AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tears run down my cheeks as I laugh and finally, my body can’t take it anymore and my big mountain man gets his wish.
* * *
“I’m going to be a father.” Davis buries his face into my neck as I hold the little stick with two pink lines in my hands, sitting curled on his lap.
After the peeing, Davis rushed us out of the house giving me a piggy back ride all the way to the barn. He wanted privacy and didn’t think the bathroom was quite the right venue for the event.
I bounced along on his back in a daze, the reality that I’m pregnant taking up most of my brain space.
Now I’m sitting on a bale of hay, the horses in their stalls chomping away at their breakfast oblivious to the way my life has just changed.
I think of my mother and the school photos I found that are tucked into my own bible on my bedside table back at my grandfather’s house.
Would she be proud? Ashamed? I’m only a year older than she was when she had me. The barn swallows swoop and chirp as they fly up and down the aisle and the world feels…new.
I have a passing thought of my Grandpa as well. This was exactly what he didn’t want for me. Exactly what he thought he would prevent by leaving me in that cabin.
“Baby.” Davis grips my jaw, turning me to him, his other hand pressed warm and flat on my belly. “You okay? You’re gonna be the best mom. I already know it and I’m going to do everything. I’m going to do all the diapers and the potty training. I’m going to sit up at night when you nurse them. If you don’t sleep, I don’t sleep…”
“It’s just…” I feel floaty and warm. “It’s a lot but I’m happy. I am.” It’s true. Sitting on Davis’s lap here in the barn, I’ve never been happier.
His warm lips meet my forehead, his hand releasing my jaw to run up and down my back when he pulls away, his eyes wide, and I practically see the thought bubble over his head.
“We need to get married,” he says, wild eyed, settling me on the hay bale as he spins in a circle, eyes darting around. “Now.”
“Wait, what? I—”
He drops to one knee, grabbing my hands in his, his chin low, my heart in my throat as he looks up. There are tears on his cheeks.
“Marin…you will marry me.” His voice cracks as I screw up my face.
“You mean…willyou marry me?”
He shakes his head his hair falling over his forehead. “Youwillmarry me. I’m letting you know.”
“Wow.” I chuckle at how fitting his anti-proposal is, given his bossy nature. “So, if you were asking, I would be saying yes. But, you’re not asking.”
“Right.” He nods, grabbing my face and pulling it to his, his tongue invading my mouth in a long, warm kiss before he pulls back and stands, tugging out his phone. “I’ve got it all set up,” he says, tapping the screen. “It’s all legal and binding.”
“What is set up? What do you mean, legal and binding?” I ask, then perk up. “We need a selfie.” I smile, turning into a side pose. He’s been taking my pictures all day every day and it’s better than modeling for some stranger, but the pictures are darn good if I do say so myself.
He holds up a finger, stepping back, holding out the phone then turning so I can see the screen.
“Hello?” A woman in her forties I’d guess comes on the screen. “Mr. Ray?”
“Yes, we’re doing it. Can you do it now?”
What in thewhatis going on?
The woman nods as he turns the phone so I’m showing in the little square at the bottom of the screen.
“Go to the form link I sent you, both of you can sign with your finger at the ‘X’s’. Then, we can proceed.”
More tapping on the screen, then Davis sits next to me, holding out his phone. “Sign here.” He says as I blink and look from his excited eyes to the screen.
“It’s a marriage license. Sign it. She’s going to marry us. Now.”
He reaches for my hand, tucking my fingers into a fist, then pulls out my index finger and points it at the screen as my jaw falls open and a beam of sunshine cuts through the dust in the aisle and lands on the phone.
