he informed me as he circled my waist and placed his hands on my little belly bump.
“Hit me.”
“The Two Ships.”
Now that was perfect. “I love it, Casey. That’s it.”
It was moments like that when it was hard to believe we were ever not on the same course. When things clicked into place. When everything worked out as if it had been in the plan all along.
“It’s going to be a lot of hard work, honeybee. Are you sure you want to do this?” I think we were both a little apprehensive. We had a baby on the way. The next few months would be full of meetings with contractors and doctor’s appointments, but it felt right.
“I’m sure. I really want it.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. The Two Ships it is.”
I turned around in his arms and kissed my husband. I think every business deal should be made like that. I hugged him and did my best to show him how much I loved him.
Around the dining table with his dad and Carmen, Troy, Micah, Cory and Foster, Audrey and Morgan, Casey announced, “Happy Thanksgiving. Honeybee is having my baby.”
“Oh shit,” I sat up in bed and held my stomach.
“What?”
“I just felt it.” It was the weirdest sensation. A quick rolling flip of a movement. I’d been waiting patiently. We’d heard the heartbeat and we’d had the sonogram, but it didn’t feel real until that second. “Casey, I felt the baby move.”
There was no way he could feel it, but he put his hand beside mine anyway. Then it did it again. A dull tickle on the inside. It was magnificent.
“Did it hurt?” Always worried, always concerned. He’d taken the vow to protect me seriously. A little too seriously at times, but I let it slide because he was him.
“No. It felt cool,” I explained as I lay back into the bedding. It was our first Christmas morning together. After all the absent years, it was the first one we were going to share. “What time is it?”
He rolled to his side and lit up his phone. “It’s about five thirty. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” I repeated and snuggled close to him. Our tree was overflowing with presents. We had a lot of time to make up for and a new little someone to buy for, which made it fun. We’d wrapped the many things we’d bought for the baby’s room. I wasn’t due until June, but it was hard not to.
“Do you want to get up and open stuff?” he said with one hand cupping my ass. “Or do you want to stay in bed for a little while?”
One thing about being pregnant, I was horny all the time. He never complained, telling me it was his job to make sure I had everything I needed. That included him. I fought my Christmas curiosity and chose to stay in bed with the sexiest present I’d ever received. I answered with my mouth kissing his chest.
“I love Christmas,” he said.
I love Christmas, too.
Days passed, months passed, and we found a rhythm.
I remember him telling me once he wouldn’t be satisfied until we were sleeping on the same pillow and fighting over stupid things. All of those things that seemed like shots in the dark were our dreams come true.
“Can you take this trash out?” I asked as I waddled around the kitchen. I could take it out, but my feet were so swollen from the night before. Our soft opening at The Two Ships. It had taken us about five months to get it open and I’d really wanted it up and going before the baby came. The night went off without a hitch. We didn’t have the brewery part quite up to speed yet, but the restaurant side was going to have a strong start.
“Yeah, why don’t you go sit down, Momma?”
He doted on me. Hand and foot. It was hilarious how he’d had cravings, but I hadn’t. The only thing that really grabbed my attention was something I couldn’t have.
“Yeah, and could you get a beer?” He’d stocked our house with ice cream and pickles and every kind of cheese you could imagine, but it was beer I craved.
He laughed, knowing the drill.
After walking to the curb and washing his hands, he found me on the couch and brought my favorite Porter with him in an ice-cold pilsner glass. I watched as he took a long drink and placed it on the end table. Then he kissed me.
Just the taste