by Parker, Ali
“So was I,” Aston admitted. I remembered those early days when they first started working together. She was a wreck the first morning, but Danny immediately made her feel welcome. He’d moved out of his office and went out of his way to make her feel comfortable.
He took her around, introduced her to everyone and was a powerful ally to have when people first found out that not only were Aston and I seeing each other, but that she was pregnant with my child. A lot of rumors started, naturally. Danny turned out to be one of the people on the front line, putting out the fires right along with us.
Ever since, their friendship had grown. He was a much better person now than he had been, thanks in no small measure to her.
Tiffany left us alone when she received a call, telling us to help ourselves to the snacks and that she would be right back. As soon as the door shut behind her, I had my arms around Aston. I couldn’t keep my hands off her, especially now that her belly was round with my child.
Placing my palms on her stomach, I leaned in to kiss it. “Hello in there, little one. This is your Daddy speaking, we’re excited to meet you. You’re exactly two hours closer to arriving now than you were when I last told you that.”
Aston chuckled, her hands knotting into my hair. “Well, I’m sure he or she still loves hearing it now as much as two hours ago.”
I looked up at her, grinning as I brought my head up to run my nose along the length of hers. “And I love you. Both of you.”
“I love you too, Blake. More than I ever imagined possible. I can’t wait to see you with our baby.”
Neither could I. Fatherhood, as daunting as it undoubtedly must be, was something I looked forward to more and more each day. I couldn’t wait for the baby to finally get here, but we were only halfway there. It was going to be a tough wait for the next few months, but we would do it. It would be worth everything in the end, I was sure of it.
Epilogue
Aston
On a rainy Saturday morning, Blake and I welcomed baby Emma Rose McAllen into the world. She was a pink, healthy little angel that had both of us wrapped around her little finger the very first second we laid eyes on her.
The hospital was busy. I could hear people milling around outside, some running to take care of patients and others here to visit friends and family, and to meet the new arrivals. Emma was only three hours old, but I was sure Blake’s family and Tiffany would get here soon.
Both Tiffany and Blake’s mom had wanted to be in the waiting room when she was born, but I went into labor in the early hours of Saturday morning and in our rush to get to the hospital, we hadn’t wanted to disturb them in the middle of the night.
For now it was just us and our little cherub in our bubble of the most perfect, serene happiness I’d ever known. With Emma’s tummy full for the first time, she was dozing in her daddy’s arms and the scene in front of me was as precious as I’d known it would be.
Blake cradled her in his arms, nestled in the softest pink blanket. It was a gift from Blake’s mom, who’d been spoiling Emma rotten in the months leading up to her birth. He gazed down at our baby with such love in his eyes that I could feel it from my hospital bed several feet away.
I didn’t think he’d looked away from her for more than a few minutes since she was born and even then, it was to look at me. Over and over again he’d told me how much he loved me, how in awe he was of me and our little daughter.
It was like he couldn’t say it enough and to be honest, I couldn’t hear it enough. With the arrival of our bundle of joy, I felt, for the first time in my life, truly complete. I had a family of my own now and I loved them with all my heart.
The news about Emma’s existence might have come as a shock to everyone, but Blake’s family and my friends who were like my family had quickly adjusted to the news. Blake and I had moved into a house on the beach near his dad’s, to the extra delight of his mother. Everyone was excited over Emma’s impending arrival and it was clear we would have plenty of support once she was born.
For the first time, I felt like I was part of a family. The McAllen’s had taken me in and made me one of their own. Even if Blake hadn’t made it official yet.
I wondered sometimes if he would, but we’d agreed to take things slowly all those months ago. It was something I’d thought of occasionally, but between our new jobs and then getting caught up in preparing for Emma, I hadn’t given it much thought lately.
She was, by a large margin, the best and most important thing in our lives. A wedding seemed to pale in comparison. I was fine with what we were, safe in the knowledge that Blake loved me and I loved him. Still, I couldn’t help wondering if now that she was here, if he would propose at some point. We’d talked about getting married and we both knew we wanted to, there just hadn’t been time.
A shiver of excitement traveled through me. Not only did we have the perfect little princess, but I was pretty sure within the next year or so, we would get engaged.
It was more than I ever would’ve imagined for my life. I had my dream job, my dream man and a beautiful, healthy little girl. It was the kind of perfection I’d been too afraid to ever let myself dream of.
Sighing happily, I looked up at Blake. “How’re you feeling, Daddy?”
“Never been better, Mommy.” He grinned at me, bending his head to place the softest of kisses on our daughter’s tiny forehead. “You made the most beautiful baby in the world, Aston.”
“We did,” I told him. “We made the most beautiful baby, not just me. It takes two to tango, remember?”
“Let’s tango way more often,” he kidded. At least I thought he was kidding. “Like, as soon as you’re feeling up to it, let’s make another one.”
“You’re joking!” I laughed. “Hold up there, cowboy. It’s going to take me a little while to get ready to go through all that again.”
Blake pouted playfully. “What, like maybe a month? Two?”
“Wow. You really want another one that soon?” I couldn’t believe he really did. This one wasn’t even a day old yet.
He nodded, eyes dropping down to the fuzzy pink bundle in his arms. “She’s gorgeous and I’m so in love with her, I want a dozen more just like her. Two dozen, if you wanted. I can’t take my eyes off of her.”
