by Sam Mariano
"Anyway," she said, moving along quickly, "Prince Marcus told Juliet that he was going to send her to live in his brother's castle, and she would get a job in the kitchens there. Juliet was sad, but she would rather that than to have to go back to live with her stepmother and Jack, so she packed up the few things she had and prepared to leave the kingdom.
"Imagine Juliet's surprise when Prince Marcus's brother showed up to take her back to his castle and it turned out to be the grumpy knight! He wasn't a knight after all, but a prince from a neighboring kingdom. "
Glancing at his watch, Aaron raised an eyebrow and said, "Okay, I'm going to finish it up. The grumpy prince took the beautiful Juliet to his castle and he wasn't very nice to her at first, because he thought she was foolish to have ever liked his brother, the pompous Prince Marcus. Also, as Juliet did nice things for the prince and even made him Rice Crispy Treats every night after dinner, the grumpy prince realized he was beginning to fall in love with Juliet, and strangely that made him even grumpier."
Julie cut in, saying, "After many weeks, there was a grand ball thrown at the palace, and the grumpy prince was attending. Of course, being a kitchen maid, Juliet wouldn't have gone to the ball, but the grumpy prince wasn't being so grumpy, and he invited her to the ball and even had a gorgeous gown made for her. There was a visiting princess from another land there to try to win the grumpy prince's affection, Princess Shanna, and Juliet didn't know why, but she didn't like her very much. Juliet was so excited to finally go to a ball, so she wore her pretty dress and she went to the ball, but she realized something as she stood in the ballroom and watched her grumpy prince dance with Princess Shanna…"
Aaron cut in then. "She was madly in love with him," he stated, winking at Julie.
"And he was so modest that Juliet couldn't resist," Julie said sarcastically.
"The Prince, to his credit, also finally realized that he was in love with Juliet, so he asked her to dance with him, and as he danced with her in his arms, he knew that was where he wanted her to be forever. So when the ball was over, the grumpy prince asked Juliet if she would marry him and become his princess."
"Princess Shanna was really mad," Julie whispered conspiratorially to Alyssa.
"And Prince Marcus wasn't very happy either," Aaron stated. "But Juliet and her grumpy prince were very happy and they loved each other very much, so they got married right there at the castle and before long, they had a beautiful little girl who would grow up to be their beloved princess. And together Juliet, her grumpy prince and their beautiful little princess lived happily ever after."
"Wait," Julie said, holding up her hand. "That wasn't the end."
Frowning, Aaron said, "Yes, it was."
"Well, if you would have let me finish the story instead of being so impatient, maybe you would know that that is not how the story was supposed to end tonight," Julie reasoned.
Sighing, he said, "She needs to go to bed, Julie. It's the end. Give her the extended version tomorrow."
Julie shot her husband a dirty look, but she didn't say anything else, she merely stood up, lingering by the side of the bed with her arms crossed as she waited for Aaron to tuck Alyssa in, then they walked out into the hallway together.
Aaron sighed as he walked down the hall, tugging his tie loose as he said, "It's been such a long day."
"I can't believe you ended my story," Julie told him. "And you did it wrong."
Rolling his eyes, Aaron said, "Julie, I'm one of the main characters too, I know how the story ended."
"Damn impatient, grumpy princes," she muttered.
"But I'm not wrong," he said smugly.
"Yes, actually, you are. The ending was going to be different, and it was going to be cute and you ruined it. Nice going, grumpy prince Aaron."
Rolling his eyes, he said, "What did I leave out that was so important?"
Unable to contain her smile she said, "You should probably sit down."
"So you can tell me a story?" he asked, smiling and shaking his head. "No thanks, I would prefer we finish this argument about a stupid bedtime fairy tale that way you and I can get into bed," he said, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close, placing a kiss on her neck, then another one a little lower, then another…
"You're distracting me," she stated.
"Damn," he said dryly, placing a kiss at the base of her throat.
"Aaron, wait," she said, pulling away. "I didn't get to tell you who you left out of the story."
Sighing, he closed his eyes and probably counted to three, then he opened them and said, "Who did I forget?"
"Their second baby."
Frowning, he said, "What? They don't have a second…baby…"
By the end of the sentence, he sounded very uncertain, so Julie smiled softly and took his hand, placing it on her stomach and she whispered, "They will in about seven months."
Aaron's jaw just fell open, and all he could do was stare at her. "But… you can't be… I can't…"
"Well, you did," Julie assured him. "I'm pregnant, Aaron. We're going to have a baby."
"How?"
Shrugging, she said, "I don't know, I guess it's just one of those fluke miracles."
He merely blinked, looking down at his hand on her stomach. "Are you… absolutely sure?"
"I am absolutely sure, honey. I am definitely pregnant—I waited until the blood test came back to tell you because I wanted to be sure. I didn't want to tell you when I just suspected, because I knew it was highly unlikely and I didn't want to get your hopes up and then leave you disappointed if I was wrong."
"We're having a baby?" he asked in awe.
"We're having a baby," she verified, glowing.
"We're having a baby!"
"I know, I got the memo," she said teasingly, leaning in and giving him a little kiss. "I've been trying to decide how to tell you, and then when you came in I got this creative little idea… but no, you had to ruin it."
"Nothing could ruin this," he informed her happily. "You could have kicked me in the balls before delivering the news and I would still be this excited."
"Well, just wait until I'm in labor, you might get your wish. For right now, I'm very excited. Alyssa has been making subtle comments lately about wanting a little brother or sister and I've been wondering if we should look into adoption, but before I even had a chance to bring the idea up to you, I realized I was late."
"And Matt's still in New York," Aaron replied ironically.
Leveling another dirty look at her husband, she said, "As far as I know, but that's not funny."
"I know, I'm sorry," he said, still smiling as he tugged her closer, only sounding half-apologetic.
Deciding to give him a little bit of a hard time, she leaned back, not letting him pull her too close. "Although, you know, since he and Emma are finally getting divorced, maybe I changed my mind…"
One black eyebrow shooting up, Aaron said, "Don't make me lock you up and throw away the key. Alyssa will be deeply confused if I morph her bedtime story into a version of Rapunzel instead."
"I think she might also wonder where Mommy went," Julie lightly joked.
Grinning, he said, "I can't believe you're pregnant. And the doctor said everything looks okay, looks normal? And he's sure you're pregnant?"
"Absolutely positive. I assure you, I was quite a pain in his ass. He finally brought in the ultrasound machine to show me the baby on the screen. We have a second poppy seed, my love."
For a moment, Aaron only stared at her, shaking his head with a certain light in his eye.
Twining her arms around her husband's neck, Julie leaned in a little and asked, "What are you thinking?"
Tenderly brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear, he replied, "That ever since I first met you, you've been making the impossible in my life… possible."
"I'm good that way," she teased, leaning in even more and giving him a lingering little kiss.
"You certainly are," he murmured in agreement, securing his arms even m
ore firmly around her waist. "I think that it's my job as a husband to show you just how grateful I am."
"Mm, that sounds promising," she stated with a little grin as he walked her backward toward their room. "We still have lots to discuss though. We have to tell Alyssa, too, and your parents, I guess," she added grudgingly. "I don't know what names we should consider, and we have to decide about the nursery—”
"There will be plenty of time for all that later," he informed her firmly. "Right now I just want to enjoy my wife and the perfect life she's given me."
And he did.