Bidding For Her Curves - Flora Ferrari Page 0,47

annoyed by his sudden smile.

“You really shouldn’t have driven like a maniac to get here, Mr. Thorne. As I was trying to explain to you…”

But I won’t hear it, I want my Jules and I want her now.

“Where is she?” I demand, practically grabbing his collar.

He’s a big guy, but I’m bigger, but both his hands are up in a calm and professional way, like when he has to deal with lunatics.

Or over-excited, newly engaged millionaire hospital owners.

And hopeful fathers to be.

“Slow down, Mason,” he says firmly, still smiling.

“I believe congratulations are in order, not hysterics. You can save that for when she goes into labor. And I don’t want you speeding in your car then either,” he smiles, patting me on the shoulder.

“She’s…? I mean… Are we?” I ask, still stammering.

“Now, she’s about six months pregnant, Mason. But there is no need to worry the new dad,” he adds seriously.

I feel the color draining from my face.

“Dad… Daddy?” I murmur absently, and I think the doc knows it’s me. He takes me by the arm, and like leading someone in a trance, he takes me through to Jules, who’s having an ultrasound.

Seeing her brings me to my sense and I rush to her side, stroking her hair back, kissing her so much she can’t speak for a few minutes.

The doctor and a nurse wait patiently, the whooshing sound of a strange electronic pulse filling the space between us as I realize Jules is holding something to her belly.

“Can you hear that?” she asks, her eyes shining with tears. “That’s our baby’s heartbeat.”

“Our baby,” I say softly, touching her stomach so gently, suddenly afraid she’ll break if things aren’t just right from now on.

“Baby’s a little small for our liking but healthy as a lamb,” the doctor says, coming over and adjusting the equipment slightly.

“Would you like to know the sex?” he asks, and we both shake our heads in the negative.

“No,” Jules says, speaking for us both as I take her hand in mine. “We want it to be a surprise… like today was.”

“You didn’t know?” I ask her, still in shock.

“Did you?” she says in her best tell me off voice. “Geez, Mason, I’ve been saying for months how I’m packing on the pounds and you’re all just like ‘Duh, more of you to love baby,’” she says in her best impression of me.

Doc Briggs backs away, trying not to laugh. “I’ll give you two a moment,” and he steps out with the nurse.

I don’t mind if she’s making fun of me. I don’t mind at all.

“We’ll move the wedding up,” I tell her. “I’m not having a child out of wedlock.” She laughs at me, thinking I’m being funny still, but I mean it.

“I said Jules, when I asked you to marry me, our kids were gonna have a real mommy and a daddy, right from day one. No, if’s, and, or but’s.”

She squeezes my hand, understanding how strongly I feel about this. It’s an unspoken thing between us, she never mentions her lack of family and I’ll always put my family first, no matter what.

“Alright, Mason,” she agrees.

“And no more construction sites. I want you to take it easy from now on, you can delegate from home to work on your projects.”

“Yes, Mason,” she chimes patiently.

I must list off about a dozen other things before she’s finally heard enough.

“Mason?”

“Yeah, baby?” I ask her, full of concern.

“Shut up and kiss me will you.”

“Yes, Jules.”

And I do, I kiss her, and I hold her and I tell her a thousand times how much I love her.

How much I’m gonna love her and our baby forever.

“And Mason?” she asks me after a time. “Maybe make a start on the baby’s room, hire a builder will ya? It’s been six months and you haven’t even finished starting the front porch.

“Yes, dear.”

Extended Epilogue

Two Years Later

Jules

I’d never heard of a groom arranging his own shotgun wedding, but that’s what it felt like. Almost straight from the hospital after we found out I was heavy for a reason that wasn’t bagels, we made our way to the altar with Mason’s vows.

It doesn’t seem that long ago, but baby Jack is already doing his own version of walking, and Mason’s got giant pails of blue and pink paint at the ready, asking me every time I feel even a little tired if I think I might be expecting again.

Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration. But he’s taken to being a daddy so well. He loves