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I run my fingers through his hair. “You’re a good man to do this.”
“I don’t think Dad has much longer, Rach. Today, he couldn’t even think of my name.”
My heart sinks for J.R. “I’m sorry.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and then he turns his face to look at mine. “How are you? I feel like I never see you.”
“I’m okay. I miss you, but I know why we’re here. I know why you have to be here.”
J.R.’s hand moves over my stomach, and then I feel a tiny baby kick from inside. I watch J.R.’s face light up.
“She kicked!”
I smile. “She did.”
“Why do we think the baby is a girl?” he asks.
“I don’t know, but if she comes out a he, we’ll really have to give him a masculine name.” I laugh.
“Maybe, when we’re telling the baby stories later in life, we’ll leave out the part where we thought he was a she,” J.R. says.
“Well, we could have found out if she is a he a couple of weeks ago if you hadn’t decided at the last minute that you wanted the gender to remain a surprise.”
“I don’t always have great ideas, Rach. It’s your job to tell me when I have stupid ideas.”
“So, now you want to know?”
“I think I do.”
“Well, we’ll find out then.”
“We’ll find out,” he replies. He keeps his hand on my stomach, but he moves his lips to mine. He smiles at me softly, kisses me, and then whispers, “Goodnight, Rachel.”
“Goodnight, love.”
***
We had a doctor appointment this morning, and the doctor, reluctantly, informed us of the gender of our baby. I can’t stop smiling, and J.R. smiles, too. It fills my heart in a new way. We want to surprise Knox, Ellie, and Roger with a type of gender reveal party. People have these all of the time, announcing the gender of their baby in the most creative ways. I’m not sure that we have to go out of our way to surprise our other three family members, but I do think it’s special. So, we decide to make an event of it. I’ll make dinner, and we’ll have a cake—a special cake with a surprise inside.
It’s been a good day. I’ve had J.R. all to myself, and I’ve forgotten how much I have truly missed him. He’s been physically present, of course, but he’s also been mentally exhausted most days for the last couple of months. J.R. isn’t happy. This life isn’t him. I admire him for leaving this place so long ago, chasing his dreams, and becoming exactly who he wanted to be.
I think of all of the things that wouldn’t have happened had J.R. stayed here on the farm after high school. Had he not left the only thing he had ever known, we probably would have never met. If we had never met, there would be no Knox. There wouldn’t be a new baby. And maybe there wouldn’t even be me.
I think about these things as I stand at the kitchen counter mixing together the cake batter. J.R. is rinsing off a few dishes, and I can’t stop glancing at him, admiring him, loving him. How did I get to be so lucky?
“Why do you keep looking at me?” J.R. asks with his eyes slanted toward me. He smirks a little like I’m making him uncomfortable.
I glance back up at him from the cake batter. “I don’t know. I’m just…it’s been a good day.”
J.R. dries his hands and then moves behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I feel his lips against my neck as he says, “It has been a good day.”
I set the spoon and the bowl of batter on the counter, and then I turn in his arms to face him. I gaze up into his blue eyes, and then I lift myself on my tiptoes to kiss him.
J.R. smiles back at me. “Do you think Knox will be surprised that she’s getting a baby…”
I quickly put my finger to his lips. “Shhh, she’s got big ears. She’ll hear you.”
J.R. playfully bites my finger that is still resting against his lips, and then he kisses me. “Get that cake in the oven; they’ll be here soon.”
