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Our lips pressed into each other sweetly, and I brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
“I don’t know how you could think I was getting tired of you,” I said. She grinned, and our foreheads touched. My heart was beating hard in my chest. I knew it was all going to come out. I just needed to prepare myself. “I couldn’t possibly get tired of you, especially since I went and fell in love with you like three Fridays ago. You are it for me. No matter what kind of baggage you come with.”
A sudden look of fear crossed her face. Her jaw moved up and down like she was trying to say something but couldn’t, and tears welled up in her eyes.
“But I’m… I might be pregnant?” she said, stuttering.
I felt like the whole world stopped moving for a moment. My heart skipped a beat, and my eyes widened as I looked at her. She was clearly upset, worried about my reaction, no doubt. I had to admit I was shocked. That wasn’t a thing that had been on my radar at all. Pregnant?
I blinked, my thoughts running a million miles an hour. My entire life was about to change. Our lives were about to change. Having a baby was going to be the most significant moment in my life, much as it was for my brothers Kane and Noah. I was going to join them, not only in the ranks of the brothers who had found their partners, but also in fatherhood.
Rather than fear, I felt a sudden burst of excitement. Hope, even. Despite it never being something I had even thought of with Camilla, at least not in the immediate future, it was something that I realized I did want. I wanted to have that kind of serious relationship. I wanted to be a father. Instead of her announcement being a stumbling block to our relationship, I felt like it was the opposite. It was something else that could bring us closer.
But judging by the look in her eyes, even in the split second I took to have all those thoughts, I realized she didn’t know how I felt, and those fears of her not being worthy, of her being too much trouble, were at the top of her mind. I needed to make sure she understood that wasn’t how I felt. That it wasn’t how this was going to be.
“And if you are,” I said, “then we will have the most beautiful baby in the world.”
She gasped.
“Really?” she asked.
I nodded.
“I need you to understand, I am in this with you. Not conditionally. I am here. If we’re going to have a baby, then we’re going to have a baby, and that’s wonderful. But if we’re not, then we’re not, and that just means more time just the two of us. Either way, I am here, I will protect you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
She looked at me with wonder in her eyes, and I could see stress fall away from her. Worries and fears that had pent up in her over the last few weeks melted away, and her eyes filled with tears, and as she squeezed them shut, they cascaded down her cheeks.
She pulled herself into my chest and sobbed again, only this time the cries were different. They weren’t based in fear or worry. They weren’t tears of trauma or tears of sadness like they had been before. These were tears of relief. Tears of love.
Camilla pulled herself away from my chest and scanned my face for a moment, a smile spread wide on her lips. Her bottom lip seemed to tremble for a moment, and she took a sharp breath. When she spoke, it was as if she were forcing the words out from a throat that had held them for a long time.
“I love you too,” she said.
Before I could respond, she pulled herself up and crushed her lips against mine. I held her close and relaxed into the kiss, enjoying the moment with her. When she broke away, I wrapped her tight in my arms and held her there for a long time. She gripped my arms tightly, holding me to her as if she were afraid if she let go it would disappear. But I wasn’t going anywhere. Not then, not ever.
When she finally relaxed, she looked back up at me, and I kissed her forehead.
“So, we’re good, okay?” I asked. “We will get this figured out. One way or the other. Then it’s you, me, and I guess the potential bean?”
She nodded, tears still streaming from her eyes, but now they were falling on a wide, happy smile.
“Yes,” she said hoarsely.
“Alright,” I said, kissing her once more. “Let’s get you in a tub and then off to work. But only if you want to go.”
