzy says should never be repeated. We all have terrible issues with not cursing in front of the kids, that they mostly ignore us.

“But now there’s more. I am pregnant again. Don’t say anything to the guys.”

“Pregnant! Holy shit,” Fiona shouts. “This changes everything. Go for the bow like Izzy said.”

“Where do you get a bow that big?” I ask laughing.

“The party store,” Izzy says without hesitation.

“Oh really?” Fiona says laughing.

“All right, so I may have gifted myself to Kobe a time or two. Sue me. Anyway, the party store on 4th Street has all kinds of bows from the ones for tiny gift bags to the ones in the Christmas car commercials.”

“Okay, so I just need one somewhere in the middle.”

“Yeah, don’t get the car sized one,” Izzy says. Before the calls ends, we have all dissolved in fits of laughter.

In the end, I opt not to do the bow or anything like that. I send Helena over to my parents’ house for they night. They live four doors down. Instead of any trimmings, I decide to wait for him naked in his favorite recliner, with my legs spread wide over the arms. When I hear the door open, I swivel around toward him.