AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was pregnant.
I was going to be a dad.
That is, if she wanted to keep the baby. I knew it would impact her dreams. What if she…
“What does this– I mean, what are you planning to do?” I asked before getting my hopes up.
“What do you mean?” She stared at me. “I’m going to keep the baby, Levi, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“What about the internship?”
She shrugged and let out a deep sigh, rolling over onto her back and staring at the ceiling. “I told them to take me out of consideration. There’s no way I can do it while pregnant or with a newborn. The job is too grueling.”
I was both relieved and saddened to hear that. Emotions are complex beasts. I was happy she wouldn’t be leaving, excited about being parents… but knew this opportunity had meant so much to her.
“I’m sorry, Anna,” I said softly.
She rolled back over to look at me, a faint smile on her face. “Nothing to be sorry about, Levi. I’m sad, don’t get me wrong, but once I was out there, as amazing as it was, I found myself really yearning to be back here. Not just for you, but for my family as well. And finding out I was pregnant,” she shrugged, “well, I take it as a sign that it’s not meant to be. I’m meant to be here. I don’t know what I’m going to do about my career, but I’ll figure it out.”
“I still have the land I bought. We could open our own reserve like I proposed. We’d start small, of course, but it has a lot of potential. I’ve been doing my research and talking to other reserve owners around the country. I think we could do it.”
“Levi, that land was so expensive. I couldn’t do that.”
“It’s not a gift, Anna. It’s an investment into our future. This is my dream as well, and I want to do it with you. We may not be able to get elephants, but the kangaroos still need a new home and I found some more asshole emus we could take in. We could start small and see where things go.”
Anna’s smile grew a bit bigger, and her eyes seemed to glow. “That does sound nice,” she said.
I took her hand and brought it to my lips, dotting a kiss on her knuckles. “I think it sounds very nice. You, me, and baby running our own little reserve and building a life together.”
I placed a hand on her tummy, and she rested her hand against mine.
“Let’s do this,” she said as she kissed me. “Let’s start planning for our family’s future.”
Chapter 29
Anna
“Goaty seems to be doing better,” I said as I scratched the little goat between the ears.
“All thanks to you nursing him back to health the last couple of weeks,” Levi said, kissing me on the top of the head.
The goat had stayed at the vet for a few days before being released. He’d had a bacterial infection, so we had to give him antibiotics and feed him from a bottle to make sure he was eating enough. Hand feeding the little guy had really cemented my decision to stay in Sunville and build our own reserve. We’d already started the legwork for it, working out the permits and building the enclosures, and it was coming along nicely - albeit a little slowly, as to be expected considering the scale of the project.
Levi helped me up off the floor of the pen where I’d been feeding Goaty, and I brushed the hay and dirt off my jeans.
“I don’t have much time to change before our appointment. Hopefully the doctor doesn’t mind me smelling like a barnyard.” I chuckled as we exited the pen.
We were going to our first ultrasound, or the first one where we’d be able to see the baby, which was both exciting and scary. It made it even more real. Levi and I were going to be parents. I had never really thought too much about being a mother, at least not anytime soon, but I already loved the little bean growing inside me and had no doubt we’d be able to make it work. Especially with a man like Levi at my side.
I took his hand in mine as we walked to the truck. On the drive to the clinic, we started talking about names.
“What do you think about Emilia Grace, if it’s a girl? After my sisters.”
“That’s pretty,” he said. “But what if it’s a boy?”
“Well, do you have any names picked out?” I asked, cracking a smile. “And no silly puns either.”
Levi laughed. “I’m better at naming animals, I’m afraid.”
