let my gaze linger over her breasts, along her ribs, and stopped at her stomach. She was tiny, and I imagined the swell of her belly getting bigger, our child growing within it.
I reached out and placed my palm on her belly, closing my eyes and having a very vivid picture of being able to feel my baby kick when she is further along. It had me smiling. And when I looked into her face again, it was to see that those tears were back in her eyes. But I knew they were happy ones.
“I love you,” she said.
I slid both hands to her waist and hauled her on top of me, her legs on either side of my hips. I lifted my upper body a little bit and slammed my mouth on hers, kissing her, claiming those lush lips, stroking her tongue with mine. “I love you more than I can ever tell you,” I murmured against her mouth.
I meant every single word of that. I meant it so much that love wasn’t even a strong enough word to describe what I felt for her.
But it would do… for now.
20
Leila
“Are you sure about this?” Devon tightened his hand on mine as we ascended the basement steps.
We stopped at the top, and I looked at him, nodding. “I am,” I said softly, meaning that more than I’d ever meant anything before. I exhaled, trying to get my nerves straightened out.
We figured now was as good a time as any to tell my parents, not only about our relationship, but also about the baby. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t know eventually anyway, and I was tired of keeping things from people.
I felt Devon tighten his hand on mine, and then he leaned down and gave me a kiss. I was glad I had him here with me to get through this, to deliver the news to my parents, I didn’t know what their reaction would be, but I knew I could get through anything with him by my side. It might be cliché as hell, but it was the absolute truth.
Life was all about trials and tribulations, the unknown and unexpected. But at the end of the day, if it made you happy, that was all that mattered.
And Devon made me happy.
This baby made me happy.
And yeah, that was all that mattered.
I was pretty sure my parents were in some kind of state of shock. My father sat across from us, in the same chair where he always sat every morning for as long as I could remember. He had his cup of coffee, strong and bitter as hell. The newspaper was spread out in front of him, the business section the part he’d always read first.
My mother still stood by the sink, a dishtowel thrown over her shoulder, her eyes slightly wide as she looked between Devon and me.
They’d been like this for the past few minutes, ever since we emerged from the basement, sat down at the table, and just told them everything. I told them about Devon and me being in love with each other, starting a relationship, and of course the baby.
This certainly hadn’t been the reaction I envisioned from them, this stunned silence. And I didn’t know if them being quiet scared me more than if they were raging at me and telling me how disappointed they were.
“A baby?” my mother finally breathed, and I nodded.
“Yeah, a baby,” I echoed.
More silence. More thickness.
Devon reached under the table and took my hand, giving it a squeeze. His reassurance went a long way in making me feel like this was the right decision, the right time to spring this on my parents. My mother ended up walking over and sitting beside my dad, both of them looking at each other for a suspended moment.
“Honestly, I guess I can’t say I’m surprised things turned out this way.” It was my father who spoke first, his words having everything in me freeze. That certainly hadn’t been what I thought he’d respond with.
For my entire life, my parents had been very “by the book” on how they handled teaching me about life and how they taught me to be a responsible adult. My father was a little more lenient than my mother, but if I could sway him into seeing this really wasn’t the end of the world—unconventional, yes—then I could help my mother fully understand that I wasn’t going to hell.
“You know I wish you guys would’ve done things a