Page 97 of River
“Good!” I lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Now, tell me what to expect tomorrow at the wedding.”
“It’s a traditional Irish wedding, so you should expect a lot of drinking, singing, crude jokes, and a lot of slapping on your back. Kit’s family is a fun lot who don’t take life too seriously. She’s a private detective and works with her brother Tommy and their father. Actually, they played a big part in freeing us from the cult.”
“Sounds like people I’ll enjoy hanging out with.”
“Yes, and don’t forget Damian, the cop I told you about. He’s such a child, but we all love him.”
“What do you mean he’s a child?”
“Oh, you know, always bomb-diving when he jumps in the pool and that sort of thing. He and my sister are opposites in many ways because she’s so rigid and serious, but somehow it works between them, and I’m just happy they’re together.”
“Do they have children?”
“They’re expecting their first child in March. They already know it’s a girl and Damian is so proud. He’s ten years older than Lumi, and he’s wanted children for years. It took them a lot longer to get pregnant than they expected, so we’re all happy for them.”
“What about Kit and Owen, do they have children?”
“No.” River let go of my hand and raised her glass to drink. “Kit was in her forties when they got together, and he already had grown kids. Kit always said that she was the fun aunt to all of us Robertson kids. But if I’m honest, I think she would have loved to have her own child.” River sighed. “Not everyone is that lucky, though.”
“I know some that have chosen not to have children and who would consider themselves the lucky ones.”
“Yes, I suppose everyone is different. What about you? Do you want to have children one day?”
“That depends.” I watched her for a second. “Are we having children one day?”
The edges of River’s lips lifted, and little crinkles formed at her eyes.
I smiled back. “I can’t have children by myself, and since we just agreed to be a couple, I’d say that’s something for us to decide together.”
“I’ve always wanted to have a child before I was twenty-seven.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because my mother was twenty-seven when she had me.”
“Didn’t you just turn twenty-six in November?”
“Yes.”
I opened my mouth a little, pushing at the inside of my cheek with my tongue. “Then that’s a tight time plan. We would have to get you pregnant this month. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”
She grinned. “Neither am I.”
“How about before you’re thirty?”
“Thirty?” She frowned.
“Twenty-nine?” I could feel my heart racing with the prospect of having a child with River.
“We’ll figure it out,” she said. “When it happens, it happens.”
“Ehh… that’s not true, though. Condoms prevent it from happening. I told you that I was an unwanted and unplanned child, so one thing I’m sure of is that when I’m fathering a child, it will be a kid that’s loved and wanted.”
“That makes sense.”
In my head, I added that I would want to be married to River before we had children, but with everything being so new between us, I kept that part to myself.
We made love in the hotel room several times that night. I made her come by giving her oral sex, but she still didn’t relax enough to reach an orgasm while I was inside her. It made me more determined to keep trying.
