Page 127 of Wood Riddance
She held up a hand. “You were rolling to a stop. Let’s not exaggerate.”
“After youjumped out of a moving car, you all but tackled a bleeding criminal.”
She patted his cheek. “I love you too. Now go apologize to your sister and her baby daddy for acting like an asshole.”
He leaned over and kissed her, then he stood.
“I owe you both an apology,” he said. “I’m working on managing my anxiety, but sometimes I shut down. I’m truly happy for you both.” He held out a hand, and when I shook it, he squeezed it and frowned at me. “Promise me you’ll take care of her?”
I pulled Adele close and kissed the top of her head. “It would be my honor.”
“I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!” Adele protested.
Parker chuckled. “Sweetie, let them have their stoic man moment.” With that piece of advice, she grabbed Paz’s arm. “We’ll see ourselves out. You two look beat.”
As soon as the door closed, He-Man ran downstairs, and Adele scooped him up.
“You were so brave today, buddy. We’re so proud of you.”
Feeling brave, I scratched the mutt’s ear. “You did good. But,” I said, steering Adele by the shoulders toward the stairs, “it’s been a long day. My future wife needs rest.”
With a huff, she whipped around and shot me a glare. “We’re not engaged.”
“Yet,” I said, gently smacking her ass. “We’re not engaged yet.”
Epilogue
3 weeks later
Adele
“Are you ready to see your baby?” the ultrasound tech asked. She was a middle-aged woman with a no-nonsense ponytail and funky glasses who had carefully and patiently answered every one of my questions. I already trusted her.
And I was more than ready. We’d been here for over an hour already. Every appointment thus far had dragged on. If they were going to continue on this way through my entire pregnancy, then we were going to have a problem. Urine sample, blood draws, exams, talking and talking and talking. Couldn’t we just skip to the good part?
“Finally,” Merry squealed. She had insisted on skipping school today to accompany us to meet her new sibling. She’d been a trooper, reading a graphic novel while we did all the boring stuff.
My heart was in my throat as the tech squirted the goo onto my skin. We had been waiting for what felt like forever to see this baby. The early days of the pregnancy had been challenging, to say the least. The surprise of it in the first place, then the morning sickness and, of course, the stress of almost being killed. But we had made it to the second trimester. In this moment, I felt completely present. It was time.
“Okay, we’re going to take some measurements, check growth, and get you an updated due date. Sound good?” she asked, moving the wand around my belly.
I squeezed Finn’s hand and peeked up at him. He was leaning toward the screen, one hand holding mine, his other arm wrapped around Merry’s shoulders.
“Yes,” he said, wearing a grin. He had literally been all smiles since the minute we pulled into the parking lot. Every day, I was amazed and impressed by how he refused to let anxiety run his life. He somehow managed to balance compartmentalizing with processing things on his own and also through talking them out. I could learn a lot from him, and I absolutely planned to.
He kept his promises and went out of his way to talk through disagreements. Best of all, he insisted on pampering me any chance he got.
“Okay. Here we are,” the tech said, pulling my attention back to the screen.
There, in black and white, was our little peanut. I could see the head and the legs. “Are those tiny feet?”
“Yes,” she said, clicking the mouse and dragging it across the screen to take measurements.
“See the fingers? And this flutter here? That’s the heartbeat.”
“Hello,” I said softly, already sniffing back tears. This kid had turned me into a freaking garden hose. All I did was cry. I had gotten up to pee last night, and when I came back to bed, I found He-Man snuggling with Finn. I’d bawled so hard I woke Finn up, and he spent a good ten minutes soothing me and murmuring the sweetest words until I dozed back off. God, I was a hormonal mess.
This, though? This was on another level. I was watching our child’s heart beat. Our baby. The little person growing inside my body. Above me, Finn was watching the screen intently. He, too, was losing a battle with his emotions. One single tear tracked down his cheek as he smiled at me and squeezed my hand tighter.
