And Stassi. Oh, Stassi. We’ve spent more than a few nights having girls’ nights and stressing our guys out, but what can you do?

It’s fun. Just plain fun.

And it’s the family that I always wanted.

From the bathroom, I hear Marco make a noise. It’s unusual, and I frown. I pull on my robe and stand, trotting in. “Marco?”

He turns, still naked, and when I see what’s in his hands, I freeze.

“Were you planning on telling me about this?” he says roughly.

The positive pregnancy test in his hands is practically shaking in his grip.

I flush. I took the test earlier today, and I was planning on telling him. After we got on the cruise. Because if I know one thing about Marco, it’s that the sight of those little pink lines is going to send him into full overdrive.

“Marco…”

“Cancel the trip,” he growls.

I throw my hands up. “I was going to tell you!”

“When?”

“When we got there!”

“Roisin…”

I sigh and move forward, snatching the test out of his hands. “Marco. Seriously. We’re going to be fine. We should just go.”

“No.”

“Fine. I’ll go without you.”

“Roisin…”

I stalk away.

Marco follows after, swooping me up. I snort, a little mad, but mostly melting into his arms.

He nuzzles my ear. “I don’t want to put you at risk.”

“You won’t.”

“Roisin…”

I spin, looking at him. “We’re going to be parents,” I smile at him. “And we’re bringing a kid into a world where they are going to need all our skills to navigate it. You can’t protect them, Marco. You have to let them learn to handle it.”

His eyes search mine, and I cup the side of his face.

“You didn’t want your family to feel sad, or hurt. Our baby is no different. And the lesson you learned from them?”

He shuts his eyes. “They don’t need me to protect them.”

“Well. The baby will. But you’re a better teacher than protector, my love. Let’s take them on all our adventures. Show them how to be the best version of us. How about that instead?”

He wrinkles his nose. “You just want to see penguins.”

“I do want to see penguins. But we’re going to do this,” I murmur, putting his hand on my belly. “Just like we do everything. As a team.”