we love each other…
“I’m happy,” I tell him, grabbing his hand and resting it on my bare stomach, just beneath my T-shirt. “Hey, guess what? There’s a baby somewhere in there.”
His big, warm hand caresses my skin, reminding me how much I like it when Theo and I practice making babies. “A baby. Our baby.”
His voice is full of wonder, and vaguely possessive.
I really like possessive Theo. A lot.
“I know this happened sort of quickly,” I say.
His gaze meets mine. “I’m all right with it if you are.”
I raise my brows. “So we’re going to do this?”
Theo nods slowly. “Oh yeah. We are so going to do this, Kels. First things first, you need to move out of here and into my place.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Your place is small.”
“Better than this,” he retorts, glancing around.
I laugh. “True. But don’t forget. We’re going to be a…family soon.”
“As if I could forget,” he practically scoffs. “So in about eight months? You’re barely a month along, right?”
“I guess. I don’t know. I need to go see a doctor.”
“That should be plenty of time for us to find a house,” he muses.
My mouth drops open. “You want to buy a house together?”
“Well, yeah. We’ll need to get married too.” His voice is light, like he didn’t just ask me to be his wife.
But he so freakin’ did.
“You want to marry me?”
He drops down to one knee, and I cover my mouth with my right hand as he takes the other and holds it lightly in his. “Kelsey Phillips, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
I nod, fighting the tears that want to fall. “Oh my God.”
“Is that a yes?” He quirks a brow.
“Yes, yes.” I yank on his hand and he stands once more, sweeping me into his arms and kissing me so thoroughly my knees are wobbly when he finally breaks away from my lips. “I love you.”
He kisses the tip of my nose, his hand returning to my belly. “I love you too. Both of you.”
“Oh my God. I’m going to have your baby, Theo.” I start blubbering all over again and he holds me close, running his hand up and down my back, offering up soothing words of love.
“We’re going to be just fine,” he tells me at one point.
And I believe him.
Epilogue
Seven months later
“Oh my God, this is so cute!” I’m squealing as I hold the frilly white dress up to show everyone. The crowd around me oohs and ahhs, and I beam at all of them before dropping the dress back into the box it came in.
I’m at my baby shower at my brand-new home, surrounded by people I love and who love me, and I’ve turned into one of those obnoxious mothers-to-be who has to show off every single one of my gifts and carry on like a ridiculous person.
I’m having the time of my life.
“Who got you that?” Eleanor asks. She’s sitting beside me, writing down each item and who gave it to me in a little notebook so I can write thank-you notes to them later. She’s a good friend. One of my favorite people, besides Theo and the little bun in my oven. That’s what we’ve taken to calling our future baby.
We’re having a girl. We started calling her Bun Bun months ago. It’s awful, but it cracks us up and makes us smile and annoys everyone else who hears us say it, so we keep it up. Even though we have her name already picked out and everything. Not that we’re telling anyone.
We’re keeping it a secret until the day she’s born, and it’s driving everyone out of their minds guessing what it could be.
“I gave it to her,” calls my sister-in-law, Ali, raising her hand. She’s sitting next to Stella, no surprise—both of them have become closer over the last few months, though I’m not sure if there’s necessarily anything going on between Ali and Michael Ricci. If there is? Her parents probably won’t like it. He’s much older. But he’s definitely charismatic. Charming. Attractive. Successful. I get the appeal.
“You’re spoiled rotten,” Eleanor mutters a few minutes later as she writes down yet another gift from Stella. All my friends have spoiled our baby completely—including the very woman sitting next to me—and I’ve never felt so loved.
“No, my baby is spoiled rotten,” I correct as I carefully set the gift bag on the floor, groaning with the movement. This baby makes my lower back ache, and she’s sitting on