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Maren tucks her hair behind her ear with one hand and takes Katie’s in the other. “You hear that, Katie Bear? Your class is about to start!”
Katie pouts, wrapping herself around Maren’s leg. “I don’t want to go to class.”
“Do you like to dance?” Maren asks.
“Yeah,” Katie says.
Jeremiah nods. “We do lots of dancing in class.”
“What about jumping? And doing somersaults?” Maren asks.
“We do lots of those too,” Jeremiah replies.
Maren points to the pyramid again. “Once you learn how to do all that stuff, they teach you how to dothat. And that is pretty cool, right?”
Katie’s still frowning, but she says, “Yeah.”
“You’ll also get to use pom-poms. But only if you go to class. Isn’t that right, Jeremiah?” Maren says.
He nods. “That’s exactly right.”
“I don’t want to,” Katie repeats.
Maren picks her up. “You’re going to do great.”
“You’renot supposed to lift that much weight,” I say. But when I try to take Katie out of Maren’s arms, my daughter just burrows closer, hiding her little face in Maren’s chest.
Maren smiles, pressing a kiss to the top of Katie’s head. “She’s fine. Besides, I won’t be holding her long because she’s heading to class, right?”
Jeremiah waves us over. “Y’all come to the mats. We’re about to start.”
I walk behind Maren. Grin when I see she’s starting to waddle a little. Katie looks at me over Maren’s shoulder and gives me a happy smile.
My heart twists. These two have a special bond. I’m a lucky bastard to have found Maren. Katie and I are both lucky she’s so good to us.
Makes me think about that ring again. I’m not letting Maren go anywhere. I also don’t want to freak her out. But wouldn’t hurt to ask Riley for the name of his diamond guy. Yes, my friend has one of those now that he’s dating someone seriously too.
Wonder if it would make her parents any happier about our situation if I asked for their daughter’s hand.
We arrive at the mats. I hold out my arms again. “You sure you don’t want me to take her?”
“I got it,” Maren says. “How do you think pregnant women with toddlers do it?”
Fair point.
Jeremiah turns on a song fromFrozen, which immediately gets Katie’s attention. Maren sets her down and together we squat and take off Katie’s shoes and socks.
“Go on.” I motion to the knot of little girls dancing on the mats. “Maren and I will be right here, okay?”
It takes two more tries to get Katie to join the class. Jeremiah starts showing his students some cheer moves she learned with Maren—guess I learned them too—and that’s when Katie finally makes a mad dash for the mat.
“Thank Christ.” My knees crack as I stand back up. My stomach flips when I see Maren’s hand on the underside of her belly, a grimace on her face. “You all right?”
“Yeah. Just feeling a little tight down here.”
Panic flutters inside my chest. “Crampy?”
“No. No, I don’t think it’s cramps. Just kinda sore I guess.”
