The stars spread out overhead, covering the mountains like a sparkly blanket. The night sky is ink-black, and the moon casts a silver sheen on the clearing where we’ve set up our telescope. The wind is cold and scented with pine, but I barely feel it with my husband braced against my back.
“The meteor shower may not start until tomorrow,” he warns for the dozenth time, his hands stroking up and down my sides through my fleecy jacket. “We could go back to the tent and rest up. Are you tired?”
“Greg, I’mfine.”
Honestly. I’m still in my first trimester, barely showing beneath my clothes, and my husband is already acting like I’m made of glass. It’s equal parts endearing and annoying.
“There’s peppermint tea in the thermos,” he says.
“I know.”
“And I’ve set out some folding chairs in case you need to sit.”
“Yep. I watched you do it.”
There’s a long exhale, then my husband presses his face against my hair. His strong arms wind around me, holding me against his chest, and my brief buzz of irritation melts away.
“Sorry,” he says gruffly, his words tickling my scalp. “I know I’m fussing over you like a mother hen. It’s just…”
“I know.” I pat his hand in the dark, resting my head back against his chest. Already, I regret my briefly snippy mood, because this is our first child. Of course Greg is worried. “But the baby is fine, I promise—”
“No, I know that,” he says, tugging lightly on my braid. “I’ve been to all the appointments. I know our baby is healthy and well. It’syouI’m worried about, Maren. Pregnancy is hard, and you’re going through this for both of us, and Christ, if I could do it for you I would.”
Pressing my lips together to fight a smile, I gaze up at the stars. They wink down at me, so bright and mysterious.
“I can do this.”
Greg sighs. “I know you can.”
I find his hand again, knotting our fingers together. “But you’re sweet to worry about me.”
His laugh is blunt. “I will always worry about you, Maren. You’re my whole damn world. When I go to sleep, I think of you. When I wake up, I think of you. In lectures, at the gym, while I’m writing up papers—it’s you, you, you.”
Me, me, me.What did I ever do to deserve such devotion from such an incredible man? Well, whatever it was, the feeling is mutual.
I’m as obsessed with my husband these days as the first time I saw him. More obsessed, if anything. Any time my mind wanders at my job in the newsroom, it wanders straight to him.
Every time Greg is away from me, I miss him, and when he’s here, I can’t get close enough. Want to crawl inside his skin.
A meteor streaks past overhead, burning a silver trail across the night sky. We both fall silent, gazing up. My husband’s heartbeat booms against my back, steady and strong.
“I’m glad we came back here,” I confess into the quiet. “Back to where it all started.”
“Not where it started,” Greg corrects, rubbing his cheek against my hair. “I was already long gone for you by the time we went on that trip. But yes, this is where it all changed.”
Between the mountains and the night sky, meteors streaking overhead.
Cupping the small bulge of my stomach, I sigh and melt back against my husband.
* * *
