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“I’m sorry,” she said.
“It’s okay,” I said. “It was a long time ago.”
“But your dad, he was a good man. I went to see him when I was younger.”
“Everybody did,” I said. “If you lived in Murdock, at some point you came to my dad.”
“And now they come to you.”
“I guess,” I said. “My dad was amazing, though. If I can be half as good as he was, then I’ll be happy.”
“You sell yourself short,” she said. “You’re a good man, and from what I know about you and your abilities to help women with bum ankles, you’re a great doctor.”
“Hah,” I said. “That’s easy stuff.”
“Uh huh,” she said. “So, your life away from here. What was it like?”
The question made me pause for a moment. I didn’t know how to respond.
“Honestly?” I asked. “Until you and I went to spend the weekend at the wedding, I thought it was the best place in the world for me and kind of resented being back here.”
“Oh,” she said. I didn’t know how to read that, so I decided to press on.
“But that changed,” I said. “Where I was, it was big city lifestyle, lots to do, lots to keep me occupied, you know? Things I could go do and keep myself entertained when I wasn’t working. And I worked all the time. All the time. I thought I loved it. I thought I loved the hectic nature of my life there. But then I came back here. And reconnected with you. When we went on that trip, I was still missing my old life. But the longer I was there with you, the more I felt like I was right where I belonged. I feel like even with the circumstances not being good, and me never thinking it would lead back here, but I am so, so grateful for it because of you. And our baby.”
Her eyes were locked on mine, and we stayed quiet for a few moments, letting my words settle in the air. I worried what she thought, and if maybe I had said too much. Then she reached out and touched my hand before pulling me toward her, and we kissed.
It was a soft, easy kiss. The kiss of two people who were growing more comfortable with that intimacy. Two people who hoped there would be many more of those.
“What about you?” I asked. “Is this where you saw yourself?”
“Unmarried and knocked up by one of my brother’s best friends? No,” she laughed.
“Fair,” I said.
“No, I didn’t see myself having a baby yet, but I didn’t necessarily think I wouldn’t either,” she said. “When I went into law, I kind of figured I would have a hard time dating and finding a partner because of how busy I could be. But getting into family law, helping all these families adopt and reconnect, it did make me wish that I had a family of my own.”
“I can see that,” I said. “With Dad’s practice, it’s all families. I spent a couple days there, and suddenly, I started thinking that maybe something was missing in my life. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do about it, though. I’ve never been the one to go pursue anything other than my education and career.”
“Well, growing up, you wouldn’t have been able to convince me of that,” she said. “You seemed so confident.”
“I was,” I laughed, “at least as far as having my career trajectory mapped out for me. But as for family, anything like that… I just didn’t. Then I came back, and we went on our trip, and I started thinking a little differently. Honestly, I loved playing your fiancé. I enjoyed that so much that I knew something was up.”
“Me too,” she said.
“So, the repairs on my house are almost done. It’s got an awful lot of space.” “Are you asking me to move in with you?” she asked, her head tilting to one side.
“When the repairs are done,” I said quickly. “And I have a chance to touch it up a bit.”
She grinned wide. “All right,” she said. “Let’s do it. Why not? It’s not like we aren’t already jumping ahead a bit.”
She rubbed her belly, and I laughed.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said. “Good. All right then.”
I felt like I was floating. My cheeks burned, and the smile was so wide on my face that my lips hurt. But I would keep it there forever if I could.
“So, I move in with you in a couple of months?” she asked. “What about until then?”
“Well, I’m staying at your brother’s place, but I’m not sure how tenable that will be when he hears about… you know.”
“Yeah,” she said. “That might need a little bit of adjustment. Like, all of it. Us dating, us being serious and then us having a baby. We might have to take all that in stages.”
