Page 81 of Entirely Yours
After what can only be described as the most successful five-year-old birthday party Sassafras has ever seen, I feel like I need to recruit my brothers to help plan a surprise baby shower for Thea.
She would never ask for one, but I see the way she lights up anytime someone pays her an inkling of attention, and it makes me want to lavish her in it. That, and we really have nothing for the baby so I’d love to pull friends and family together to celebrate.
When I get home from the shop that night, Thea is curled up in our bed—fuck I like the sound of that—playing a game on her phone.
I lean over to give her a kiss, enjoying the way she smiles sweetly up at me. “Already making yourself comfortable in here, are you?”
She sits up straight. “Oh my God, I just assumed. I can—I don’t have to sleep in here. I can go back to theguest bedroom.”
“Over my dead body,” I grumble, planting more kisses down her neck.
She smirks. “Well, we can’t have that, can we?”
I spend a moment debating whether or not to move all of her things into my bedroom now or crawl into bed and pull her close for a late night snuggle.
Snuggling wins. “How was your session today?” I ask. “You can tell me as much or as little as you want.”
Thea turns, becoming my little spoon, guiding my hand down over her belly. “It was good, I think?” She huffs a laugh. “It’s funny, when I was driving over there I kept thinking about how I didn’t really have much to say, and then I ended up talking nonstop for forty-five minutes.”
“That’s good,” I praise. “That means you felt comfortable enough to open up a bit to an objective third party. Everyone needs someone like that in their life. Someone who can listen.”
Thea hums in agreement. “Oh! Did you feel that?”
“Feel what?”
She moves my hand down to the lower portion of her stomach and presses my hand in firmly. “Thea what?—”
“Shh!” she interrupts. “Just… wait for it.”
So I do. I wait quietly until— “Holy shit, is that him?”
Thea nods enthusiastically. “Yes! He’s kicking!”
It’s amazing. I’ve never felt anything close to this feeling before in my life, and I instantly know I would do anything to feel it again. The little guy doesn’t make me wait long, giving another firm press that I can feel from the outside of Thea’s stomach.
“Woah,” I say. “He’s an athlete.”
Thea’s laugh is melodic. “I remember Chloe was pretty much spinning in circles for my entire pregnancy, so if he’s anything like her, we’ll definitely need to sign him up for a way to get his energy out.”
Keeping my hand firmly against her stomach so I don’t missany more kicking, I push up and bend over so I can talk directly to my son. “Hey, bud. Go easy on your mom in there, okay?” He gives another hard kick. “Fuck, did you feel that?” I look over to Thea who is smiling sweetly, eyes brimming with tears.
“Yeah, I felt it.” Her laugh is gurgled.
I grin right back, kissing her stomach before settling against the pillows again.
“Have you thought about any names?” I ask. It’s something we haven’t really talked about since finding out we were having a boy.
“A little…” she admits. “Boy names are so hard. Chloe was easy, it came to me pretty instantly when I found out she was a girl. But nothing has popped out at me like that with him.”
We both lay there, lost in thought for a while. Naming a child seems like such a huge responsibility. That’s what they’ll be stuck with for the rest of their life—it’s daunting.
“I think I’d like to include Henry, if possible. Maybe as a middle name?” Thea whispers.
I give her a reassuring squeeze. “I love that. Hank’s real name?”
“Yeah. He’s just done so much for me. He’s an amazing father—I’d love to honor him in that way.”
“Great, middle name decided.”
