Page 22 of Resolution
“Wow,” Gunderson whispers in disbelief as he shakes his head. Then he finds his voice, “Congratulations, man. I’m happy for you. So… When’s the big day?”
“As soon as possible. If I had it my way, we’d already be married. But, we want her kids involved.”
“So, we’re talking later this year sometime?”
“No, man. We’re talking as soon as I can get stateside. I don’t want to wait another minute not being married to her.”
“Uh, Harps, correct me if I’m wrong, but I recall weddings being a big event, which involves lots of planning. That means you’re eloping?”
“Nope, we’ll have a family affair. My sister’s best friend is a wedding coordinator and she just had a cancellation, so if all goes well, we should be married within weeks of me being home.”
“Damn, man, your life’s changing so fast I can hardly catch up,” Gunderson teases, but the pat on my shoulder tells me he’s happy for me.
Before I can say anything else, our orders come through. We need to be wheels up in fifteen minutes to extract the guys in the field. Gunderson and I’ve already done our preflight check, so within minutes, we’re in the cockpit of the helo, ready to move.
When I finally get back to my apartment, I barely have a week to pack and get things ready for the movers. It’s hard to believe this is going to be my last move. I’m so fucking ecstatic to be this much closer to being with Samantha and her kids.
I’ve just spent the last hour going over wedding plans with my sister’s friend Melanie. I still can’t believe all the shit that goes into planning a wedding, even a relatively simple one like ours. But, I know she’s worth every penny it’s going to cost me to have our wedding go smooth. I know Sam has a lot on her plate, so I want to lift the burden as much as possible.
When I look at the clock, I realize there’s another hour or so until Samantha even wakes up for the day. With it being Saturday and the kids at their dad’s, I want to let her sleep in as much as possible. I hop on my computer and pull up a website one of my buddies told me about. I love surprising her, and what I have in mind will definitely be a surprise. After a few clicks, it’s being sent. I can’t wait to see the look on Samantha’s face when she receives it.
Since that took all of ten minutes, I’m left with the dreaded chore of packing. How the hell did I get so much shit after just being here four years? Last night, Samantha and I discussed what I should bring to her house. Since my living room furniture’s only a year old and Samantha’s furniture in her family room is much older, I’m bringing this along with my bed and dresser. As I look around my kitchen, most of this crap will be donated to a local charity or to one of the guys on base. There’s no way we’ll need all of this. Samantha’s kitchen is already full. But while she was here, she mentioned how much she liked my coffeemaker, electric skillet, and a new set of knives. Knowing she doesn’t have a waffle maker, I place that in the box as well as a few kitchen gadgets I can’t live without. The rest is put aside to donate.
Just as I’m finishing up the cupboard under the sink, my phone alerts me to a text.
Samantha: Hey, handsome. How was your day?
Me: Good morning, beautiful. Packing kitchen now. Video chat?
Within seconds, Samantha’s beautiful face appears on my screen. Her smile drives me wild and she has no idea the effect she has on me. She’s still in bed and I can see she has just awoken by the rumpled way her hair lays behind her and the slight haziness of her eyes. She has never looked more beautiful. God, I wish I were there to wake with her each morning. Being apart from her is harder than I ever imagined. Her voice is huskier than normal as she says, “Morning, handsome.”
“Good morning, beautiful. How’d you sleep?” I notice her eyes are slightly puffier than normal. I hope she hasn’t been sick again.
“Fine. I’m sleepy today. These kiddos sure know how to kick my ass. I fell asleep watching a movie last night before eight.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“Nope, I awoke at two a.m. and found myself alone in the dark family room, freezing because my blanket had fallen on the floor.” Samantha shakes her head and rolls her eyes. She couldn’t look more adorable. I long to reach out and just run my fingers through her hair.
“You’ve had a long week. You must have been tired,” I offer as encouragement.
She heavily sighs and I see her shoulders hunch through the screen. “I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this pregnancy a secret, Enzo. Frankie and Maddie both have asked if I feel all right. I’m already resorting to wearing my ‘fat pants’ and I won’t be able to keep this under wraps if I suddenly decide to pop.”
“What the hell are ‘fat pants,’ Sam? You’re nowhere near fat,” I ask, confused. She’s been wearing her regular clothes in all the pictures she sends to me each day.
I can hear her eyes roll from across the screen. “Uh… Fat pants are clothes you wear when you’re feeling fat. You know, when you feel bloated?”
Uh. No. I don’t know. But from the look on her face, it’s best I don’t mention that. “Do you need to go shopping to get a bigger size?” I offer, thinking this is something I can help her with. I’ve got the one-click shopping thing down to a tee. We can fix this.
“Ugg… With the others, I didn’t have to wear maternity clothes until I was nearly twenty weeks. But since there’s two in there… I’m guessing it’ll be sooner than that.” She bites on her lower lip and even from across the world, she still drives me wild.
“Why don’t you and Lexi go shopping sometime this week?”
“No. I’m fine for now. I just don’t like tight things around my waist. I’ll just pull out my baggier clothes and that should do the trick.” She then gives me a conspiratorial grin as she says, “Our secrets are safe for now.” Her arm vanishes from the screen and I can imagine she’s patting her belly.
“So how are the babies today?” I ask, hoping she will show them to me on the screen. Her stomach is a little fuller now, but she barely has a bump. If you didn’t know she was pregnant, you could assume she’d just put on some weight in her mid-section.There’s no way in hell I’m mentioning that either.
“They’re doing great.” Then in a cooing voice, she says, “They let their mama sleep in today and I haven’t felt nauseous in a while. Life is good!” She moves her shirt up over her belly, then says, “Here. Have a look for yourself.”
