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"That's for when we retire," I said and took Alexa's hand. "We have a lot of living to do in between now and then."
"We do," she said and leaned back, closing her eyes. "It's just so nice here. It's just so nice not to be sick every day."
I kissed her knuckles. "I'm so glad that part of your pregnancy is over. Now, you can enjoy yourself."
That night, we each opened one present, and I couldn't wait to see Alexa open hers. I thought it was a fitting gift, considering the location -- a black pearl pendant surrounded by diamonds to match her engagement ring. I anticipated going to Bora Bora and contacted a jeweler to make sure I had the gift in hand before I left so she could open it on Christmas Eve, which was our tradition.
"Oh, Luke, it's beautiful," she whispered after she unwrapped the gift and opened the small narrow jewelry box. She held it up and then handed it to me. "Will you put it on?"
She turned around so her back was facing me and I draped the chain around her neck, fastening the small clasp. She adjusted the pendant and then turned around, her skin flushed.
"There," she said and touched the pendant. "How does it look?"
She was wearing a black sundress and she looked fantastic, her hair long with beach waves, her skin tanned with just a bit of red from the sun we got walking the beach.
"You look... beautiful."
I leaned over and kissed her tenderly.
"Thank you," she said, her eyes meeting mine. "It's such a thoughtful gift."
Then, she held out her gift to me. It looked like a book-sized box. When I took it out of her hands, I knew it was a book collection and was curious which one she'd got for me.
"What is it?" I asked, unwrapping it eagerly. When I saw it, I was shocked. It was a signed copy of the Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov. Each book had been personally signed by Asimov. It must have been worth thousands of dollars.
"Oh, my God," I said and removed the first book from the box. It was Foundation, the first book. It was signed by Asimov and dedicated to a woman from the South named Loretta Parker. The trilogy was well-preserved, but clearly old. "Where did you find these?"
"At a rare bookseller. I know you love science fiction, so I thought you might like a signed copy by Asimov for your collection."
I leaned over and kissed her passionately.
She knew me so well...
The kiss turned passionate, and our gifts were soon forgotten, replaced with thoughts and sensations of each other's bodies and our own pleasure.
When we came back to reality, after cleaning up and returning to the living room, we sat admiring our gifts and talked about the future.
"You're going to take a leave of absence as soon as we get back?" I asked, flipping through the second book in the trilogy.
"I already applied. I'm waiting for the department to approve it, but I don't expect an issue.
"Good," I said and picked up the third book. "What will you spend your time on with nothing to do?"
"Fixing the baby's room. Cooking meals for you. Doing research. Just because I'm not taking a class doesn't mean I can't still work on my dissertation research. I know my general area so I can keep working. When I go back to full time studies, I can spend a year writing the dissertation and I'll be done that much faster. As soon as the baby comes, I expect I'll be too tired to do much reading."
"Probably spend every spare moment sleeping," I said, remembering Dana's tales of her first months with baby James.
"I know," Alexa replied. "That's why, as long as I'm feeling good, I'm going to do as much independent work as I can. I expect that in my eighth and ninth month, I might not be so great. Dana said she had problems sleeping because of the baby. And then there's the pressure on your stomach, so digestion isn't so great. I'll take it easy for the last two months. Until then, it's knuckle down and do it."
"Me, too. I have to get as much work done on Astra Investments as I can before the baby comes. I hope to get all the funding in place before he or she arrives. Then, I can take parental leave for a year, and only check in once a week for a webinar or whatever."
"We could spend the summer at the beach house and fall in the City. I love the city when the leaves turn."
"And we could spend the winter here," I said, glancing around. "We could get a two-bedroom place and spend all of December and January here. We could fly the parental units and best friends out to stay with us."
"It sounds perfect."
It did. As we went to bed that night, snuggled down in each other's arms, I didn't think that life could get any more perfect.
