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Then, we got the cookies put onto trays for our family and friends. And once we managed to move those to safety, I realized I was both right and wrong.
Wrong because I thought I knew how I’d feel seeing her in just that apron.
Right because, once again, this day turned out to be better than any of the ones before it.
I didn’t doubt that it would continue for years to come.
Six months later
“I can’t believe I doubted you.”
My fingers that were linked with Kiera’s tightened. “Doubted me?” I asked, feeling a bit concerned. Kiera hadn’t indicated there was anything she’d been wary of when it came to me.
We continued to walk, and for several long seconds, she didn’t say anything. I grew more and more tense.
Finally, she said, “I knew things were good between us after we worked out our issues, but—”
“You didn’t think I was serious about fixing this and what you meant to me?” I questioned her, cutting her off.
“No, it’s not that,” she assured me. “I knew from the start that you were serious about that. I just meant that I didn’t think it really would get better than it was.”
Relief swept through me.
Kiera continued, “The fact that we’re here now at this very place feels like a very full circle moment, and it feels really special.”
I couldn’t say she was wrong. There was something about being here together at this moment in our lives that felt a lot like fate or destiny.
We came back to Cardinal Beach. Just as we’d planned to do with our friends a year ago, we made the trip together. Today, each couple was off doing their own thing. For Kiera and me, that meant doing one of her favorite things in the whole world.
Walking along the beach where we first met, holding hands, and collecting seashells.
Only, something about this time was extra special.
Because not only had it been a year since we’d decided to take another chance on each other and save our marriage, but Kiera was also pregnant with our first baby.
Our son was due in just a few weeks, right before the summer was over. We were both ecstatic.
“I can’t believe that by the time we take our next summer trip, he’ll be here with us,” I shared.
“Every day I wonder what he’ll be like,” she started. “I wonder if he’ll look like me or you or the perfect combination of the both of us. I try to piece together the best parts of our personalities, and all I wind up feeling in the end is that he’s going to be the world’s most well-rounded kid.”
I couldn’t say I hadn’t done the very same thing myself. “He’s going to be perfect, no matter what.”
“Oh, look. Can you get that?” Kiera said, grinding to a halt.
I saw the direction she had her eyes pointed in and followed them. She didn’t need to say anything else.
I bent down and picked up the shell. It was a scotch bonnet.
When I stood up and held it out to her, she marveled at it. “It’s been nine years since we found that first one together. And with all of these broken shells we’ve been seeing lately, how is it possible there’s a whole scotch bonnet?”
“I think it’s for him,” I told her, placing my hand gently on her beautiful belly.
She nodded her head furiously, her eyes filling with tears. “Yeah, I think so, too.”
“Do you want to keep going, or would you like to turn around and head back?” I asked her, pulling her into my arms to comfort her.
“I think I’d like to walk for just a bit longer,” she rasped. Then, she added, “Even if my feet are going to be in agony later.”
