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Curling my finger under her chin, I lift her head to meet my eyes. “You are beautiful. Even more so now that you are carrying my child. It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” She bites her lip, still not looking convinced, and I rub her arms soothingly. “Why don’t you make a coffee and sit on the dock for a while?”
She sighs, nodding her head, then moves to the cupboard to retrieve a dustpan and broom.
“Let me do that,” I insist, taking it from her and cleaning up all the broken glass. She pours herself a cup of coffee, then gives me a quick kiss before heading out the double doors and making her way down the stone path to the dock.
Depositing all the broken glass in the trash, I place the dustpan and broom in the cupboard, then lean on the counter, looking out the window. A smile forms on my face as I watch her waddle out to the deck chairs I placed at the end of the dock. As she takes a seat, memories come flooding back of that day, five years ago when she stood in that very spot and I got down on one knee, asking her to be my wife. It was the happiest day of my life.
The last ten years have been a dream. One of those dreams that you hope like hell you never wake up from.
Pushing off the counter, I head over to the coffeepot and pour myself a cup before heading out the double doors. A calm, crisp breeze sweeps across my face as I head down the stone path, and inhaling a deep breath, I take in the picturesque view of my surroundings. The glass-like water of the harbor mirrors the world around us, the palette of colors from the trees lining the banks painting the water in shades of red, orange, and copper, letting us know that fall is well and truly upon us.
I love it here.
After five years of living in the Big Apple, the chaos of the infamous concrete jungle grew tedious. So, we moved back to Washington straight after graduation and have lived in the quintessential town of Gig Harbor ever since. As much as I wasn’t a fan of big city life, the place held many fond memories. It was where Ava and I started our new life together. And among all the hustle and bustle, smoke and noise, we created a life for ourselves. We created our own world in the five-hundred-square-foot apartment we called home.
I finished my medical degree at UW School of Medicine. Even though it was always my dream to work in emergency, everything changed when Ava placed that positive pregnancy test down in front of me. My dreams changed, and my only priority in life was to be home as much as possible for my family. The hours in ER are long and grueling, not to mention the job itself is stressful.
While it may have been a rewarding position, I have no doubt that it would have been consuming, and the only thing I want to be consumed by at this point in my life is my beautiful wife and our child. So I’m currently doing my residency at the local doctor’s clinic in town. It’s a small clinic with only two other senior doctors on staff. But with the hours being nine-to-five Monday through Friday, it’s perfect for our growing family.
Ava worked as a mathematics teacher at a middle school in Tacoma until two months ago. She insists on going back as soon as the baby is born, but little does she know I plan to knock her up again soon after. I come from a big family and want one of my own, but the jury is still out on that subject. Ava has only agreed to three children so far, but if anything, I am a persistent man and have every intention of convincing her to have at least four.
As I approach the end of the dock, I see Ava leaning back on the deck chair, cradling her belly with her eyes closed. The afternoon breeze gently blows away the strands of hair from her face as she sleeps peacefully.
“Baby,” I murmur, sitting down next to her, placing a kiss on her cheek, and she stirs, peeling her eyes open.
“Hey,” she rasps, looking around confused then letting out a yawn. “I must have dozed off.”
“Come here.” I wrap an arm around her, and she snuggles into my side, letting out a contented sigh. I rest my chin on her head as we sit in silence, the cool air sweeping over us and making her body shiver. “Are you cold?”
“Hmm.” She tenses and sits up, placing her hands over her belly.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She winces, shifting uncomfortably. “It’s just Braxton-Hicks. It will pass in a minute.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, smoothing my hand over her tight stomach. “Have you been timing them?”
“Yes, but the pain is staggered. Sometimes it’s every five minutes, then it changes, and it’s every fifteen. And just when I think that this may finally be it, it just stops altogether. I think this baby is deliberately fucking with me,” she mutters, leaning back against the chair with a huff.
I bite back my amusement. “Our baby is not fucking with you, Flower. He just needs more time.”
She arches a brow. “Don’t you mean she?”
“Oh no, I mean he.” I arch a brow back, and she folds her arms on top of her belly and eyes me suspiciously.
“Did you see something in the ultrasound that you’re not telling me? I mean, it looked like…” She lets out a gasp and bolts upright, her eyes darting down between her legs. “Oh shit.”
My eyes bulge as the faint trickling of water hits the deck underneath her chair, and she peers up at me with her mouth agape. “Oh my god. Either I just pissed myself, or my water just broke.”
* * *
I’m a doctor.I should be cool as a goddamn cucumber in these types of situations. But the moment Ava’s water broke, my sanity went out the window. I spent at least twenty minutes charging around the house like a bull on steroids trying to find her overnight bag, only for Ava to point out that it’s been sitting by the closet door the whole time.
Then I couldn’t find the fucking car keys. Convinced I’d left them in my work pants, I completely destroyed the laundry basket trying to dig them out, only for Ava to come waddling in and informing me that they were on the key hook.
And don’t even get me started on my phone. By that point, Ava took matters into her own hands and gathered what we needed before I rushed her out the door.
My leg bounces up and down, rattling my key chain hanging from the ignition as I weave in and out of traffic like a madman. Why the fuck is there so much traffic on a Saturday morning? Where the hell is everyone going? The damn assholes are in my way.
