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“What’s all this?” I ask, holding my arms open in joyful surprise.
Harley grins and rushes over to me, taking off the apron and tossing it on the ground before leaping into my arms and kissing me right on the lips. “Welcome home,” she murmurs.
I kiss her again, her lips as sweet as candy. “I feel like I should try my entrance again since you’re dressed up like Lucille Ball.”
“You’re showing your age, babe.” Harley giggles. She takes my hand and guides me over to the table. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving…but what’s the occasion?”
Harley scoffs, “You won your case!”
Of course, the case. “Funnily enough, that was the least important thing that happened today.”
She pulls out a chair for me and pats it. “Tell me all about it.”
Over a spaghetti dinner, I share with her the events of the day, including what happened between me and her father. Harley smiles the whole time, happy beyond compare. “I told him he should go to the trial, actually,” she says, spiraling spaghetti onto her fork.
“Oh?”
“Well, he asked me if he should. I think he was a little nervous to see Mom, but…” Harley reaches out and takes my hand. “I told him how much it would mean to you and to me.”
I hum thoughtfully. “To us.”
“Yes, although I didn’t say that. I think the concept of ‘us’ is still cringeworthy to my dad,” she says with a shrug. “I’m just glad he decided to go.”
I consider Harley, the woman I love, for a brief moment. Her crop of blonde hair hangs in waves, framing her face. Her eyes are warm and safe. I’m excited to call them home for the rest of my life.
“Me too. Thank you for encouraging him.”
“Of course. The last thing I ever wanted was to get between you two. You know that.”
“I felt the same way.”
“Biology had other things in mind, I guess,” Harley says with a shy smile, leaning back in her chair and touching her stomach.
I beam proudly. “Not just biology…” I get up from the chair and hold my hand out to her.
Harley takes it hesitantly. “What are you doing?”
I guide her up from her seat and pull her into my arms, the music that’s been a backing track to our meal swooning in the background. “Dance with me.”
Harley laughs, head hanging back, clinging to me as I sway her side to side. “I never knew you were such a romantic, Grant.”
“Honestly, me either. Guess you just bring it out of me.”
We find our footing and our rhythm, something we are much better at horizontally, and dance as a soulful singer croons, seemingly only for us. Though the stars light up the night sky above us, the only stars I see are Harley’s fiery eyes. I lower my mouth to her ear and whisper, “I can’t wait to have a baby with you, Harley.”
She turns her face into my cheek and sighs contentedly. “You’re lucky you don’t have to wait very long, then.”
If you had asked me six months ago what my life would look like now, I’d probably just say, “More of the same.” Business as usual. Developing projects, putting out fires, making more money than I know what to do with.
My whole life in just three months has changed. Not just because I have a beautiful woman in my arms committed to starting a family with me. But also because I believe in love. I don’t know if I ever did, even as a child.
Now, though, I believe in love so wholeheartedly that I know it should scare me.
Yet, with Harley, it doesn’t.
I kiss the side of her head and breathe in her scent.
