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His smile lights his face. “It was worth it to see your face tonight.”
Holy hell. I can’t even. “I really got it?”
“You really did. But more than that, you earned it.”
Tears line the bottom of my eyes before they immediately start to tumble over onto my cheeks for about the tenth time today. I collapse into him, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck. “It’s a girl.”
“What?” he says with a bemused chuckle.
“When I went for blood work today, the tech accidentally asked how my girl is treating me. I don’t think she knew not to say anything. So, it’s a girl because, unlike you, I can’t hold a secret for longer than five minutes.” I draw back and meet his stunned gaze. “We’re having a girl.”
Immediately he starts trembling. “A little girl?”
I bite into my lip and nod.
He puffs out breath after breath before he starts to wipe at the emotion on his face and then he’s on his knees, talking to my belly. “Hi, sweet girl.” He kisses me over my dress. “If your mommy thinks I’m overprotective of her, wait till she sees me with you.” He laughs and looks up. “Thank you. I didn’t care, but a girl is so perfect.”
My fingers comb through his hair. “I want to name her Willow after my mom.”
His eyes glitter before he turns back to my belly. “I can’t wait to meet you, Willow.”
I break down, losing my composure completely. God, this man. This fucking man.
He stands and peppers my lips and cheeks with kisses, wiping my tears away. “We have to feed you, sweetheart. You took your shot. So let’s eat, but then I want you naked in that suite until we have to get on the plane.”
“Whatever you say,” I quip cheekily, ready for anything and everything with him. Especially what’s to come next for us.
Epilogue
Katy has thought I was going to propose to her half a dozen times already. She thought I was going to on Valentine’s Day when I planned that romantic dinner and again when we went on our trip. I’m pretty sure even before that when we went in for our twenty-week fetal survey and again at dinner with our families.
Hell, anytime I take her hand, I feel her tense, thinking I’m about to drop down onto one knee and pull out the giant diamond ring I’ve been carrying around for the last three months. It’s why I haven’t done it yet.
Katy coming back into my life was unexpected, and even though it’s not my style, I want to try to be that for her. It’s funny, I went from never wanting to think about marriage again to it being the only thing I do think about. Anytime I’m with her or I take her hand or I listen as she introduces herself as Dr. Barrows and not Dr. Lawson, I think about it.
I want my ring on her finger, my name as hers. I want the entire fucking planet to know that Katy is mine. Where I was filled with nothing but uncertainty before, I have never been more certain about anything or anyone in my life. Loving Katy meant giving up what I used to believe, but in doing so, I’ve found exactly where I’m meant to be.
Katy is going to take six weeks off after Willow is born, and I plan to take off three months. We have a plan. We have it all figured out. We’ve even slowly started doing some small things in her room. No crib yet. But I had it cleared out of furniture and painted to look like the ocean—that’s what Katy wanted. We have a dresser with a changing table on top, a rocking chair in the corner, a daybed, and a small bookshelf. The bassinet is in the closet in the bedroom, assembled, but not allowed in the actual room yet because Katy is extremely superstitious.
These ten months with Katy have been the best of my life despite the crap with Cayden. Even now when I think about what he did, the lengths he went to trying to ruin my life, the obsession ruling his, I still have trouble wrapping my head around it. It turns out, those pictures of me having sex were from a camera he had planted in my old bedroom and the sex I was having was with my wife. To make it look authentic, Cayden had similar sex with some random woman he picked up.
Only, he did it at night, and that’s what Katy noticed. That it was dark out and by that point, on that day, we were already together. Thank God my girl has an eye and mind for detail.
In any event, he’s no longer an issue for us. He’ll be in prison for at least three years, and after that, the restraining order will stand, and he won’t be able to come near me or Katy or even the hospital.
Cricket has accepted a fellowship in Manhattan and has done nothing but brag about it since she secured it. I’m happy for her. But I’m also happy she’s leaving.
My mom’s cancer isn’t in remission, and her doctor didn’t seem to indicate that he believed she’d ever reach that point. He said if the two rounds of strong chemo couldn’t get her there, he wasn’t sure what would unless an amazing clinical trial came along, but right now, he didn’t recommend that for her. The chemo seems to be doing its job well enough as it shrunk two of the tumors and stopped the third from growing.
I’ll take whatever I can get with that and will never stop fighting.
They’ll continue with chemo and radiation and gene therapy, and that’s just how it’s going to be until they find a cure.
But it’s yet another reminder that life is short, time is precious, and you should always hold onto the ones you love with both hands. Speaking of…
I slide my hand around the front of Katy and cover her large belly, splaying my fingers wide, hoping Willow gives me a kick. I live for her fucking kicks. They’re the beat of my heart. So is the woman in my arms. Katy stirs, but she doesn’t wake, and maybe what I’m doing is cruel. It’s barely four in the morning, but I can’t wait another second.
“Katy baby,” I whisper in her ear, her body reflexively shifting closer to mine. My chest thumps and my lips part into an automatic smile in response. I never used to smile the way I do with her. “I love you. You’re everything I love.”