“Let’s settle on no more than half a dozen,” I teased. Honestly, with a man like him by my side, I really would consider six children.
Blake had succeeded spectacularly in the challenge he set for himself about always being there for me. For the last few months, we were only ever apart at work, and even then, he was only a couple of yards away in the office down the hall from mine.
Danny had been a huge help and had eventually taken over most of the duties that required traveling, which meant Blake didn’t have to do it. On the odd occasion when he did have to attend meetings out of state, he was away for one night at most. Though the vast majority of times he flew home the same day.
Everything further away than what could be reached in two or three hours by plane, he let Danny handle. Blake had been my rock, my constant. With him as the dad, I could see myself having a lot more children. He certainly seemed to be on board.
A nurse came in to check on us, as they did every so often. This was one who must have just started her shift, since I hadn’t seen her around earlier. She was an older woman with bright red hair and a kind smile. “Is everything okay in here? I need to take the baby for observation, it won’t be more than a few minutes before she’s back.”
Blake’s eyes widened comically. “You’re taking her away?”
“Just for a few minutes, sir.” The nurse smiled sympathetically. “I won’t take my eyes off of her for a second, you have my word. I know it’s hard for you to let go of her right now.”
“She has to go?” Blake asked, not looking like he was inclined to hand her over at all.
The nurse nodded. “A few minutes, sir. She’ll be back before you know it.”
Reluctantly, he set Emma dow
n in her little crib. It was a clear plastic bassinet type thing on wheels. “Bye-bye, my angel. Daddy will see you soon.”
The nurse assured us again that she would be back, and wheeled Emma’s bassinet over to the door and paused as her eyes met mine. “Can I get anything for you or your husband? I can have some toast sent in if you’re feeling up to it. Or some coffee for your husband, people are always forgetting that they’ve also had quite the experience.”
My cheeks grew hot. The nurse definitely hadn’t been here earlier, when all the other nurses had known Blake and I weren’t married. It wasn’t the first time someone had referred to him as my husband, but it was always a little uncomfortable to have to correct them.
“He’s not my husband, but would you like a coffee?” I asked Blake.
He was looking at the nurse with a strange expression on his face. Blank, as though he was trying not to show any emotion. The poor thing was probably terribly worried about letting Emma out of his sight. “Blake? Coffee?”
Blinking, he looked down at me and then smiled at the nurse and shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m fine.”
“Let me know if you change your mind, sir. I can have something here for you in a flash. You too, ma’am. I’ll have that toast sent in as soon as you’re ready.” The nurse disappeared after that, taking our little Emma with her.
Blake stared after her. I took his hand, squeezing it to get his attention. “She’ll be fine, Blake. She’ll be right back.”
“I know,” he said, turning away from me to head to the overnight bag he had packed for himself. “I was thinking about what she said.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my brow furrowing. “Do you want that coffee? Or if you’re hungry we can ask them to bring you some toast. I’ll wait a few minutes before I ask for mine.”
Shaking his head, he rummaged around in the bag. “No, the other thing.”
“What other thing?” The entire conversation had been about Emma going with the nurse for a few minutes and whether we needed anything. There wasn’t anything else to it. “Are you okay?”
“The part when she said I was your husband,” he said and crossed the room to stand next to the bed again. It didn’t look like he’d taken anything from the bag. I wondered if he’d simply been looking for a toothbrush or something.
Waving my hand, I shook my head. “She didn’t mean anything by it. She just assumed.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I know, but she’s right. I think it’s about time we did something about that.”
A look I’d never seen crossed his features. It was filled with as much emotion as when he’d been looking down at Emma, but there was something else there. Nervousness?
Opening his hand, he sank down onto one knee and smirked when he saw my face drop. “What the—now, Blake? Really?”
“Really,” he said, the smirk morphing into a gorgeous grin. “You’re the love of my life, Aston. There is no one else I’d want to do this with. No one else who could bring me to life the way you have. I wanted to do this last night before Emma came, but then you fell asleep early. I brought this along just in case I got the perfect moment here and I think this is it. So what do you say, Aston? Will you marry me?”
For a long second, I just gaped at the massive pear shaped diamond on the ring he held up. It caught the early morning light and was throwing rainbows onto the walls. It was beautiful. Huge and ostentatious, but beautiful.
“Aston?”
I swallowed, blinking back to reality. The one where the love of my life was on his knees waiting for my answer. “Yes. Of course I will. I love you, Blake. Of course I’ll marry you.”
He slid the ring onto my finger and in that moment, I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that I was the luckiest woman on the planet. I never dreamed of a happily ever after, but I was getting it anyway. Blake, Emma and I would live happily ever after. Along with all of her brothers and sisters to come. I couldn’t wait.
The End
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About the Author
Ali Parker is a full-time contemporary and new adult romance writer with more than a hundred and twenty books behind her. She loves coffee, watching a great movie and hanging out with her hubs. By hanging out, she means making out. Hanging out is for those little creepy elves at Christmas. No tight green stockings for her.
She’s an entrepreneur at heart and loves coming up with more ideas than any one person should be allowed to access. She lives in Texas with her hubs and three kiddos and looks forward to traveling the world in a few years. Writing under eleven pen names keeps her busy and allows her to explore all genres and types of writing.
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Copyright © 2019 by Ali Parker
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.
First Edition.
Editor: Lori Hawkins
Cover Designer: Ryn Katryn Digital Art