Not that I blame him.
“Now, listen to me, honey.” He opens his mouth to complain, but I give him the same look that I give the girls when they’re out of line. “We agreed you would take care of this. Our family is complete. It’s time, big boy.”
He places both his hands on the island and gives me a hard glare. “It is most certainly not! I’m not letting some jackass cut into my cock when I still have work to do with it.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re being unreasonable.”
“Uh, no. I told you last week when you brought it up that I wasn’t getting fixed. No fucking way. Not until I have my boy in your belly. You need to call and cancel this appointment.” He picks up the card, and like the very presence of it offends him, he walks to the sink and shoves it down the disposal before turning the water on and flipping the switch. The whole time it’s making its shredding noise, he looks at me as if he’s won.
Oh, how wrong he is.
“Nate,” I warn when he shuts everything off and stomps over to me. “Don’t you dare.”
He, of course, doesn’t listen, and before I can get another word in edgewise, he has me over his shoulder—gently—as he walks into the madness where our girls are still laughing and playing. They stop instantly when we walk in, and I’m sure if I could see them, they would be standing there just waiting to see what crazy thing their daddy is doing now.
He places me on my feet, and I open my mouth to give him some attitude, but it comes out as a squeak when he spins me and I’m looking at the gray wall.
“Five minutes, Ember. Time-out for trying to keep my boy from me.”
“Oh, Mommy is in trouble!” Quinnie laughs.
I hear Brooklynn snicker, but I just start to count as a huge, happy-as-hell smile pulls at my lips. I start counting out the minutes in my head, playing into Nate’s craziness as I enjoy his grumbling behind me.
Over the years, with each birth of our children, achievement with the club, or with my artwork, our love has just continued to grow. We rarely fight, and when we do, it is usually always about when we will stop having children. I think, if Nate had his way, he would continue having them until I physically couldn’t, but I knew it was time.
Especially now.
And since I love seeing him get all riled up, I figured this would be the funniest way to bring it up. And if everything goes as planned, I’m going to enjoy the benefits of provoking him later.
I hit the three-minute mark and turn my head to the side. I see the painting of A Beautiful War that Nate had bought all those years ago and my eyes mist. He made sure that was the focal point in our family room. Luckily, we have the space with our vaulted ceilings because it takes up the whole top half of that wall. I let my mind wander to the large photo canvas that is over our bed, my heart filling with love.
Nate surprised me a few weeks after our wedding with a canvas portrait I didn’t even know was taken. It eerily looks just like the painting in our living room; only it’s a picture of us on our wedding day.
The center being our hands, clasped together at our hips as we both look to the side and into each other’s eyes. You can’t see anything else but half our bodies as we hold hands and look at each other with so much love.
“Honey?” I call from my spot in the corner, having had enough, and I’m ready to knock my handsome husband down a few pegs.
“What?” he snaps.
I turn and look over at where he is petting Chuck with Kaylee hanging on his back.
“I don’t need to cancel that appointment.”
He stands and puts his hands on his hips. Kaylee giggles and I have to fight with my desire to look at the way his muscles always bulge when he does that.
“I don’t need to cancel because I never made one. I picked up an appointment card when I was leaving my gynecologist last week. She shares an office with the urologist.”
“I’m not following.” He looks so damn hot that I struggle not to rush into his arms and kiss him hungrily.
“The way I see it,” I continue as if he hadn’t spoken. “If you get your boy this time, we can make the appointment then. If not, we’ll talk about you giving up on that boy and enjoying a house full of women.”
His eyes widen, and he woodenly starts to walk over to me. Kaylee still laughing and squealing on his back as she continues to act like she’s a monkey. When he’s standing in front of me, he reaches out and I feel his knuckles brush against my belly before reaching up to take my face between his hands.
“My boy is in there?”
“Or girl, but yes.” I smile through my tears. Even though this will be my fourth pregnancy, I’m still overcome with emotion when I think about how far we’ve come together as the proof of our love grows in my belly.
“God, I love you, woman.”
I don’t get a chance to tell him that I love him too because his mouth is instantly on mine. Our girls all start yelling and laughing at their parents as we kiss deeply, my tears mingling with his.
I sink into him and, not for the first time, I realize just how lucky I am to have the love of a man like Nate Reid. True to his word, he’s never stopped making sure that he gave me the world. He thinks I give that to him, but standing there with his mouth on mine while our girls dance around happily, I know that will never be the case.
Eight months later, our world grew with even more love when our son, Elijah, was born and Nate got his boy.
The End
To my family: Thank you for every ounce of support. I love you guys and your love for me keeps me going. You guys might be the only people that love me more than Felicia does.
Felicia Lynn: HA, you thought there would be something here, didn’t you? I dedicated the book to you – so you get nothing more! :P
To my amazing readers: I would be nothing without you all. Your support keeps me going every single step of the way.
To my amazing publicist, Danielle Sanchez: I’m so beyond lucky to have you in my life. Thank you for ALL that you have done and continue to do for me.
To the women behind making my books shine: Lauren Perry, Sommer Stein, Jenny Sims, Ellie McLove, and Stacey Blake – I would be lost without each and every one of you!
A special thanks to my beta reader and friend, Lara Feldstein. You’ve been with me through so many books and I can honestly say I value your opinion to the moon. You’re incredible.
A special thank you to JM Walker. I love you, Jo-Anna. Thank you so much for all those ‘pretties’ and for loving my crew! You’re the best.